Ionesco actually made this lithograph,
1 of 4 for Journeys Among the Dead, 1987

It is estimated that modern Chinese science fiction really began in 1904 with the serialization of Yueqiu zhimindi xiaoshuo (Tales of Moon Colonization) in Portrait Fiction. It is a novel of approximately 130,000 words written in Chinese by Huangjiang Diaosuo (Aged-Angler of Desolate Lake). The author's real name remains unknown. The story describes the settlement of a group of earthlings on the moon. Another important work in the early period of Chinese science fiction is Xu Nianci's "Xin falu xiansheng tan" (New Tales of Mr. Absurdity), published under the pseudonym Donghai Juewo. It was included in Xin falu (New Absurdity) published by Fiction Forest Press in 1905. It tells of Mr. Absurdity, whose body and soul are separated by a typhoon. While his body sinks down toward the center of the earth his soul travels to Mercury and Venus. On Mercury his soul watches the transplantation of brains as a method of rejuvenation, and on Venus it discovers that rudimentary plants and animals appear at the same time, thus refuting biologists' assertions that rudimentary plants historically preceded rudimentary animals. At the earth's core his body encounters a near-immortal man and watches, through the invention of a "lens," wonderful scenes. Then accidentally, his soul falls from outer space to merge back with his body in the Mediterranean Sea. He has the good luck of being rescued by a warship heading east so that he is able to return to Shanghai safe and sound. Once there he founds a university with an enrollment of one hundred thousand students, teaching just one course: "Brain Electricity"—sitting still as a way to produce electricity. In his six-day sessions, students learn how to generate and transmit electricity and how to use, memorize, analyze, and synthesize symbolic codes. As a result, "brain electricity" becomes widely applied in everyday life and proves amazingly effective and economical.

Do you ever wonder if I'm making this stuff up?