I had to read the English translation since I cannot read or speak Mandarin unfortunately. Its a really good and engaging book imo, gets better with every page and supposedly loveecraft level shit goes down by the end.

In the beginning tho there are a few scenes describing the Cultural Revolution and struggle sessions.

Is it true that Einstein's theories of Relativity were frowned upon by red guard university students because they were seen as capitalist propaganda?

And is it true that some university lecturers were beaten to death during the struggle sessions? I mean cool if they deserved it (feudal landlords etc.) but the Relativity part seems a bit like the author making shit up.

Its funny how despite this the author is not even overtly rabidly critical of Marxism or Communism itself, unlike western authors who spend 10 pages to explain why "muh gommunism bad" every time such events get brought up. Liu seems to be critical of just the events which transpired during the cultural revolution.

You shouldn't pirate the book from z-library because its very unethical and a breach of IP, so you will be sent to hell when you die.

  • TheCaconym [any]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    Its funny how despite this the author is not even overtly rabidly critical of Marxism or Communism itself

    Why would he - Liu Cixin has been pretty tight lipped about his politics but some of them were gleaned in one interview:

    According to a June 2019 interview and profile article by The New Yorker, Liu avoids talking about politics. In the same article, Liu argued that democracy was not appropriate for modern China, and individual liberty and freedom of governance 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 and the Xinjiang re-education camps, saying "the government is helping their economy and trying to lift them out of poverty". The article reported that Liu had "become wary of touting the geopolitical underpinnings of his work".

    These few statements alone in a single article were enough to motivate five republican senators to write an official letter to Netflix asking if they were aware of it and that they shouldn't proceed with the netflix adaptation of the trilogy (they ignored them with a canned response). So one can see how he'd be wary of expressing political opinions publicly.

    • SuperNovaCouchGuy [any]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      Liu argued that democracy was not appropriate for modern China, and individual liberty and freedom of governance is “not what Chinese people care about”,

      He expressed support for policies such as the one-child policy and the Xinjiang re-education camps, saying “the government is helping their economy and trying to lift them out of poverty

      WHOA thank you for that interview link, a fantastic sci-fi writer and also dangerously based!!! :sicko-pog: