Writing Virtuality: Mu Xin’s Sinographic Designs Across Media and Nations

This article reinterprets the concept of "virtuality" within contemporary Sinophone literature through a study of contemporary Sinophone author Mu Xin (1927-2011)’s writings and media presence. Challenging the common conflation of virtuality with digital or online environments, I argue that virtuality should be understood as an aesthetic and embodied design principle that traverses the boundaries between physical and imagined spaces, national identity and diaspora, and print and digital media. Focusing on Mu Xin’s short story “The Reflected Shadow of Columbia” (Gelunbiya de daoying哥倫比亞的倒影) and the manuscript Prison Notes (Yuzhong shougao 獄中手稿) , the article explores the mutual constitution of textual bodies and national imaginaries in a globalized cultural context, intertwining the virtual aesthetics of placelessness and rootlessness with concrete legal and financial boundaries. Through the lens of science and technology studies, critical design, and Sinophone studies, this study calls for the concept of virtuality should be brought to bear on new concerns for Sinophone literature beyond online literature and science fiction.