What Happens If China Makes First Contact?

The vast majority of sci-fi films and books from the last century has depicted the United States (or its allies) making first contact with alien civilizations. Whether peaceful or warlike, these depictions of a 'clash of civilizations' are nonetheless guided by the experience of the US as a near-unchallenged global superpower, which has never experienced a fall from power.

With global economic, political and maybe soon military leadership now falling to China, it makes sense to think about how China might approach the possibility of first contact very differently. Would a civilization which was once the most powerful one in the world, but then rapidly was crushed by a smaller but more technologically-advanced power (the British Empire) have a more cautious approach to contacting aliens?

This is the central question posed by Ross Andersen in his lengthy article for The Atlantic. Basing his piece around the opening of the largest radio telescope in the world, in southern China, he posits that China is now more likely than anywhere else to make first contact. China, however, including its leading sci-fi thinker – Li Cixin – may take a more pessimistic view to this contact. Having endured a 'century of humiliation' at the hands of advanced foreign powers, the popular view is that first contact would be disastrous for humanity.

Through the article's in-depth dive into China's history, and past scientific approaches, a Chinese first contact could be seen to take a very different form to a Western one. Of course, having lived in China, and studied its government and history, I would suggest another point not touched on in this article. If China found proof of alien intelligence, its national obsession with 'social harmony' would compel it to cover it up no matter the potential benefits to its prestige.