 | |
| Author | Liu Cixin |
|---|---|
| Original title | 三体 |
| Translator | Ken Liu |
| Language | Chinese |
| Series | Remembrance of Earth's Past |
| Genre | Hard science fiction |
| Publisher | Chongqing Press |
Publication date | 2008 |
| Publication place | China |
Published in English | 2014 by |
| Pages | 390 |
| Awards |
|
| ISBN | 978-7-536-69293-0 |
| Followed by | The Dark Forest |
| The Three-Body Problem | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 三体 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 三體 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Three Body" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Three-Body Problem (Chinese:三体;lit. 'three body') is a 2008 novel by the Chinesehard science fiction authorLiu Cixin. It is the first novel in theRemembrance of Earth's Past trilogy.[1] The series portrays a fictional past, present, and future wherein Earth encounters analien civilization from a nearbysystem of threeSun-like stars orbiting one another, a representative example of thethree-body problem inorbital mechanics.
The story was originallyserialized inScience Fiction World in 2006 before it was published as a standalone book in 2008.[2] In 2006, it received theGalaxy Award forChinese science fiction.[3] In 2012, it was described as one of China's most successful full-length novels of the past two decades.[4] The English translation byKen Liu was published byTor Books in 2014.[5] That translation was the first novel by an Asian writer to win aHugo Award for Best Novel;[6][7] it was also nominated for theNebula Award for Best Novel.[8]
The book has been adapted into other media. In 2015, a Chinesefilm adaptation of the same name was in production, but it was never released. A Chinese TV series,Three-Body, released in early 2023 to critical success locally. An English-languageNetflix series adaptation,3 Body Problem, was released in March 2024.
Liu Cixin was born in Beijing in June 1963. Before beginning his career as an author, he was asenior engineer working at apower plant inShanxi province.[9][10] In 1989, he wroteSupernova Era andChina 2185, but neither book was published at that time. His first published short story,Whale Song, was published inScience Fiction World in June 1999. The same year, his novelWith Her Eyes won the Galaxy Award.[11][12] In 2000, he wroteThe Wandering Earth, which also received the Galaxy Award[12] and was adapted into a film in 2019.[13] When the short storyMountain appeared in January 2006, many readers wrote that they hoped Liu would write a novel. He decided to concentrate on novel-length texts rather than short stories.[citation needed] Outside ofRemembrance of Earth's Past, Liu's novels includeSupernova Era andBall Lightning. When not otherwise busy, Liu wrote 3,000–5,000 words a day; each of his books reportedly took about one year to complete.[14]
During China'sCultural Revolution, astrophysicist Ye Wenjie witnesses her father beaten to death during astruggle session. A political outcast, Ye is initially sentenced to a labor camp but is then recruited to "Red Coast", a secret military initiative attempting tosearch for andcommunicate with extraterrestrial life.
At Red Coast, Ye discovers a method to amplifyradio frequency transmissions using the Sun, with which she believes secretly broadcasts a message. Eight years later, she receives a reply from the alien planet Trisolaris. Disillusioned by humanity's inability to live harmoniously with itself and nature, Ye invites the Trisolarans to Earth to settle its problems.
After China'sreforms, Ye encounters Mike Evans, heir to the world's largest oil company but also a radical environmentalist who shares Ye's ideals and disappointment in humanity. Ye discloses Trisolaris' existence to Evans, who founds and finances the secret Earth-Trisolaris Organization (ETO) as a militantfifth column for Trisolaris, with Ye as the ETO's leader.
Through Trisolaris-ETO communications, Trisolaris is revealed to be a planet orbiting theternary star system ofAlpha Centauri.[a] Because of thethree-body problem, the three stars' movements (and Trisolaris' position relative to them) arechaotic and unpredictable. As a result, Trisolaris experiences great climate extremes, alternating between temperate "Stable Eras" during which civilization thrives, and "Chaotic Eras" of climate catastrophes. The worst such catastrophes are civilization-ending. Hundreds of Trisolaran civilizations have risen and fallen, each attempting but failing to develop an accurate calendar that can predict and help prepare for Chaotic Eras.
Upon reception of Ye's broadcasts, the current and technologically advanced Trisolaran civilization identifies Earth as a colonization target, which will permit the Trisolaran civilization to escape their inhospitable and ultimately-doomed home planet. It dispatches an invasion force on a 450-year journey to Earth.
However, the Trisolaran leadership is concerned that Earth's accelerating technological developments will outmatch the invasion force by the time of its arrival. Therefore, Trisolaris develops "sophons" (minuscule supercomputers embedded in singleprotons) in order to arrest Earth's technological development by interfering with its scientific experiments.
By the late-2000s/early-2010s, the sophon-induced apparent breakdown of science on Earth has prompted the suicides of prominent scientists. This alarms Earth's governments, who form an international task force to investigate, recruitingnanotechnologist Wang Miao and detective Shi Qiang. As part of his investigation, Wang plays thevirtual reality video gameThree Body, which is a simulation of Trisolaris created by the ETO to identify potential recruits and to garner sympathy for the Trisolaran plight.
Wang's successes inThree Body result in his induction into the ETO, where Ye reveals to Wang the full extent of the conspiracy. Wang also witnesses the schism between the "Adventist" faction of the ETO, which views humanity as irredeemable and promotes its complete destruction by Trisolaris, and the "Redemptionist" faction, which aims to save the Trisolaran civilization by developing a solution to the three-body problem and producing an accurate calendar.
Tipped-off by Wang, Shi and thePeople's Liberation Army raid the meeting, arresting Ye. An international military force then seizes the converted oil tanker housing ETO's communications with Trisolaris. From these actions, Earth's governments directly learn of Trisolaris' existence and the approaching invasion force. Wang and his colleagues resolve to fight in Humanity's defense.
In 2012, Chinese-American science-fiction authorKen Liu and translator Joel Martinsen were commissioned by the China Educational Publications Import and Export Corporation (CEPIEC) to produce an English translation ofThe Three-Body Problem, with Liu translating the first and last volumes, and Martinsen translating the second.[15] In 2013, it was announced that the series would be published by Tor in the United States[16] and by Head of Zeus in the United Kingdom.[17]
Liu and Martinsen's translations contain footnotes explaining references to Chinese history that may be unfamiliar to international audiences. There are also some changes in the order of the chapters for the first volume. In the translated version, chapters which take place during theCultural Revolution appear at the beginning of the novel rather than in the middle, as they were serialized in 2006 and appeared in the 2008 novel. According to the author, these chapters were originally intended as the opening, but were moved by his publishers to avoid attracting the attention ofgovernment censors.[15]
In Liu's early childhood, when he was three years old his family moved from the Beijing Coal Design Institute toYangquan inShanxi, due to his father changing jobs. He also spent a part of his childhood in the countryside around the ancestral hometown ofLuoshan, Henan. On 25 April 1970,Dong Fang Hong 1—China's first satellite—was launched. Liu remembered the launch as a pivotal event in his life, recalling a deep sense of longing on witnessing it.[18]
Several years later, Liu found a box of books under his bed in Yangquan, which included an anthology ofTolstoy,Moby-Dick,Journey to the Center of the Earth, andSilent Spring. Upon beginning to readJourney to the Center of the Earth, his father told him: "It's called science fiction, it's a creative writing based on science". This was his first encounter with the genre, and he later remarked: "My persistence stems from the words of my father." At that time, such books could only be safely read privately by individuals: "I felt like being alone on an island, it is a very lonely state".[18][19]
While the novel features several characters, its primary focus is on geopolitics, both in Mao's China and present-day civilization.
The opening scenes of the initial draft of the novel focus on Ye Wenxie's experiences in thePeople's Liberation Army and depict the brutality, anti-intellectualism, and environmental destruction of Mao Zedong's government. Liu's publisher encouraged him to move these scenes deeper into the book to avoid attracting criticism byChinese government censors; later, for the English translation and for many of the film adaptations, the scenes were restored.[20] Peter Suderman of Reason magazine interpreted the inability of the trisolarans to communicate privately, and the ubiquity of the sophons, as an allegory for the Chinese surveillance state. He likened the mob that beats scientists to death during the "struggle sessions" to a warning about mob mentality.[21]
Despite the brutality Liu depicts, ultimately Ye Wenxie is also a radical and a villain for her nihilistic attitude about humanity. Jiayang Fan's profile in The New Yorker depicted Liu as less critical of the authoritarian Chinese government than she expected. When she pushed Liu about his political views, Liu was sympathetic toward many of China's controversial authoritarian policies, demonstrating a utilitarian belief in the greater good.[22]Three-Body Problem similarly is critical of overly individualistic ideology, often pointing out that the only way for humanity to defeat the trisolaran threat is to set its short-term goals aside.
Ross Douthat wrote inThe New York Times about the book's criticisms of futilist thinking, nihilism, and "angst".[23]
Reverence and fear of the universe is one of the main themes of Liu's writing. According to him, as humans we will stand in awe of the scale and depth of the universe. His novels also focus on curiosity about the unknown. Liu says he cannot help thinking about the future world and lifestyle of human beings, and he tries to invoke readers' curiosity with his books. He also believes that humans should be treated as an entirety.[24]Liu tried to answer the existential dilemma of "where should mankind go from here" through various efforts.[25]
A hard science fiction novel, the book explores the positive and negative implications of technological progress, particularly through Wang Miao's nanomaterials research. While Wang has positive intentions for the applications of his nanotechnology, Liu presents the destructive military application of the technology as almost inevitable.[26]
In December 2019,The New York Times citedThe Three-Body Problem as having helped to popularize Chinese science fiction internationally, crediting the quality of Ken Liu's English translation, as well as endorsements of the book byGeorge R. R. Martin,Facebook founderMark Zuckerberg, and former U.S. presidentBarack Obama.[15] George R. R. Martin wrote a blog about the novel, personally expressing its worthiness of the Hugo Award.[27] Obama said the book had "immense" scope, and that it was "fun to read, partly because my day-to-day problems withUnited States Congress seem fairly petty".[28]
Kirkus Reviews wrote that "in concept and development, it resembles top-notchArthur C. Clarke orLarry Niven but with a perspective—plots, mysteries, conspiracies, murders, revelations and all—embedded in a culture and politic dramatically unfamiliar to most readers in the West, conveniently illuminated with footnotes courtesy of translator Liu."[29] Joshua Rothman ofThe New Yorker also called Liu Cixin "China's Arthur C. Clarke", and similarly observed that in "American science fiction ... humanity's imagined future often looks a lot like America's past. For an American reader, one of the pleasures of reading Liu is that his stories draw on entirely different resources", citing his use of themes relating to Chinese history and politics.[30]
Matthew A. Morrison wrote that the novel could "evoke a response all but unique to the genre: an awe at nature and the universe [which] SF readers call a 'sense of wonder'".
American streaming serviceNetflix announced in 2020 thatGame of Thrones writersDavid Benioff andD. B. Weiss would be adapting the series into asci-fi TV drama, making it one of the few originally non-English books adapted by Netflix. On the 18 June 2023, Netflix uploaded ateaser for the upcoming release.
| Awards | |
|---|---|
| 2006 Yinhe (Galaxy Award) | Won[3] |
| 2010 Chinese Fantasy Star Award for Best Novelette | Won[31] |
| 2014Nebula Award for Best Novel | Nominated[32][33] |
| 2015Hugo Award for Best Novel | Won[34] |
| 2015 John W. Campbell Memorial Award | Nominated[35] |
| 2015Locus Award for Best SF Novel | Nominated[36] |
| 2015Prometheus Award | Nominated[37] |
| 2015John W. Campbell Memorial Award | Nominated[38] |
| 2017Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for Best Foreign SF work | Won[39] |
| 2017Premio Ignotus for Foreign Novel | Won[40] |
| 2017Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire for Foreign Novel | Nominated[41] |
| 2018 Premio Italia Award for Best International Novel | Won[42] |
| 2018 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society | Won[43] |
| 2019 Booklog Award for Best Translated Novel | Won[44] |
| 2020Seiun Award for Best Translated Novel | Won[45] |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
