Interesting interview with Ken Liu.

Liu: I think that what's unique about sci-fi--at least from the view of a lot of Chinese writers--is that sci-fi is least-rooted in the particular culture that they're writing from.

There's a phrase among Chinese writers that says, "there are no glazed tiles on Mars." What it means is this: Chinese palaces, traditionally, are covered with glazed tiles, or glazed shingles if you will. The point of the phrase is, when you go into space, you become part of this overall collective called "humanity." You're no longer Chinese, American, Russian, or whatever. Your culture is left behind. You're now just "humanity" with a capital H, in space.