Dr Shawn Shao Dong, Acting Head of Creative Arts and Assistant Professor at the School of Arts and Social Sciences, has once again received academic recognition for his literary work following the critical acclaim for his short story collection, Air Guitar. His short fiction piece, “Chinese Paddlefish”, made the list of “Good Works by Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Overseas Chinese Writers 2023”, a selection by the Research Institute for Literature by Taiwan, Hong Kong and Overseas Chinese Writers of short stories, novellas, novels, poetry and prose published in mainland China during the year. Starting from 2021, the Institute has selected 10 outstanding pieces for each of the mentioned categories every year with the aim of fostering public and academic interest in Chinese literary works by writers residing outside mainland China. Dr Shao had another story, “The Story of Yu Lan” shortlisted last year.

“Chinese Paddlefish” was published in issue 4, 2023 of the literary bimonthly, Harvest. Inspired by his experience of living in a subdivided flat as a fresh doctoral graduate in Hong Kong, the story explores the subtle emotional connections between successive tenants of the same rental space as well as the transient nature of Hong Kong as a migrant society. The eponymous fish was a gigantic species, whose members used to be top predators in the Yangtze River. It was declared extinct by UNESCO in 2022 after large dam projects prevented the spawning migration of its females back to the upper river course, leading to its population fragmentation. Dr Shao's story revolves around several sojourners who are not unlike the Chinese paddlefish, depicting their psychological paradox of yearning to leave home for various pursuits at a young age and finding no home to return to later in their lives.