‘The Three-Body Problem’: Liu Cixin’s novel is a heady blend of ethics, physics and Chinese history

Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem – the first of a popular trilogy titled Remembrance of Earth’s Past – has entertained and challenged readers since first appearing in Chinese in 2006.

The 2014 English translation, by acclaimed American science-fiction author Ken Liu, became the first work by an Asian author to win the Hugo Award for best sci-fi novel.

The book is among the most widely-read works of modern Chinese fiction in English, and Liu’s critical reputation and fan base (which includes Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg) continues to grow. A 30-episode Chinese adaptation of the The Three-Body Problem aired in 2023; Netflix released a condensed, eight-episode version later in March 2024.

A key element of the book’s English-language success may be Ken Liu’s interventionist translation. With the author’s blessing, Liu rearranged the chapter order, reversing an earlier precaution taken by Cixin to limit Chinese censors’ interest in the original.

Thus, in English, the novel begins with the chaos and trials of the Cultural Revolution.

That upheaval, which tore families apart, traumatising a generation, also marked Liu Cixin’s early childhood. His father, a member of a mining institute cadre, was sent from Beijing to work in the mines of Shanxi province. Some of his earliest memories are of gunfire and the armbands worn by the Red Guards. As the city...

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