Liu Cixin

Liu Cixin (, pronounced ; born 23 June 1963) is a Chinese computer engineer and science fiction writer. In English translations of his works, his name is given as Cixin Liu. He is sometimes called "Da Liu" ("Big Liu") by his fellow science fiction writers in China.

He is a nine-time winner of China's Galaxy Award, and has also received the 2015 Hugo Award for his novel The Three-Body Problem, as well as the 2017 Locus Award for Death's End. He is also a winner of the Chinese Nebula Award. He is a member of the China Science Writers Association and the vice president of the Shanxi Writers Association.

Life and career Liu was born on 23 June 1963 in Beijing. He grew up in Yangquan, Shanxi, Due to the violence of the Cultural Revolution he was sent to live in his ancestral home in Luoshan County, Henan. Liu graduated from the North China University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power in 1988. He then worked as a computer engineer at a power plant in Shanxi province. While working as an engineer, he finished his first two long form novels, China 2185 and Supernova-Era.

In 2021, Liu announced that he would head SenseTime's Science Fiction Research Planetary Centre. It appears to be a language model, capable of generating works in the style of 1980s Misty poems.

Writing

Liu's works are often considered hard science fiction. This novel imagines the digital recreation a digital clone the brains of Mao Zedong and five other men, and the consequences that follow once the digital beings enter China's general network.

Liu's most famous work, The Three-Body Problem, was first published in 2006. Liu Cixin thus became the first author from Asia to win Best Novel. The German translation (which included some portions of the original text not included in the English translation) followed in 2016. Ken Liu also translated the third volume of The Three-Body Problem series, Death's End, in 2016. Death's End was a 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel finalist and won a 2017 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

As pieces of Chinese science fiction literature, Liu's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy was a success within both the Chinese territories and internationally. In 2012, the winner of the Nobel Prize of Literature, Mo Yan, acclaimed the remarkable originality of Liu Cixin. Liu's fiction focuses primarily on problems such as social inequality, scientific development and ecological limitations that impact humanity. Liu cites English authors George Orwell and Arthur C. Clarke as important literary influences. The books of Jules Verne were also literary works that Liu frequented growing up.

To Liu, literature can appear as a self-absorbed art form, mentioning that, despite the species' brief existence in the overall span of the universe, humanity uses literature to mostly write about their own experiences. Due to this idea, and because of his belief in hard science fiction, Liu tries to place importance on science and technology instead of humanity in his own writing. However, he still acknowledges that, compared to science, literature expresses its qualities in a way that is not barred behind prerequisite knowledge.

Adaptations Chinese video platform Tencent Video released a series based on The Three-Body Problem in January 2023.

A cinematic adaptation of The Three-Body Problem has been filmed, but its release has been indefinitely postponed. In March 2018, Amazon was rumored to be negotiating for the rights to the project. However, YooZoo Pictures released a statement in response stating that it was the "sole owner of the rights for film and TV series adaptations." and in 2020, October Media announced another adaptation in the works.

The cinematic adaptation of his short story The Wandering Earth was released in China on 5 February 2019, which became the second highest-grossing film in the Chinese box office within 2 weeks.

The science-fiction comedy film Crazy Alien, adapted from his science fiction short story The Village Teacher, had grossed 2.2 billion at the box office, making it the fifteenth film in Chinese film history with a box office exceeding 2 billion.

US streaming platform Netflix announced in September 2020 that it had ordered an English-language series based on Liu's trilogy The Three-Body Problem. Liu would serve as a consulting producer on the project. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were named as writers and executive producers. Other members of the creative team included executive producer Rian Johnson, Ram Bergman, Bernadette Caulfield, Nena Rodrigue, Lin Qi, and Rosamund Pike. The Netflix television adaptation started production in early November 2021, and was released on 21 March 2024.

Chinese video sharing website Bilibili released a series exploring the science of Liu Cixin's science fiction in November 2022.

Recurring themes In most of Liu's works, two themes are prominent: posthumanism and political criticism through the lens of a utopia. While Liu's use of posthumanism is more overt than his use of political criticism, both themes play an important role in some of Liu's most famous works, including The Three-Body Problem trilogy and China 2185.

Posthumanism As a proponent of hard science-fiction, Liu thinks that human belief systems, and how self-referential they are, pale in significance when compared to science, technology, and the greater universe. Thus, even if human life were to be extinguished, it would be of little importance to the rest of the universe at large. The novel, as well as the third book in the trilogy (and the unofficial fourth book by Chinese author Baoshu), was translated by Ken Liu.

The novel has garnered several awards, including a Hugo Award in 2015 and a Nebula award.

Political views

In a June 2019 interview published in The New Yorker, interviewer Jiayang Fan found that Liu "prefers to avoid" talking about politics. In the same article, Liu stated that democracy was not appropriate for modern China. When probed by Fan about "individual liberty and freedom of governance", Liu said that this is "not what Chinese people care about", adding "If you were to loosen up the country a bit, the consequences would be terrifying." He expressed support for policies such as the one-child policy.

Nevertheless, Liu's works (including some of his adaptations) contain various subtle and plot-wide criticisms of the actions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In one such case, Liu moved a brutal struggle session that was common during the Cultural Revolution from the middle of the book to the beginning of The Three-Body Problems English translation when suggested by his translator, Ken Liu. In response to the prominently placed plot point, Liu Cixin replied, "That is how I wanted it originally!" The Netflix adaptation, where Liu Cixin was also a consultant, also starts with the struggle session. Liu Cixin's Chinese publishers chose to place the politically charged scene in the middle of the book instead of the beginning, in order to get past government censors. Furthermore, Liu believes that the Chinese Government should try and help the people of the world today when it comes to the issues and challenges they face in life. 2005 赡养人类 (Support Human Beings) 2006 三体 (The Three-Body Problem)

赡养上帝 (¿Quién cuidará de los dioses?) Ignotus Awards Foreign Short Stories

Hugo Award Best Novel

John W. Campbell Memorial Award — Locus Award Best SF Novel Nebula Award Best Novel Prometheus Award —

Canopus Awards — (Die drei Sonnen) Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis Best Foreign SF work (El problema de los tres cuerpos) Premio Ignotus Foreign Novel (Le Problème à trois corps) Grand prix de l'Imaginaire Foreign Novel

Dragon Award Best Science Fiction Novel Hugo Award Best Novel Locus Award Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel 2018 — — — 2019 圆 (The Circle)

Best Translated Short Story 2020 三体 (The Three-Body Problem) Best Translated Long Work 2021 三体II 黒暗森林 (The Dark Forest) Best Translated Long Work 2023 流浪地球 (The Wandering Earth) Best Translated Short Story