WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chengdu, China beat Winnipeg, Canada for the right to host the 81st World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in 2023, a victory unveiled last week at the 2021 Worldcon in Washington DC. Chengdu’s bid to host the 2023 Worldcon was first proposed at the 2019 Worldcon in Dublin.
The Chengdu bidding delegation arrived in Washington DC a few days ago. Energized by a slogan of “Sparing No Effort for the Possibility”, the Chengdu delegation organized a roundtable on its bid and set up a booth at the 2021 Worldcon.
Worldcon is the annual gathering of sci-fi and fantasy fans, writers, artists, musicians and other creators from across the globe. First held in 1939, Worldcon moves around the world and is held in a different city by a different volunteer organization each year. Parallel to its bid to host Worldcon in 2023, the Chengdu delegation in Washington DC also held the “Science Fiction Chengdu & Intelligence Chengdu” -- 200-day Countdown to Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games International Cultural Event on site.
At last week’s 2021 Worldcon, the Chengdu delegation set up a special booth of “Science Fiction Chengdu & Intelligence Chengdu” and played a promotional video for the Chengdu World University Games in 2022 to spotlight the games mascot, “Rongbao”, and to promote the city of Chengdu globally.
Robert J. Sawyer, known as the godfather of Canada’s sci-fi and fantasy writing, and Canadian hard sci-fi author Derek Kunsken visited the “Science Fiction Chengdu & Intelligence Chengdu” booth. They learned about Chengdu’s upcoming WUG, and offered their support and best wishes for the WUG and Worldcon bid. Famous sci-fi writers including Wang Jinkang, Han Song, and He Xi also expressed their hopes and support for the Chengdu WUG.
Combining the promotion of Chengdu’s bid to host Worldcon with next year’s WUG in Washington allowed the various elements of the WUG, including “Rongbao”, to be showcased holistically, helping to capture more domestic and overseas attention and enhancing the influence of Chengdu WUG.