Liu Xingshi

Liu Xingshi was born on May 8, 1931, in Wuhan, Hubei, with his ancestral home in Deyang, Sichuan. He is a Chinese geologist, popular science writer, and children's literature author. After graduating from the Department of Geology and Geography at Peking University in 1956, he devoted himself to research on Quaternary stratigraphy and geomorphology, and taught at Peking University, Central China Normal College, and Chengdu University of Technology. He began publishing in 1945 and has brought out hundreds of works of popular science, science fiction, and fairy tales, and is regarded as one of China's first generation of science fiction writers. His representative works include Columbus from the Americas, Star Child, and Chinese Nature Explained to Children. His recent works carry on the approach of weaving geological knowledge into reading for young people: some recount, through letters, what a geologist sees while measuring mountains and rivers on foot, while others draw on the travels of Xu Xiake to guide young readers toward an understanding of mountains, rivers, and the natural world recorded in diaries, combining the qualities of essays and miscellaneous writings with popular science.