Abstract: H. G. Wells’s The Shape of Things to Come (1933) is a science fiction (SF) novel that envisions global affairs between the two World Wars. It attracted considerable attention in Republican China during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Widely embraced by Chinese intellectuals, the novel spurred numerous translations and evoked broad resonance, which constituted a distinctive translation event amid a period of decline in China’s SF development. This study examines the novel’s translation and reception from multiple perspectives, including its publication history, media coverage, critical reviews, and public responses, to explore the interplay between SF translation and wartime context. Through selective abridgments and paratextual interpretations, translators prioritized China-related content in Wells’s narrative of future warfare to address the ongoing Sino-Japanese conflict, thereby fostering wartime consensus with anticipatory visions of global order and national destiny. The discourse on the “future” thus served as both a concrete political reference and an effective tool for moral mobilization. This case illustrates how SF translation responded to contemporary concerns and shaped public discourse in wartime China.

Key words: science fiction, translation history, wartime China, H. G. Wells, The Shape of Things to Come

摘要： 《未来世界》（1933）是英国作家威尔斯在两次世界大战背景下创作的一部预测国际局势演变的科幻小说。该作在抗战时期受到中国文坛的高度关注,译本迭出,引发广泛共鸣,构成民国科幻发展低潮阶段的独特翻译事件。本文从译本出版、新闻报道、书刊评介和舆论反响等多重维度,探讨其译介和接受过程,进而剖析科幻翻译与抗战时局的互动关系。译者群体通过选择性节译与副文本阐释,将原作的未来战争叙事引向中日交战的现实危机,在对世界格局和国家前途的想象中凝聚抗战共识。对“未来”的言说由此兼具现实指涉与精神动员的双重功能,展现出战时中国的科幻文学译介对时代议题的有力回应,彰显其在公共话语建构中的深层作用。

关键词: 科幻文学, 翻译史, 抗战时期, 威尔斯, 《未来世界》