This article is translated from Chinese to English by Google Translate software

Liu Cixin and his "Three-Body Problem": the coexistence of conscience pollution and grandeur deep

In the past ten years, the science fiction novel "Three-Body Problem" has become popular in China and spread all over the world. Its success lies not only in the fact that Chinese works have historically won the Hugo Award, the highest award in the world of science fiction, but also in reflecting, inspiring and declaring a generation of Chinese people (or at least a certain group of Chinese people of a certain type on a large scale) The value orientation of a certain period of time) has achieved a broad and deep resonance among Chinese people, especially young people. And the author Liu Cixin has also become the super idol of the fans of "The Three-Body Problem", and their worship and maintenance have reached a level that any other contemporary writer can hardly match.

I have read "The Three-Body Problem" many times by myself, and I can basically finish it without missing a single sentence, without ignoring any plot, and left a deep impression on it. I also had a limited but relatively sufficient understanding of the author Liu Cixin's background, remarks, and values. The relevant conclusions should have been mentioned at the end of this article, but I don’t know when this article will be completed, and I need to give a general evaluation first. Therefore, I will make an overall evaluation of "The Three-Body Problem" and Liu Cixin at the beginning of this article.

The book "The Three-Body Problem" is a story about the struggle between human beings and alien civilizations in a sci-fi nature, reflecting some essential characteristics of human nature and human society, as well as reflections on the history and reality of human beings and the universe, and predictions on the future. , scientific and philosophical thinking, which shows the author's deep insight, imagination, and powerful ability to construct, represent and express what he reveals in a sci-fi way. However, the emotional tendency and implied value orientation of the works and the author are generally social Darwinism, non-sympathetic, inhumane, and non-fraternal, deprecating progressivism and social justice, and the author's personal character and moral integrity are also very problematic. The level of this work can be ranked among the thousands of literary works of great value, inspiration and influence in the world from ancient times to the present, but its implied and guided values, moral values and humanistic spirit are completely incomparable with those It is even said that it is a negative and harmful moral and humanistic value. This is my rough evaluation, and more specific evaluations will be written in the text and at the end of the text.

"The Three-Body Problem" is so vast and densely detailed that I cannot, of course, repeat it here. Therefore, I am writing this book review on the assumption that the reviewers of this book have read "Three-Body" thoroughly. However, I will still include some background and plot introductions in the comments, such as citing the original text of "The Three-Body Problem", so that this article can be understood by those who have not read (at least not carefully read) "Three-Body Problem". For the convenience of writing, I will take the order in which the characters and events of "Three-Body" are mentioned in the book, discuss and analyze these characters and events as units, and make appropriate conclusions and overviews.

In the article, I will make a lot of judgments on the emotion and motivation of Liu Cixin's writing content. Of course, this kind of judgment cannot have "conclusive" evidence in the legal sense, but relies heavily on speculation and association. Moreover, this kind of judgment cannot be 100% consistent with Liu Cixin's original intention, and no one has such ability, unless someone can detect what Liu Cixin's brain is thinking. There are also many judgments based on the objective influence of Liu Cixin and his "Three-Body Problem" and the reader's response. What meaning a work expresses depends to a large extent on the meaning considered by the mainstream among readers who have the right of free expression (especially when the author has the ability to deny but does not deny, and denies but is illogical). The relationship between author and reader, work and response is an interactive relationship, rather than a one-way imbued meaning. The author should also consider what impact it will have when writing, including what he thinks is "misunderstood". Therefore, I will infer Liu Cixin's content and emotion in "The Three-Body Problem" through its perception and influence among readers. This is not intentional to wrong him.

Also, as a review article, this article is of course mainly critical. Even if I agree with some of Liu Cixin's views, I will not mention them in a large space. For Liu Cixin's less controversial characters (or at least I don't think there is anything to criticize), such as Zhang Beihai, Luo Ji, etc., as well as some events and plots that have no special metaphorical meaning, it will not cost much. pen and ink. Most of the content I write is the part that has objections. On the whole, as mentioned earlier, I praised his "ability" and criticized his "virtue".

(1) Shi Qiang

The first character to appear in "The Three-Body Problem" is the scientist Wang Miao, but the first character to be portrayed in detail is the policeman Shi Qiang who came to interview Wang Miao. In just a few pages, a brutish, invasive character is portrayed. Fans who are familiar with "The Three-Body Problem" certainly know that the description of Shi Qiang in the opening chapter and similar descriptions in the following are all foreshadowing the contrast of Shi Qiang's shrewdness, courage and sense of responsibility.

Or to be more precise, Liu Cixin deliberately associates cunning and stubbornness with competence and responsibility, implying that characters with hooligan tendencies are often "cold on the outside and hot on the inside", and are essentially good people.

Let's intercept the description of Shi Qiang in the novel, so we can see what kind of values Liu Cixin wants to express and try to instill.

At the beginning of "The Three-Body Problem", when Shi Qiang meets Wang Miao:

(Wang Miao said) "'Science Frontier' is an academic organization with great influence in the international academic circle, and its members are all famous scholars. Why can't I get in touch with such a legitimate academic organization?"

"Look at you!" Shi Qiang said loudly, "Did we say it's illegal? Did we say we won't let you touch it?" As he spoke, the smoke he inhaled just now sprayed onto Wang Miao's face superior.

……

"I have the right not to answer, please go ahead." Wang Miao said and turned to go back to the room.

"Wait!" Shi Qiang said sharply, and at the same time waved his hand at the young police officer next to him, "Give him the address and phone number, and go for a walk in the afternoon."

And it was just such a person, when Wang Miao was hit by the phantom created by the Trisolarans and almost committed suicide later, Wang Miao summoned up the courage to live in a clever way, and cheered up to participate in cracking the Earth Trisolarans organization. (ETO) conspiracy. Afterwards, Shi Qiang also came up with an ingenious strategy (namely "Operation Guzheng") to ambush Ivans and the "Judgment Day", and rescued and protected another scientist Luo Ji many times. In addition, Liu Cixin also described the profound friendship between Shi Qiang, Wang Miao and Luo Ji. It was with Shi Qiang's encouragement that Wang Miao regained the courage to live, and helped the government and military police solve a series of crimes committed by the "Three-Body Organization"; Luo Ji, and made him unrestrained enough to take up the responsibility of defending mankind.

We first saw the image of Shi Qiang, very similar to the evil police who abused police power and oppressed the people in reality. The book does list his bad deeds: disregarding the safety of the hostages when handling hostage-taking incidents, instigating gangsters to eat gangsters, extorting confessions by torture... Such a "evil policeman" saved an important scientist, and then saved the fate of mankind.

Liu Cixin's implication here is that virtue is not important, talent is the first; abuse of power, violation of law and discipline does not matter, the most important thing is "usefulness". Moreover, although such a person is cruel to strangers and enemies, he can still treat his friends with sincerity. Furthermore, Liu's Spring and Autumn style of writing implies that it is precisely wicked people like Shi Qiang who have the cunning, courage, and talent that ordinary people don't have, and people who are polite and law-abiding can't do it. It is easy to draw an inference: people should tolerate the wicked, the police, and their illegal behavior, because only such people who have experienced ugliness and are full of gangsters have the ability to protect us. Perhaps this is what Liu Cixin wants to convey to us. This is not an isolated case in "The Three-Body Problem", and there are some characters behind, such as Thomas Vader, who can prove Liu's faint hint.

Throughout the book, there are many positive descriptions of Shi Qiang, such as the aforementioned friendship between him, Wang Miao and Luo Ji, which is very touching. Liu Cixin tried to strengthen Shi Qiang's hooliganism and chivalrous heart, so that people can form an impression that this kind of person who looks bad (and actually has a clearly bad side) is inherently good, and people should understand, Tolerate, appreciate and praise them. This is a bit like the description in "Water Margin" of those heroes who are both chivalrous and righteous. However, the "heroes" in the Water Margin are people who are against the system and power, while Shi Qiang and Thomas Vader in Liu Cixin's works are both the ruling class who wear official clothes and maintain order, and are also part of the violent machine. "Water Margin" extols the spirit of resistance, while "Three-Body Problem" praises the "spirit of oppression." And no matter what Liu Cixin's subjective intentions are, it is a fact that objectively he has wiped out the people of the country's powerful departments. Most literary writers will condemn the brutality of violent machines and the filth of the ruling class in between the lines (including the gangster novel "Once Upon a Time in the Northeast", which is not very high-style, it also first talks about the corruption of the cadre class and the suppression of democratic protests by the regime, and then Talking about gang violence in civil society), only Liu Cixin who can play tricks sing praises for the system and its attachments.

Another description of Shi Qiang not only enriches the image of Shi Qiang as a "rogue police hero", but also reveals Liu Cixin's stigma and resentment towards the relatively marginalized and unfortunate family victims in society. In the book, there is a scene when Shi Qiang and the military police raided the ETO meeting and encountered a young girl threatening with a bomb:

"Stop." The nuclear bomb girl gave Da Shi a warning wink, her right thumb was firmly pressing on the detonation switch, and her nail polish was shining in the light of the flashlight.

"Take it easy girl, there is something you want to know." Da Shi stood seven or eight meters away from the girl, and took out an envelope from his pocket, "Your mother found it."

The girl's radiant eyes dimmed immediately, but at this moment, these eyes really led to her heart.

Da Shi took the opportunity to take another two steps forward, shortening the distance between himself and the girl to about five meters. The girl vigilantly threw a nuke and stopped him with her eyes, but her attention had been greatly distracted. One of the two who had thrown away the fake nuclear bomb just now walked towards Da Shi and reached for the envelope he was holding. Da Shi drew out his pistol like lightning. His action of drawing the gun was just blocked by the person who took the letter. The girl didn't see it. She only saw a flash of light in the ear of the letter taker, and the nuclear bomb in her arms was hit and exploded.

……

"Who is that girl?" Wang Miao asked.

Da Shi grinned, "How the hell do I know? I'm just guessing. Most of the girls like this have never met their mother. I have been in this business for more than 20 years, and I have learned to read people."

In Liu Cixin's writing, those who try to destroy the existing order and use extreme means to fight against the mainstream society are often victims and marginalized groups of society (of course, this is true objectively). Moreover, from the evaluation and tone of the girl that Shi Qiang said above, it can be seen that Liu Cixin does not have sympathy for her but contempt and disgust. This tone is like that of women who have been sexually assaulted in conservative societies. Instead of expressing deep sympathy, they feel that the victims are "dirty". In the eyes of Liu Cixin, those who go to extremes, make trouble, and rebel against order are pitiful and hateful "motherless" bugs who have been abandoned by their families.

And this is in line with the values under the wave of social Darwinism in China today. Whenever an extreme event occurs in society, the Internet is full of voices saying "I don't want to know what he went through, I just want him to be executed", as if the guilty person is not Cai Jing Gaoqiu, but Yang Zhilin Chong (of course strictly speaking Yang Zhi and Lin Chong are indeed guilty). And for those poor people who take peaceful protests and formal channels to petition, people all look on and even gloat. It is not that they are ignorant of the sufferings of these victims, but they despise and reject them from above. Not only do they not feel that they have to bear certain responsibilities and participate in some necessary changes in society, but they also feel that these vulnerable people are in the way of their own eyesight and affect them. own mood. The fire of Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" is resonating between the lines and the self-interested mentality of the middle and upper class. (Of course, I don’t agree with hurting innocent people, and I think that once such a thing is done, no matter what the reason is, you need to bear the responsibility and cannot escape the crime, but it is necessary to discuss the reasons and solve the problem, even to ease the contradiction, not just rely on Violent coercion, killing rebound)

Characters like Shi Qiang in "The Three-Body Problem" also have many god-like images in European, American, Japanese and Korean literature and film and television works. At the critical moment, he showed extraordinary courage and sense of responsibility to reflect the complexity and brilliance of human nature. But after careful analysis and feeling, you will find that the images and purposes of Shi Qiang, Thomas Vader, Luo Ji, etc. in "The Three-Body Problem" are actually different from most European, American, Japanese and Korean works. The latter (such as the seemingly similar characters depicted in Chekhov, Maupassant, Hugo, and Balzac’s novels) is to reflect the complexity of human nature and the brilliance of justice, while the former is more like whitewashing the powerful and the wicked. To subsidize oppressors and vested interests. This can be reasonably analyzed and speculated through the emotional tendency between the lines, detailed descriptions, the overall environment, and even the author's creative background and possible purpose. Of course, readers' own values and experiences will also cause different feelings. At least some people who have read Chinese and foreign literature and film and television works should have this resonance.

For example, Hugo's most famous book "Les Miserables" portrays the role of Jean Valjean as a "criminal". But Hugo did not describe Jean Valjean as disgusting as "Bomb Girl", on the contrary, he portrayed it quite sympathetically. Sergeant Javert, who enforces the law and arrests Jean Valjean, is not as "cool" and admirable as Shi Qiang because of his badness. Instead, he is portrayed by Hugo and makes readers feel hated. In the end, Sergeant Javert also regained his conscience, and completed the redemption together with Jean Valjean. In "Les Miserables", everyone has a conscience, and it is precisely because they all keep the bottom line, and even deliberately "let the water go (such as Javert let go of Jean Valjean)" when the goal can be achieved, so that "Les Miserables" can be described as "Les Miserables". End towards the light (rather than turning France and the world into a "dark forest").

Maupassant's "Ball of Fat", Chekhov's "Wanka", and Lu Xun's "Blessing" all take the portrayal of a vulnerable victim as the theme of their novels, expressing deep sympathy for the person involved, and describing her/ Their encounters are due to the bad environment, especially the ruthlessness of others, which lashed out at the ugliness and hypocrisy of society. More works of these three writers also have such emotional tendencies and moral positions. This is completely opposite to Liu Cixin's attitude of contempt and even mocking the weak, praising the wicked, and praising order.

This is not only the case with these masterpieces, but even some not-so-great literary and artistic works will retain many basic "human flavors". For example, in the criminal investigation drama "Six Serious Cases", which was once popular in China, the policemen in it also have different personalities, but they all retain a minimum of human conscience. Perhaps the image of Shi Qiang in The Three-Body Problem is more in line with the real face of some police officers, but obviously it should not be portrayed with praise and encouragement. The police in "Serious Cases Group Six" may be idealized, but such propaganda can also form a useful guide to the police force, rather than an evil hint.

(2) Cultural Revolution

The mention of the Cultural Revolution in "The Three-Body Problem" was regarded by some book critics as a major breakthrough in contemporary literature, and it also became a major selling point of "The Three-Body Problem". Some people who don't know much about the details think that Liu Cixin is a great writer who dares to touch sensitive issues and reflect on history. It is speculated that the first "Three-Body Problem" won the Hugo Award that year, which may have something to do with the book daring to mention this political taboo in China.

Indeed, the scale of the crazy years and fighting scenes mentioned in the article is shocking. Among the best-selling literary works publicly released in China, few directly present the tragic scenes of the Cultural Revolution like "Three-Body Problem". The book also depicts the destruction of knowledge, the persecution of scholars, and the human tragedy of family separation and friend betrayal under political struggles.

However, all these are just phenomena, phenomena. What about the essence? why? Who caused such a tragedy? Liu Cixin never made any unfavorable judgments on the regime and the ruling group that led to the Cultural Revolution, both in the book and in reality. While depicting various phenomena during the Cultural Revolution, it completely avoided reflection and criticism on related systems, characters, and culture. There is only a statement of the phenomenon. This statement and tone seem to tell people that this is a tragedy destined to happen in history, and there is no one responsible.

If Liu Cixin's calm narration of the Cultural Revolution cannot fully explain his political attitude, then his attitude towards the "initiator" of the Cultural Revolution is enough to reflect the problem.

In some documents about the "Red Shore Base", we can find a comment that clearly implies that it was written by Mao, the excerpt is as follows:

“The [instructions] have been read, and the shit doesn’t make any sense! Just post the big-character posters on the ground, and don’t send them to the sky. Discussed and approved at the Politburo meeting."

And this paragraph: "In this era, if you want to bring down a person with a high position, you must obtain his black materials in various fields in charge of him, but the two-bomb project is a tricky field for conspirators. This project is under the key protection of the central government. Under the circumstances, they were able to avoid the storm of the "Cultural Revolution", and it was difficult for them to intervene. "

It's the shameful logic of "it's the bottom people who do bad things, the emperor is enlightened". After the reform and opening up, the "first thirty years" of worshiping Mao Zedong as a "great and righteous" saint ended (although it has risen again in recent years), and it was replaced by some anecdotes and personalized speeches of Mao. Create an approachable, far-sighted, sharp-edged image, and skillfully avoid his great crimes, so as to attract the love and even admiration of those who don't know the whole picture. It has to be said that this way of describing is very confusing, and it is far better than the images of "Wei Guangzheng" and "Gao Quan" to capture the hearts of contemporary youth. As for the "key protection" of some scientists described, it is also a common method of washing the ground, picking up rice grains in the shithole, praising the "grand grace of the emperor", and shifting the responsibility to the "conspirator".

What's more, in fact, the personnel who developed the two bombs were not spared during the Cultural Revolution, and they were also brutally persecuted. Some scientists such as Yao Tongbin were beaten to death, Zhao Jiuzhang was forced to commit suicide, and Deng Jiaxian, the "father of the two bombs", and many other researchers involved in the work It has also been criticized, and the description in "Three-Body Problem" is a blatant falsification of history. Similarly, according to relevant historical facts, it is impossible for Mao to make such "enlightened" instructions on the field of two bombs (Zhou Enlai had relevant protection, even if it was not at the beginning but after the scientist was killed or committed suicide), This so-called "instruction" is also a fabrication (Mao did give instructions with a similar tone on other matters, but one cannot cover up his heinous crimes, and the other cannot explain that he did the same in the case of the two bombs, and historical facts clearly prove He didn't do it). Literary works can of course have reasonable fictions, but when they involve specific real historical events, they must conform to the basic facts, otherwise they are tampering and fabrication.

Liu Cixin used these methods in the book, not only writing off Mao's heinous crimes, but also endowing Mao with an enlightened, pragmatic, and de-ideological image. In this way, although Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" mentioned the cruelty of the Cultural Revolution, it not only did not lead to reflection on Mao's totalitarian tyranny, but instead added color to the devil and gilded the dark age. This is also in line with the fact that many young people adore Mao who don't know the truth, so that even though "Three-Body Problem" mentions the Cultural Revolution, it is still well received by young people with many Mao fans.

Liu Cixin's description of the Cultural Revolution in this way is to some extent more abhorrent and has a worse influence than those authors who avoid talking about the Cultural Revolution in their works. Borrowing Mao’s words, “Fighting the red flag against the red flag”, Liu Cixin’s portrayal of that period of history is very similar to “opposing the red flag on the surface, but actually raising the red flag” or saying “a little scolding but a big help”. It seems to be talking about the tragedy of the Cultural Revolution, but in fact it is Excusing the relevant responsible persons, using a superb writing method to avoid sensitivity but drawing opposite conclusions, people feel that Mao and others are really enlightened and innocent even when they know the cruelty of the Cultural Revolution. Obviously, this is also the reason why the book was published in mainland China without a lot of deletions and revisions to the plot involving the Cultural Revolution.

There are also passages in the book that show Liu Cixin’s affirmative attitude towards Mao, such as what Luo Ji said when the United Nations wanted Luo Ji to move to a residence more in line with the status of an important person like the Wallfacer:

"Do you know Xibaipo? It's not far from here. It's a smaller village. More than two centuries ago, the founder of this country commanded a national war there. The scale of those battles is rare in the world."

From the tone of this paragraph and the context, you can smell the disgusting smell of hair powder. The thoughts, policies and actions of this "country founder" have killed and killed tens of millions of people (including Liu Cixin's hometown of Henan, and most of the victims are Luoshan County, Liu's hometown, and Xinyang, which belongs to the county. City (then called Xinyang District)), destroyed tens of thousands or even countless cultural relics and historical relics, and also plunged China into a decades-long autocratic and brutal government, the rights of ordinary people were lost, and the disadvantaged groups suffered terribly , the legacy still exists today. Created by Mao ZedongstoleThe name of "China" is not grasped by the peopleA country with power and rights, let alone a "republic", allows more than one billion or even billions of citizens to live in the world's largest prison built by tangible borders and invisible walls.But Liu Cixin doesn't care about these things, and today's vested interests don't care about these things either. They enjoy superior material and non-material supplies, and then put on the cloak of patriotism and grand historical narrative for their luxury and lust, and are proud of being a big devil and national sinner. This is not only a symptom of social Darwinism, but also a typical manifestation of slave psychology.

Of course, some people will justify it by saying that "China is an autocracy today, and Liu Cixin has no choice but to do so." But at least he can use neutral words to describe Mao Zedong and related content, instead of describing it in a praise way. It's perfectly possible to do it, but he didn't do it. Therefore, Liu Cixin's praise is very worthy of criticism.

(It is worth mentioning that there is another section in this part, which is about Mao’s negation of the ultra-left speech, and then someone wrote a message to send to aliens, the content is as follows:

Best wishes to the world that receives this message.

Through the following information, you will have a basic understanding of Earth civilization. After a long period of labor and creation, human beings have established a splendid civilization, a rich and colorful culture has emerged, and a preliminary understanding of the laws of the operation and development of nature and human society. We cherish all of these.

But our world still has great flaws. There are hatred, prejudice and wars. Due to the contradiction between productivity and production relations, the distribution of wealth is seriously uneven. A considerable number of human members live in poverty and misery.

Human society is working hard to solve various difficulties and problems it faces, and strive to create a bright future for earth civilization. The cause of the country sending the message is part of that effort. We are committed to building an ideal society, so that the labor and value of every human member are fully respected, so that the material and spiritual needs of all people are fully satisfied, and the earth civilization becomes a more perfect civilization.

With good wishes, we look forward to establishing connections with other civilizations in the universe, and looking forward to working with you to create a better life in the vast universe.

Such a passage is again whitewashing the Cultural Revolution and embellishing Mao. In fact, under the kind of political fanaticism during the Cultural Revolution, it is more likely to be written by the original ultra-left fanatics:

Please pay attention to the world that has received the above message, the message you have received is sent by a country that represents revolutionary justice on earth! Before this, you may have received a message from the same direction, which was sent by an imperialist superpower on the planet, which is vying for world supremacy with another superpower on the planet, in an attempt to push back human history. I hope you will not listen to their lies and stand on the side of justice and the side of revolution!

This is exactly in line with the political rhetoric and diplomatic rhetoric of the Cultural Revolution period. Liu Cixin deliberately compiled these two paragraphs and compared them, intending to say that "Mao and the regime are neither bad nor crazy, only the following people are crazy" this old trick of defending the Cultural Revolution. But this old trick has been tried and tested, and under Liu's artistic processing, it can be more false than the real one. It is especially confusing to those who are not particularly clear about the historical facts of that period and only have a half-knowledge.)

(3) Ye Wenjie, Shao Lin and the Red Guards

Both Liu Cixin himself and his work "Three-Body Problem" have a strong misogyny complex. The villains or those who cause trouble in the article are generally women; while the ones who save the world are all men (of course there are exceptions, but generally speaking). Others will talk about it later, and now we will only talk about Ye Wenjie and people related to Ye Wenjie, Shao Lin and the female red guards.

Liu Cixin portrayed Ye Wenjie very well. The book spends a lot of time describing the various persecutions that Ye Wenjie suffered, such as losing her father and mother due to the Cultural Revolution, being abused by political cadres, and being betrayed by reporter Bai Mulin, etc. It portrays a woman who is full of bitterness and hatred, and is full of resentment and distrust for human beings. image. Liu Cixin must have known and contacted such victims in reality, or studied relevant historical archives and news materials, in order to portray a character like Ye Wenjie thoroughly. Like the above-mentioned portrayal of the bomb girl, Liu Cixin obviously has a lot of research on the behavior of victims of society planning revenge on society.

However, unlike the contempt and disgust for Bomb Girl, Liu Cixin has a certain amount of sympathy for Ye Wenjie. But fundamentally, Liu Cixin still classifies the victims of the era like Ye Wenjie as those who destroy the mainstream social order. Although Liu expressed more sympathy for Ye, he still viewed Ye from the perspective of mainstream society and counter-insurgents, that is, he would never praise the resistance of victims and the weak, but reminded the world to beware of such people. In Liu's writing, Ye Wenjie brutally killed her husband Yang Weining and her leader Lei Zhicheng, and caused the Three-Body Disaster to flood the earth. In the final analysis, Ye Wenjie is a sinner, a great sinner. Looking at "The Three-Body Problem" alone may not be so obvious, but compared with Chekhov, Maupassant, Ba Jin and other authors who eulogize the struggle of the weak who have been insulted and damaged, Liu Cixin's harshness towards victims and maintenance of order are incomparable It is clearly reflected. In the book, Ye Wenjie was poured cold water all over her body and blanket by a political cadre in winter, and Liu Cixin also poured cold water into the heart and liver of the weak with a pen.

In Liu Cixin's writing, Ye Wenjie redeemed herself by giving Luo Ji lectures on cosmic sociology, and was subsequently arrested and tried, and received the "deserved" punishment. The trauma suffered by Ye Wenjie was all blamed on Bai Mulin and other individuals, rather than the system and political power or even the culture and social structure. Even if the book vaguely mentions the background of the times and people's helplessness in the context of political turmoil, it still adheres to the red line of not involving criticism of historical reality. Shouting, reflection, and denunciation are absolutely unacceptable.

Moreover, looking at the whole book, it is reasonable to assume that Liu Cixin is using Ye Wenjie to "transform" the earth with the power of the three bodies, which is a metaphor for the social victims of China to lead the invasion of the United States. Or, at least, other people can reasonably understand it that way. This understanding of the relevant plot was mentioned in an article by a Chinese-American reporter in The New Yorker interviewing Liu Cixin. According to such a metaphorical inference, Liu Cixin's criticism of ETO for introducing the Three-Body Problem into the Earth is to criticize some "leading the way parties", or to force the Chinese liberals to be "leading the way parties". A reason to be sought after.

Another negative female character Liu Cixin portrays is Ye Wenjie's mother, Shao Lin. The image of this female character is negative. She not only betrayed her husband and wife and criticized her husband (but also opened her eyes and told nonsense, denying the generally accepted physical theorems as a physics expert). She alienated and abandoned Ye Wenjie with her new husband. This kind of plot should not be uncommon during the Cultural Revolution, and it is not uncommon to say that it is not uncommon when many disasters occur. What Liu wrote is a reproduction of the facts. But the problem is that Liu vilifies this forced self-preservation of women, implying women's ungratefulness. Moreover, in this article (including any other articles by Liu Cixin) there is no image of a man who always abandons a woman. On the contrary, there is an image of a man like Luo Ji who seems cynical but is very loyal and loving to his wife and children. Of course, it is not necessary for a work to deliberately maintain a balance on gender issues, but the text is born from the heart, combined with Liu Cixin's entire book and the values expressed in his daily life, there are sufficient reasons to believe that it is gender-biased.

The three female Red Guards depicted in the article can better reflect Liu Cixin's misogyny complex. In the article, three women, two men, and five Red Guards were deliberately written. The three female Red Guards were middle school students, and the two male Red Guards were college students. The three female middle school student Red Guards were very violent and savage, completely unreasonable. They only used slogans to deny Ye Zhetai's rebuttal based on facts, and then beat Ye Zhetai to pieces, and finally died. On the contrary, the male Red Guards "Have a residual sympathy for the teacher", and when the three female Red Guards were about to beat Ye Zhetai to death, they shouted "Highest instruction: fight with words and not with violence” (Er, here’s another Mao-defensive) attempt to prevent a tragedy.

During the Cultural Revolution, there were indeed many violent female Red Guards and other "revolutionary" women. It was a group of female students headed by Song Binbin who killed Bian Zhongyun, the principal of the Girls' High School Attached to Beijing Normal University. In addition, there are also many records of female Red Guards and rebels beating and murdering people. For example, Ji Xianlin recalled that the female rebel leader Nie Yuanzi commanded the rebels to persecute Peking teachers and students. Official history scholars such as Yang Jisheng specifically mentioned the rampage of young and young women, as well as various atrocities committed by some women who became Red Guards and rebel leaders, and were surprised by the madness of women, especially young women. In Beijing, the capital where the Cultural Revolution was most intense, and on some occasions, the female Red Guards did display extraordinary destructive power, and their atrocities were obvious to all.

However, this does not mean that women in violent movements such as the Cultural Revolution were generally more brutal and anti-intellectual than men. On the contrary, the majority of beatings and killings during the Cultural Revolution were still men, which is also proved by a large number of facts, especially those involving various perverted abuses were mostly committed by men. For example, most of the violent cases or incidents mentioned in Feng Jicai's "Ten Years of a Hundred People" were done or dominated by men. The reason why the violence of the female Red Guards is so eye-catching is largely because of the huge contrast between their tyrannical behavior and the traditional positioning of women in society and their performance before the tyranny. It becomes more prominent and specific. This just reflects the discipline and restraint of women in a patriarchal society, so that even if women do some bad behaviors like men, they will get more objections and condemnations. Of course, women's violence does have its unique features and some actions are more radical and fanatical than men at certain moments, but if this creates the impression that "women are more violent, more fanatical and more likely to be incited", it is entering patriarchy. Constructed consciousness nests. In other words, even if this is a reality that exists sometimes and should not be stripped of the background, it should not be evaluated from the perspective of traditional prejudice.

(4) Three-Body Game Netizen Gathering

In this gathering, apart from Wang Miao and Pan Han, Liu Cixin portrayed six characters:

"The old man with white hair and childlike face is a famous scholar who is famous for endowing Eastern philosophy with modern scientific connotation. The lady dressed strangely is a famous writer, a rare avant-garde novelist who has many readers. She wrote It doesn’t matter which page you start reading from. The other four are two middle-aged people, one is the vice president of the largest software company in China (dressed so plainly and casually, you can’t tell it at all), and the other is a member of the State Power Corporation. senior leaders; two young people, one is a reporter from a major domestic media, and the other is a doctoral student in science."

Liu Cixin endowed these six characters with different value choices. To put it simply, the six people were divided into two groups. One group included journalists, female writers, elderly philosophers, and doctoral students. They were endowed with the image of loathing human reality (even loathing the entire human race) and welcoming the invasion of the three bodies; The president and the leaders of Guodian were endowed with images of being calm, rational, and defending human civilization. Subdivided further, journalists and female writers are portrayed most radically, an image of being completely disappointed in human beings and eagerly embracing the three-body invaders.

This fully reflects Liu Cixin's views on various social groups, and it is also the common view of members of the China Social Development and Industrial Party. In the eyes of Liu Ji and others, journalists, writers, women, philosophers of literature and history, and young students are all irrational, talkative, emotional, fanatical converts, easily bewitched, too idealistic, and unreasonable. Reliable and easily betrayed... On the contrary, middle-aged men in Kochi Science and Technology, who work in science and engineering departments or national civil servants, are mature, rational, pragmatic, firm, conservative, ethical, reliable, serious about career, Allegiance of nations and men to...

Through this short chapter, Liu Cixin portrays several groups of people as he and his colleagues think they look like. These Socialist Industrialists have always valued theory over literature, despised social justice and humanitarianism, believed in the supremacy of strength, opposed criticism of the system, power, and the strong, and were good at selectively using cold logic, emphasizing spontaneous order against equal rights and amendments , full of law and order, but he often takes advantage of legal loopholes and skillfully uses unspoken rules, enjoying various privileges and superior conditions as a person with vested interests. They also like to play with their civil science-type half-baked cultural and historical knowledge, using a mechanical but cunning attitude to understand and explain humanistic and social phenomena. What's even more frightening is that some of these people have joined the key departments of the country, and in the state of "amateurs leading experts", they manage state affairs that should only be in charge of those who come from the humanities and social sciences. Such people are the most powerful force among China's vested interests, and they are very powerful in today's China. Liu Cixin praises such kindred spirits, and despises the humanities, human rights and human rights factions that oppose them, of course, he gets cheers from his kindred spirits. (Of course not to say that all science and engineering people are Socialist Industrialists, just a part or even a small part. But this small part is quite harmful)

(5) Evans

The image of Ivans is the "white left" that Liu Cixin and others recognize. However, Liu Cixin intentionally set this "White Left" as an extreme environmental protection and animal protection person, and several "Adventists" who joined the Three-Body Organization were also set up with similar images, implying that this is common to all "White Lefts" characteristics and tendencies. By generalizing the extremists, Liu achieved his sinister intention of stigmatizing the "white left".

Liu Cixin first described a Bethune-like character who is passionate about environmental protection and animal protection, who is selfless and only altruistic. But this is just wanting to restrain first. As Liu portrays Ivans' desperation for human beings to destroy the environment and his heart to destroy human beings, the great good man and the great evil man are equated, and the "white left" is equated with the devil. In the eyes of Liu Cixin and social activists, these "white leftists" who live a good life and are enthusiastic about the environment and animal protection have abandoned the principles of human beings first and "human" rights first, and will eventually destroy human beings. Liu Cixin is also hinting that people should be wary of such "white leftists" in power and prevent them from bringing about devastating consequences.

This is another thing that can resonate wildly with Liu Cixin's fans. On Chinese Internet platforms, the most abused is "white left". Not only environmental protection and animal protection activists will be regarded as "white leftists", such as advocates of improving social welfare, taxing the rich, racial equality, women's rights and LGBT rights, accepting immigrants, abolishing the death penalty... will be labeled "white leftists" The name. Socialists regard social equality and fraternity as enemies. They believe that these policies in the name of "love" and "equality" obliterate the value of natural selection of the fittest, and lead to the degeneration of people and society.

Liu Cixin created the image of Ivans as an extreme environmental protection activist to convey the idea that "white leftists" are wreaking havoc on the human world. Of course, he also created Cheng Xin, a more typical "White Left" who is very caring but has a lot of trouble, but I'll leave that for later. It is true that I personally oppose extreme environmental protection and animal protection activists, and disagree with some of the values and behaviors of the so-called "white leftists", but Liu Cixin's deliberate rendering of generalizations and extreme examples to imply universality is even more disgusting.

There is a passage from an ETO member in the book, which is worth pondering:

"This is not a rumor!" a European exclaimed, pushing forward, "My name is Rafael, from Israel. Three years ago, my fourteen-year-old son was in a car accident and I donated his kidney to the A Palestinian girl suffering from uremia expresses my wish for the peaceful coexistence of the two nations. For this wish, I can even give my life, and many Israelis and Palestinians are also doing it with me. The same sincere efforts. But all are useless, our homeland is still sinking deeper and deeper in the quagmire of retribution. This made me lose faith in human beings and joined the Trisolaran organization. Desperation turned me from a pacifist to a Extremists, at the same time, may also be due to my huge donation to the organization, which allowed me to enter the core of Adventism. Now I tell you that Adventism has its own secret program, which is: human beings are an evil species, human civilization has He committed a heinous crime against the earth and must be punished for it. The ultimate goal of the Adventists is to ask the Lord to execute this divine punishment: the destruction of all mankind!"

In Liu Cixin's view (or what he wants readers to think), if those who strongly pursue world peace and beauty fail to achieve such goals, they will turn to disgusting human beings out of despair and grief, and try to destroy everything. Peaceful "white leftists" are essentially potential terrorists, and their harm is much greater than ordinary bad guys who seek self-interest and have low morality. And some "White Left"'s persistent, firm beliefs, passionate emotions, and behaviors at any cost to change the reality will be regarded by Liu Cixin as crazy or a precursor to madness, as a destroyer of order or as a complete neuropathy. It should be vigilant, extinguished, and destroyed. As for "white leftists" like Ivans and Rafael who are rich and capable of putting their ideals into practice more actively, Liu Cixin believes that they should be more vigilant and eliminated, because these people are more realistically dangerous. In the book, Ivens and the "Adventists" died collectively in the "Guzheng Operation", which is the manifestation of Liu's resentment towards the "White Left". Even if Liu Cixin does not think that the white left will destroy the world, he still believes that the various behaviors and tendencies of the white left will objectively lead to the destruction of the world.

This is certainly not the case for the "white leftists" in the real world, or at least most of them are not. Although there are many left-wingers who have gone to extremes, they are very marginalized just like the Japanese Red Army, Red Brigade, and ETA who resorted to violence for extreme ideals, as well as some extreme (especially violent) environmental protection activists It does not at all represent the mainstream left that advocates change, love and peace first. As for the "leftists" or idealistic radicals like Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, no matter their values or behaviors, they are obviously very different from the "white leftists" described by Liu Cixin, and there is no comparison.

Of course, the mainstream leftists will indeed be disappointed and even desperate after continuous efforts but cannot solve the ugliness of human beings, and will also develop a feeling of "just destroy the world", but this kind of feeling does not mean that they will really choose this way in reality . Just like when people have conflicts with others or encounter grievances, it is normal for a certain period of time (or just a thought for a few seconds) to want to kill the other party or break the pot, but most of them will calm down, and it is impossible to really practice . Just like Lu Xun often made comments about the ugliness and despair of human nature, and he also said that "If you don't explode in silence, you will perish in silence", but does he really want people to destroy the world? No, on the contrary, he is calling on people to firmly pursue truth, goodness, beauty, fairness and justice. "White leftists" are generally very concerned about the issue of climate warming and preventing it from deteriorating. If they really want to destroy human beings out of despair and think the world is dirty, or feel that human destruction is not a pity, then they should be advocating giving up saving climate warming in anticipation of some Years later, the land will be submerged, and the high temperature will kill all human beings. Moreover, with the development of the times and social progress, the left wing or "white left" is becoming more and more moderate, and after some extreme attempts and failures in the 20th century, they now choose a more eclectic and rational way to solve problems instead of seeking absolute perfection .

(6) Dark Forest

"The Law of the Dark Forest" is the theme of the second part of Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem", and it also directly expresses his socialism philosophy. The so-called "dark forest" means that people (or the entire human civilization) are in a limited and dark space, and there is a life-and-death competition between people (or planets). In order to compete for living space and eliminate potential threats, these people (planets) are trying to get rid of or conquer each other. He also brought the "Law of the Dark Forest" to the fore by depicting Starfleet fighting each other for resources.

Liu Cixin's dark forest theory is obviously not mainly to explain the relationship between planets, but to refer to the relationship between people, groups and groups, countries and countries. Although Liu Cixin once denied this in an interview with him, his words were insincere. Liu Cixin's descriptions and values in "The Three-Body Problem" all refer to the real world and human society, not science fiction for science fiction's sake.

Values such as Liu Cixin pit different people or groups against each other, regard competition as a zero-sum game, and believe that only by destroying or conquering the other side can they be safe. This is the same value that prevailed around the world from two to three centuries ago to the middle of the last century (it was also once in China The social Darwinist ideas that are popular in academic circles) have a lot in common. In today's world, although this theory is no longer publicly recognized in the temples, it is popular everywhere in the world. From Russia to India, from Nigeria to Indonesia, socialism exists in the form of nationalism and populism. In China, however, it generally exists in the form of respecting the power and system, discrimination and bullying the weak among compatriots, and is closer to the true face of social Darwinism: bullying the weak and survival of the fittest. For example, Zhihu, a forum where Chinese elites gather, is the base of socialism, and it is also where fans of "The Three-Body Problem" and Liu Cixin gather.

The fundamental flaw of the "Dark Forest Law" is that it ignores the mutual assistance and cooperation between people or groups of people, spreads the goodwill of civilization, ignores the existence of moral, right and wrong, and humanitarian factors, and ignores the fact that there are better values and ways to improve the status quo in the future. Possibility (Liu even strongly opposes this kind of improvement in the book, the reason will be mentioned in the next section), ignores the necessity of pursuing humanity, equality, and mutual trust, and regards interpersonal, ethnic, and international relations as completely inhumane The cold and naked interest relationship, which replaces human rationality and sensibility with mechanical rationality, does not fully conform to the reality of interpersonal and international relations.

Of course, I do not mean to deny that there are games, confrontations, and even zero-sum aspects in inter-ethnic international relations, and I do not deny that there are extensive intrigues, intrigues, and violence in related relations (even on the contrary, I am sure that these exist, and Its dominant role in human social relations in history and reality). Typical nuclear deterrence among countries such as the United States, the Soviet Union, India and Pakistan, and among the world's nuclear powers is the realistic version of "dark forest deterrence". In real life, there are also situations, from officials to ordinary employees, where all parties hold each other's "black materials" to threaten each other. There are often gains and losses in games and struggles between people based on strength, unknowns, and ingenuity. It can be said that many situations in the "dark forest" have already occurred between countries, groups and groups, and people on the earth.

However, this is not all, just a part, a side. More importantly, evil is a reality, but it does not mean that it is reasonable and should be, and such evil should not be advocated. Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" magnifies this aspect into the whole of social relations, and affirms it as the basis of survival and the rules of the game, and implies that only such evil, loss of humanity and abandonment of warmth can preserve human civilization. This is poisoning people's hearts, destroying goodwill and trust, making people no longer seek a more reasonable way of resolving disputes and living, and leading people to a social environment guided by the law of the dark forest.

However, we cannot deny the objective existence of this situation, and cannot abandon the necessity of using chips to retain deterrent capabilities. This is indeed falling into the nest of "dark forest", but we can't completely escape from this reality. Only flowers protected by swords and shields can bloom for a long time. It's just that we don't want to get completely lost and intoxicated in this "dark forest" type of social relationship.

(7) After the Great Trough to the destruction of Starfleet and the late period of Deterrence Era

These two years were described by Liu Cixin as very beautiful, material abundance, social harmony, and human rights and freedoms were fully respected. For example, the highly humanized lifestyle brought about by full automation and digitalization; the condemnation and termination of human rights violations, abuse of power, and lack of supervision caused by the "Wall Facing Project"; financial compensation for accidents in life; Provide generous and huge deposit interest for hibernators... In short, let people live comfortably and with dignity.

However, all of this is to restrain the desire, or to pave the way for the tragedy that follows. In Liu's writing, people at this time have become overconfident in human civilization, and thus have developed too much sympathy and empathy, lost vigilance and crisis awareness, and eventually led to the destruction of Starfleet, and The agony of human despair in the period before the era of deterrence. The description of the later period of the deterrence era (to the time when deterrence expires) is similar. A few typical passages are extracted here for analysis.

Before the Starfleet contacted the "water droplet" sent by Trisolaran, there was such a description:

"The public's feelings towards the Trisolaran world began to shift from hostility and hatred to sympathy, pity and even admiration. People are also aware of the fact that the ten water droplets of the Trisolaran world were released two centuries ago, and human beings have until now Only then did they truly understand their meanings. This is certainly because the actions of the Three-Body Civilization were too reserved, but it also reflected the mentality of human beings distorted by their own bloody history. In the referendum on the global Internet, the support rate of the Sunshine Project A sharp rise, and more and more people tend to use Mars as a strong survival plan for the Trisolaran settlement.”

This passage concentratedly reflects the fundamental change of human beings' views on the Three-Body Problem and the Three-Body World after the end of the Great Depression and the "Second Enlightenment/Renaissance/Great Revolution" and "Giving Civilization to Time". The reason for this change is precisely the product of its own material wealth, military strength, and ideological civilization. The change of human situation and the re-civilization of society have made human beings change from fear, hostility and high vigilance towards the Trisolaran world to a kind of sympathy and pity. At this time, the mentality of human beings is in stark contrast to the despair that happened later when the Star Fleet was almost wiped out.

Take this passage describing the attitude of officials at a government meeting in Shi Qiang’s area as an example:

"It was a meeting of the district government, and the district administrators were all present. The hibernators made up about two-thirds, and the rest were modern people. They can now be clearly distinguished: although both are in a state of extreme depression, the hibernators Ordinary officials have maintained a normal state in low mood, while modern people are more or less showing signs of collapse. Since the beginning of the meeting, their emotions have lost control many times. Shi Xiaoming's words once again touched their fragile nerves The chief executive of the district was still crying, covering his face with his hands in tears, which attracted several other modern officials to cry with him; the officials in charge of regional education laughed hysterically, and a modern man roared in pain, Throw a glass on the ground..."

This is true for officials, let alone ordinary people. Later, tens of thousands of people commit adultery together, Luo Ji was first worshiped and then expelled, etc., reflecting the despair of human beings.

The ups and downs of human mentality from despair to self-confidence to despair are embarrassing. The kind of "compassion" towards the three-body world when he was confident has also become a huge joke, a cruel irony that human beings give themselves. Judging the opponent with good intentions, but ended up facing the end of destruction. The destruction of the Earth Fleet is largely due to human beings' underestimation and credulity. This kind of credulity also comes from the fact that people have lived in civilization for a long time, have lost their vigilance against the dangers of the universe, and think of the enemy too beautifully and benevolently.

Liu Cixin's irony of human beings being kind but being deceived, and good intentions leading to disasters, did not stop there. On the contrary, the human beings in "Three-Body Problem" repeated such a tragedy afterwards, which is the period of history that happened in the late era of deterrence.

After the destruction of the earth fleet and the killing of the remaining fleets, human beings are already very desperate. They just wait for the earth to be invaded and human beings to perish under the condition of infertility. However, the scientist and wallfacer Luo Ji cleverly used the "Snow Project" to set up a system to transmit the positions of the solar system and the Trisolaran galaxy to the universe, and successfully forced the Trisolaran world to give up its invasion of the earth. Afterwards, the Trisolarans and the Earth reached a peace agreement. The Earth and the Trisolarans passed on their advanced knowledge to each other, allowing the Earth to set up several deterrence systems that could launch "spells" that could lead to attacks in the dark forest. " balance. Humanity has finally turned the corner.

However, after the formation of deterrence and the return to safety, human beings became "restless" again. Cheng Xin hibernated in the year of AD, and woke up in the year of Deterrence in 61. When she woke up, she saw someone on TV condemning Luo Ji for being involved in the crime of "world extinction". Immediately afterwards, she was embraced by the public as a "sword holder". And one of the reasons why the public supported her was that they were afraid of such a cruel swordsman as Luo Ji, as well as the fear of the absolute power that Luo Ji represented:"The image of Luo Ji changed day by day from a savior to an unreasonable monster and a tyrant who destroyed the world". People have changed from focusing on solving basic survival to caring about human rights and opposing totalitarian rule. Therefore, it was necessary to replace people like Luo Ji (not to mention the "barbaric" AD people like Wade and Cao Bin), and choose Cheng Xin, a kind-hearted woman who represented love and peace, to undertake this deterrent task.

As this description:"Look, she's the Virgin Mary, she really is!" The young mother shouted to the crowd, then turned to Cheng Xin, clasped her hands together with tears in her eyes, "Beautiful and kind Virgin Mary, protect this world, don't let those barbaric addicts The bloody man will destroy all this beauty."People have left behind the tragedy of the destruction of the Earth Fleet, and the pursuit of beauty and kindness once again outweighed the importance of survival and safety. After the handover of the new and old sword holders, Luo Ji was arrested for "world genocide".

Fifteen minutes after Cheng Xin held the button to launch the gravitational wave signal that should be sent as a deterrent in the face of the invasion of the Trisolaran world, the "water droplets" of the Trisolarans rushed towards the transmitter. Unable to face the consequences of the destruction of the two planets, Cheng Xin gave up on launching the gravitational wave signal that would expose and destroy the two galaxies, and the invasion of Trisolaris was inevitable.

However, people who have been in a normal state for a long time show no particular panic. When Trisolaris asked people to immigrate to Australia, no one responded.“Until then, people still dreamed of a peaceful life for at least one generation, so after Tomoko’s speech was published, no country responded, and no one began to immigrate. "Human beings still have the fluke mentality of ostriches. It was not until "water droplets" attacked several cities, killing more than 300,000 people, that people began to migrate in fear.

However, people's luck has not been completely shattered. People still believe what Tomoko said,"After the arrival of the Trisolaran Fleet, it is fully capable of enabling the four billion people in Australia to live a comfortable life. At the same time, the occupants will also help humans build living spaces on Mars and in space. Large-scale colonization of space and space will be basically completed in fifteen years. At that time, human beings will have a relatively large enough living space, and the two civilizations will start a new peaceful life in the solar system.”

However, the Trisolaran world does not give human beings a chance to survive, but destroys human beings' ability to resist and survive step by step. Destroy Australian industry and infrastructure after people disarm and emigrate. Then, it is to cut off electricity and agricultural production capacity, forcing "people to eat each other"."Tomoko looked around at all the people in the hall, "Food? Isn't this all food? Everyone, look around you, there are grains, living grains. "Only then did human beings know what a life-and-death struggle is.

This passage from Sophon’s mouth can reflect Liu Cixin’s views on the issue of human existence:

"Survival is a kind of luck. It was like this on the earth in the past, and it's like this everywhere in this cold universe. But I don't know when, human beings have an illusion that survival has become something that is within easy reach. This is you The root cause of failure. The flag of evolution will once again be raised in this world and you will fight to survive, and I hope that everyone in this room is among those last 50 million people, and I hope you can eat food, not Eaten by food."

Liu Cixin's description of the process of human ups and downs is shocking. The sympathy and relaxation of vigilance when human beings are safe and happy, the desperation and madness of human beings when they are on the verge of extinction, and the ingenious design of the three-body problem that drives human beings into extinction step by step can all reflect the weakness of human nature. The process of human beings being exterminated (attempted) by the three-body design in Australia is quite similar to the process of various massacres including the Romans massacring Carthage and the Nanjing Massacre (you can read the relevant records and compare. Or Liu Cixin wrote a similar plot in "Three-Body" after reading these accounts). These all reflect Liu Cixin's deep understanding and vivid interpretation of human nature, human psychology, and the cruelty of the struggle for survival in human history.

In this section, I have a fairly positive evaluation of Liu Cixin. But this article is mainly for criticism, and of course this paragraph also needs criticism.

In fact, the above content is the continuation and embodiment of Liu Cixin's dark forest theory. These descriptions and analyzes by Liu Cixin are indeed profound, and they also coincide with part of human history and reality. However, as I said before (and I will say it many times later), while Liu Cixin accurately described a certain dark fact, he rationalized this darkness, and implied or even explicitly stated the unchangeable nature of this reality, conveying A value that can only survive by giving up kindness and compassion and choosing cruelty and viciousness.

The same facts and principles, with different emotional inclinations and description emphases, lead to different conclusions and achieve completely different purposes. According to Liu Cixin's description between the lines, as well as the combination of the whole book and his personal words and deeds on other occasions, it is enough to draw the conclusion that he advocates abandoning goodwill, using evil to judge people, widely using deception, and cruelty in interpersonal, ethnic, international relations and competition. . In addition, he also used this to express or hint at other things, which will be discussed later.

When describing this part of the content, there is also an intriguing sentence:

"Some scholars believe that science and technology were once one of the forces to eliminate totalitarianism, but when a crisis that threatens the survival of civilization arises, technology may become the soil for the birth of a new totalitarianism. In traditional totalitarianism, dictators can only come through other people. To achieve rule, this is faced with low efficiency and countless uncertain factors. Therefore, in the history of mankind, a 100% dictatorship has never appeared. However, technology has provided the possibility for the realization of this super dictatorship. The swordsmen are worrying examples. The combination of super technology and super crisis may bring human society back to the dark ages."

It is difficult to judge what Liu Cixin actually wanted to express in this passage. According to Liu Cixin's usual political views, he is not opposed to totalitarianism in China today. However, the situation described in this passage is very similar to the reality in China in the past ten years. This passage precisely discusses the evolution of the relationship between technology and totalitarianism. When the Internet appeared, people thought it would break the information blockade and promote freedom and democracy. However, technological totalitarianism and digital totalitarianism are now being established in many countries, including China, and even democratic countries cannot escape the specter of surveillance. The high-intensity management and control of China and other authoritarian countries using technology under the new crown epidemic, and the centralization and digital management that countries must adopt in the future to curb climate warming, these two cases are highly in line with what Liu Cixin said "threats to the survival of civilization". When a crisis emerges, technology may become the soil for the birth of a new totalitarianism". So does Liu Cixin agree with this kind of technological totalitarianism? This is a question that is not easy to judge, or Liu does not simply agree or disagree on this.

(8) Thomas Vader

The shaping of this character can best reflect Liu Cixin's social Darwinism thought, and can also give a glimpse of Liu Cixin's judgment criteria for human quality and value.

The first sentence after Thomas Vader's appearance was shocking enough:"Would you sell your mother to a brothel?" Vader asked.(Ask Cheng Xin). Through this shocking sentence and profile description, the image of a cold and cruel intelligence officer is portrayed, and Vader's sinister character is also revealed.

It is a typical feature of social Darwinism to use any means to achieve the goal. Liu Cixin said it forcefully through Vader's mouth:He suddenly changed his usual calm and indifferent tone, and roared hoarsely like a wild beast, "Forward! Forward!! Forward by whatever means!!!"

When the plan to send humans to contact the Trisolaran world was hindered by the weight limit, Vader grimly said, "send only the brain”。

And this side description:"Two male prisoners who were obviously also from the Yuan Dynasty whistled frivolously at Cheng Xin, but when they saw the person Cheng Xin was looking for, they immediately became honest and hurriedly lowered their heads to work, as if they were a little afraid of what they did just now.

When Cheng Xin saw this man (Wade), she knew at the first glance that he hadn't given up. His ambitions and ideals, his insidiousness, and many other things that Cheng Xin had never known, hadn't given up on anything. "

Of course, these alone can't fully describe Vader's coldness and cruelty. Liu Cixin still has more pen and ink to portray Vader later. But just from these few sentences, people can understand what kind of character, image, and characteristics Vader is. Characters like Vader are not just literary images, there are quite similar real people in reality. As big as the leader of a country, as small as a local tyrant, a gang leader, and even a ruthless and powerful figure in the school and work unit, some aspects or even the entire image of Vader are consistent. When ordinary people come into contact with such a character, they will inevitably sweat coldly on their chest, back, head, and feet, and they will unconsciously feel afraid of it. Even people with some courage and ability will shrink a little in front of such a vicious person. If you are not afraid of him at the beginning, after he uses some tricks on you, you will be more afraid of him than ordinary people.

However, characters like Vader portrayed by Liu Cixin are the saviors of mankind, or at least one of the saviors. Vader not only promoted the Staircase Project and sent Yun Tianming's brain to the Trisolaran world, but most importantly, he researched the light-speed spacecraft, allowing humans to retain the fire of life. And if it wasn't for the "destruction" caused by Cheng Xinzhong, Wade and others might have brought mankind out of the danger of being two-dimensional, and even wouldn't have allowed the Three-Body Problem to break and threaten the earth in the first place. will not happen.

Liu Cixin endowed a devil-like character with angel-like saving power, just to express what he said through Vader's mouth"Losing your humanity, you lose a lot; losing your bestiality, you lose everything", and "Forward by whatever means".Or to put the two sentences together, it means that only by using unscrupulous means and disregarding human rights and human rights can we win, while we can only fail if we care about morality and means and are bound by human rights. This is a typical social Darwinist view, or not only a social Darwinist view, but the most sinister side of social Darwinism, that is, the evil must win the good, and only by eliminating the good and promoting the evil can we survive.

This point is shown a lot in Liu Cixin's Three-Body Problem, and the description of Vader is a concentrated expression of this point of view.

So, is this point of view correct? If we look at the history of human beings and even all things, this is indeed an objective reality to a large extent. Let’s not talk about anything else but human beings. Are there more examples in history that barbarism defeated civilization, or did civilization eliminate barbarism more? Undoubtedly the former. It is a well-known example that the exquisite Athens fell to the powerful Sparta, Rome fell to the barbarian invasion, and the Song and Ming Dynasties fell to the Jin, Yuan, and Qing Dynasties. Even those forces that claim to be civilized have indeed created civilization, so why isn't their rise and glory based on brutality and unscrupulous methods? For ancient Rome, perfidious slaughter of the Carthaginians after they were disarmed was the key to their domination of the Mediterranean; The change of the door killed Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji and their descendants, and only then did the rule of Zhenguan of "Tian Khan" come into being. In addition to these magnificent histories, how many examples are there in the market that "good people don't live long, and bad people kill thousands of years"? "Despicableness is the passport of the humble, and nobility is the epitaph of the noble." Someone has long made an incisive and profound summary of this.

Therefore, what Liu Cixin said through Wade's mouth is indeed reality to a certain extent.

But reality does not mean right and should. On the contrary, the development of human civilization up to now has been realized precisely through the repeated attacks on barbarism and the overcoming of ugliness. If there is no criticism and restraint against evil, human beings are still attacking each other day after day, and beheading and amputating limbs is still commonplace, and it is impossible for human beings to bathe in relative peace and development. It is the insistence of countless people on goodness that makes evil be restricted and compressed step by step. At least great evil and catastrophe only happen to a small number of people in a few areas, while most people can spend their lives in relative peace and tranquility. .

Therefore, we can only "sublate" the extreme socialism that Liu Cixin hinted at and even advocated in Three Body (yes, it is extreme socialism, not general socialism), knowing its reality but more importantly curbing its reality After realizing the horror of unscrupulous means, we must stick to our conscience and rationality to curb the growth of ugliness and the rebirth of cruelty. Even if we are the product left by evil, we should not continue evil to survive. Just like to a certain extent, we are all descendants of various rapes (or to be precise, non-consensual sex) from ancient times to modern times (who dares to say that all their ancestors are the products of consensual sexual intercourse?), we are all rapes The descendants of rape, but we should definitely not praise and praise rape, but resolutely criticize and cast aside it. Experiments on living humans conducted by Japanese Unit 731 and Nazi Germany have achieved enormous medical and scientific research results, and have benefited human beings today, but this cannot be whitewashed, justified and rationalized at all. , let alone allow similar atrocities to happen again.

Liu Cixin is not (or at least will not openly admit to be) an advocate of extreme socialism, but objectively, he undoubtedly implies or even demonstrates such a value orientation and value choice. Different from many literary and artistic works in Europe, America and even China that depict darkness and unscrupulous villains, those works are to castigate ugliness and eulogize justice, while Liu’s "Three-Body Problem" tries to rationalize and even praise the darkness and unscrupulousness at the same time, expressing it It is a tragic, great, and uniquely intelligible value and practice for the continuation of human survival and development. This is worthy of vigilance and criticism.

Regarding Liu's socialism values, I will criticize them later, and now return to my comments on Vader.

Liu Cixin's portrayal of the character of Vader is also very positive. Although he portrays so many sinister and sinister aspects of this person, they are all to set off the greatness of his purpose, the correct direction, and the righteousness of his actions. Moreover, Vader's actions described by Liu Cixin are not for Vader himself, but are related to the future and destiny of mankind. Heroes who are "righteous" but obviously "clear in their sleeves" do everything out of self-interest but out of public interest. Moreover, such a hero makes others fear, but he never bows to any pressure, and is not afraid to flatter anyone or even alien creatures (for example, when he is being watched by Sophon and everyone is cautious, he speaks boldly, but deliberately uses this monitoring ), is an out-and-out hero. This makes all his "anti-humanity" and "anti-human rights" actions seem more just, selfless, and necessary.

But in reality, is a person like Vader really so upright, persistent, firm, and tough all the time? From some perspectives or superficially, this is indeed the case. The heads of state, gang leaders, and ruthless people in schools I mentioned above are often majestic, quite powerful, and fearless. But the vast majority of them (unless they are really invincible) are often more servile than ordinary people when they face tougher and more "beautiful" characters, because they know better than ordinary people how terrible their own kind is, How can you not offend those who are stronger than yourself. In the face of the system, although they sometimes make provocative and rebellious actions to show their toughness to others, show their strength, or just for their own comfort, but more often they will obey the system and flatter the system. There is an unearthly reverence to the institutions and rules behind it. Because they know that the power of the system is infinite, which can be used by individuals but cannot be overthrown. They are by no means straight-backed, humble and arrogant to anyone or anything, but because of their personality traits and survival needs, they are more bullying, adapting to the wind, and self-interested than ordinary people. Do people like Beria and Goring look like Vader? What kind of virtues did they have in front of Stalin and Hitler (of course they changed their virtues before the latter died)? Facing the evil system and environment, will they rebel and confront, or submit and use?

Also, even if Thomas Vader becomes (represents) the supreme leader and dictator (not a thug) like Stalin, Mao Zedong, Hitler, and Putin, is he really pure and brave? According to various materials disclosed now, they are often far more fearful and weak than the leaders of democratic countries. For example, Stalin showed fear during the German invasion and before his death, and it was not true that "a tiger never fails" when he died. Although the movie "The Death of Stalin" is somewhat dramatic, it basically reflects the facts. And what about Mao Zedong? Li Zhisui's disclosure is not an isolated evidence, but can be verified with multiple information, and the sincerity of the record is affirmed by well-known mainstream scholars such as Li Anyou. And Putin's performance after he suffered setbacks in the invasion of Ukraine can also be seen that this "tough guy" is fierce and soft. The image of Thomas Vader created by Liu Cixin is actually similar to the superficial image of these dictators, such as fortitude and bravery, but he deliberately avoids the inner weakness and fear of such people.

Also, is a person like Vader really honest, unselfish, and dedicated to his ideals? There are really such people, but they are rare. The vast majority of people who think and behave like them have no less desire than ordinary people, and their abilities and means are enough to obtain more illegal benefits. How can they clean themselves in the power, money and beauty like Liu Xiahui? Still take those sanctimonious, ruthless high-ranking Buddist Party members and Nazis as examples, such as Yagoda and Goebbels. If you look at their history books and memoirs, you will know that they are more filthy and blatant than the filthy people who can be seen at a glance Greedy people are even more greedy (of course the Budapest is more duplicity and shameless greed than the Nazis). Will they sacrifice for the people? Maybe at a certain point in time, but it must be after his lust and pleasure, and using various methods of harming others and benefiting himself to make sacrifices, and it will never be as tragic as the sacrifice in "Three-Body Problem". The demise of the Nazis and the Soviet Union and the exposure of the inside story also proved that what they sacrificed to defend was not worthwhile things, but downright dirty. In other words, like Hideki Tojo and Nogi Nozomi, these people are indeed quite selfless and dedicated, but they earned their "selflessness" and their love for Japan with the lives of tens of millions of Chinese, Americans, and Russians/Soviets. The "greatness" of man. Do we want such a person? (Most importantly, this world is not the only way to give and survive)

But Liu Cixin did not describe these things, but described Wade and the previous Shi Qiang as very honest, few desires, no fear, and no flattery. Of course, this can be said because their conduct is not the focus of "Three-Body Problem", so there is no need to write about their greed, fear, and flattery. Therefore, a cruel and cruel character like Vader appears to be very great to human beings, and an image like Shi Qiang also appears to be imperfect but more complete and real. If Liu Cixin writes that these people are greedy, fearful, and flattering, his good image will collapse, and he will lose the set of moral conduct that Liu Cixin and socialism believe that characters should have (at least on the surface). It is impossible to create the ideal hero in their minds.

This is another way of describing historical figures under the current Chinese propaganda system. In the past, that is, the "first thirty years", especially the ten years of the Cultural Revolution, all big and positive people were shown as "great and upright", without any shortcomings (at most, there will be a little approachable description). But now it is different. For those great people, heroes, and positive figures, they will deliberately highlight some of their characteristics such as wildness, savagery, low quality, and poor knowledge, but at the same time, they will never "smear" on the "big festival" involving fundamental shame. Make the positive image more humane, real, and flesh-and-blood. But this kind of humanity, realness, flesh and blood actually avoids many other more important facts of doing evil and even committing crimes. It uses small "faults" to cover up the real filth and filth, and uses dramatic mischievousness to get bloody. Outright brutality. I mentioned this kind of depiction earlier in this article when I mentioned "Mao Zedong's comments". Liu's portrayal of characters like Wade and Shi Qiang is in line with the same stance and motivation.

Characters such as Vader portrayed by Liu Cixin, and other descriptions and narratives related to them, are all strengthening the views of "advancing by any means" and "losing the bestiality and losing everything". Liu is not only describing an objective fact, but also subjective approval and praise. This is the biggest difference between him and other excellent works of literature handed down from generation to generation, and it is also the most worthy of criticism.

Also, as mentioned earlier, characters such as Wade and Shi Qiang portrayed by Liu Cixin represent the violent machinery of the ruling institution (or one of them), and are the defenders of the system, rather than Lin Chong and Yang. Rebels against the system like Zhi Zhi and Lu Zhishen, and those who oppose the violent state machine. In "The Three-Body Problem", Liu Cixin criticized the victims and rebels such as Ye Wenjie, but he did not hesitate to praise the defenders of human order. This can also reflect Liu Cixin's conservative traits in his bones and the conservative stance of "Three-Body Problem" . They are indeed social Darwinists, but their socialism is not for change, but to make the old order more stable. This shows even more the ugly and reactionary values of Liu Cixin and The Three-Body Problem.

It is very ironic that Liu Cixin and "Three-Body Problem" defend the system and the old order, which is in stark contrast to Mao Zedong's anti-traditional and anti-order thinking. Liu Cixin praised Mao Zedong many times in his books and interviews (or at least did not derogate and criticize Mao Zedong when he mentioned it). Mao Zedong’s crimes are too many to write down, and the Cultural Revolution was also an unprecedented catastrophe, but there is just one thing to be desired, that is, his resistance to institutional oppression, his rebellion against traditional order and ideology (although this process and the subsequent establishment of a bad system, more tyrannical It also caused more brutal oppression, but after all, it was a rebellion and resistance against the unreasonable and even ugly old rules, old order, and old orthodoxy), a spirit of resistance that broke the shackles of the old nest. This can be said to be the only bright color in the cruelty of the Cultural Revolution in the Mao era. Liu Cixin has repeatedly subsidized Mao Zedong, cleared the perpetrators of the Cultural Revolution and related systems and organizations, but ran counter to the only respectable and respectable aspects of Maoism and the Cultural Revolution. We can see how "coincidentally" it is completely contrary to humanitarianism and the progressive trend. It is also highly consistent with the ugly, reactionary and conservative.

(9) Cheng Xin

Cheng Xin is the person who Liu Cixin wrote the most, was criticized the most by "Three-Body Problem" and Liu Cixin's fans, and the most controversial figure in this book. In simple terms, she is the opposite of Thomas Vader. Of course, it is much more complicated in detail. This character is very important, and it is also the focus of the book review, so I still have to talk about it in detail.

"Holy Mother" is the word most often used by fans of "The Three-Body Problem" and Liu Cixin to address Cheng Xin. Of course, this is not praise, but deep contempt. If you understand the context of the Chinese Internet, you will know that the word "Holy Mother" is not only not a good word on the Chinese Internet, but it is also a particularly malicious term of slander and abuse. This is also highly related to the reality of China, which is highly social Darwinist.

However, the original meaning of the word "Holy Mother" on the Chinese Internet is not very different from that of the West. It refers to a person who is full of love, loves and tolerates everything, and opposes all hatred and oppression. This kind of person has a different attitude (well, to be precise, "some Chinese and some Westerners have a different attitude towards this kind of person"). In China, this definition of "Holy Mother" also includes the characteristics of not distinguishing right from wrong, having no concept of right and wrong, having no position or principle, and blindly exporting love and compassion.

The Chinese hate such people. They think that this kind of "Holy Mother" can only do bad things, betray the interests of their own country's ethnic groups, and ultimately harm others and themselves. In the jungle society of China, this kind of consequence does often occur.

I always say China, China, isn't the world like this? Isn't it a developed country in the West? It is true that there are ungrateful people everywhere in the world, and there are many stories of "farmers and snakes" in the West that are staged in reality. I have repeatedly said in the previous article that this world is still a jungle world. But this does not mean that everything in the world is like this. All groups in all regions of the world live with such values and behaviors, which are different from China (even if the "quality" is basically the same, but the "quantity" is different. There is a big difference), a society where there are many "Holy Mothers" and good intentions can be rewarded. This is at least a large part of the western European and American left whom they attack and vilify.

But the Chinese have no sympathy and support for this, but even more resentment. I don't know if it's jealousy or disbelief, or both (yes, these two seem to be incompatible with the same object at the same time, Chinese people can (to be corrected again, it is "some Chinese people" who can) )). They don't want to believe that there is love and peace in this world, or they are extremely jealous, so they frantically attack all kinds of "White Left", "Mother" and even such fictional characters. And Cheng Xin in "The Three-Body Problem" was one of the targets. Of course, there is another kind of person who hates Cheng Xin, and I'll talk about this kind of person later.

As soon as Cheng Xin's name appeared (the character hadn't officially appeared on the scene), readers abused her (of course, this is because they already knew some of the later content in advance, or read it and read it from the beginning, and then made notes here). And she officially appeared on stage when Yun Tianming was about to be euthanized (attempted). She saved Yun Tianming, and then said, "Did you know? Euthanasia is for you." This sentence has been sprayed with invisible saliva countless times by countless people.

Of course, looking at this plot, Cheng Xin should be scolded because she did a wicked thing. But if it was done by other people, such as Wade, Shi Qiang, Zhang Beihai, and Luo Ji, these people would not have abused them like this, and even thought it was a decisive act of choosing the big at the expense of the small. However, Cheng Xin couldn't do this, because she was the "Holy Mother" and she was bound by moral shackles, and everything she did would be censored. If you are a good person, you can't do this kind of thing, otherwise it will be "hypocrisy" and "double standards", even if it is far inferior to the hypocrisy and double standards of the critics.

Speaking of this, many people must think that I am deliberately trying to be more realistic, just a storyline, and readers are just cursing for a fictional story, just trying to vent. If that were the case, there would be no need for me to say this, or even write the entire article. Of course, this is not the case but the opposite. Literary works and interactions with readers deeply reflect the real world and the judgments and choices of people in reality.

Cheng Xin participated in the part of the "Stairway Project", but no one criticized Cheng Xin, and there was nothing to criticize on these technical issues. On the contrary, people should admire her technical level (but this does not affect her from continuing to criticize her), and even some people Criticize Liu Cixin for portraying female stereotypes. This is a rare phenomenon among Chinese readers, or it gradually appeared later.

Then, Cheng Xin found out that Yun Tianming gave him stars, and then tried her best to prevent Yun Tianming from being "euthanized" but failed. Cheng Xin knew Yun Tianming's love for her, so she wanted to redeem everything, which was logical, and it also showed that she was not a heartless person but an unintentional mistake in letting Yun Tianming die in euthanasia. However, here is another round of scolding for her "hypocrisy". Is she really hypocritical? Obviously not. If you really want to condemn, shouldn't you condemn Vader, who is unscrupulous and knows that Yun Tianming is Cheng Xin's love, but still completes the task (or intentionally makes a ridiculous prank like this)? Of course, saying this will make everyone think that I am too serious and boring. But I think those who criticize Cheng Xin for ignoring Vader are probably doing the same thing in reality. There is no risk in condemning a nice person, but in attacking someone who is aggressive. And as I said before, people always blame good people for everything, and for bad people, it means "he is bad and there is no need to condemn him within reason". People's views on artistic characters have always been a reflection of reality, although sometimes they are exaggerated, but the essence is still a reflection of reality.

The next point where Cheng Xin was ridiculed was when she participated in the election for sword bearer and was elected. People chose her, representing love and peace, as the sword bearer, replacing Luo Ji who had become serious and tough (he was cynical before), not to mention Cao Bin, Bi Yunfeng and others who were similar to Vader. So this planted the root cause of the loss of human deterrence to the Trisolaran world. And Cheng Xin's cowardice and hesitation when the three-body detector "water drop" attacked the deterrent facility became the focus of readers' intensive ridicule and abuse. This performance was also the core factor for Cheng Xin to be attacked, abused and ridiculed, that is, the love and weakness of her "Holy Mother" would do bad things.

In fact, I quite understand the ridicule and abuse of Cheng Xin in this passage, and I quite agree with it. Liu Cixin's arrangement of this content is indeed very reasonable to a certain extent. For those who are considered to be "White Left" and "Mother", this is indeed a fatal flaw, although it may not be a fatal flaw for everyone among them. Kind people always don't want to hurt others, let alone destroy and die together, and even want to sacrifice themselves to achieve others. And if it is responsible for the rise and fall of a country or nation, then this behavior will lead to the collective sinking or destruction of the whole nation. This is indeed the weakness of the kind-hearted, but also the advantage of the ruthless.

But as I said earlier, this is true, but should it be? Do we have to be villains in order to win? Not necessarily. It is not that we cannot cultivate people who "practice the method of thunderbolt and protect the heart of the Bodhisattva". In reality, there are no shortage of such people. During World War II, the German and Japanese troops were extremely brutal, while the U.S. military was regarded as a "young soldier". However, the U.S. military finally defeated the Japanese army, and the U.S. military also made the first contribution to the German defeat on the Western Front. This is related to weapons and equipment, but the U.S. military is not generally greedy for life and afraid of death. As for today's "white left" politicians, most of the time they just want to abide by their principles and prevent the country and the world from falling into a vicious circle of retribution for grievances and violence against violence. Even the "white left" is more determined under the belief of justice. Wasn't Robespierre a "white left" three hundred years ago? Still let the stubborn and conservative old aristocrats beheaded one after another.

Of course, someone with personality and value choices like Cheng Xin was indeed not suitable for such a decisive task. If all human beings become weak and lose their vigilance and fighting spirit, they may indeed be "destroyed" by the few crazy and stubborn people who remained at that time. Liu Cixin's original intention may not be good, but it reminds us objectively that we should not let go of the sword in our hands while maintaining goodwill.

However, from another point of view, is it really the best choice (whether for yourself, for the whole society or even for your opponents) to fight to the death or even die together, or is this mentality game the best deterrent? Most "Three-Body" and Liu Cixin fans will say "yes", my opinion is vacillating between right and wrong. Indeed, the more determined you are to die together, the more likely you are to win the game. This is the core of the game of "see who will be persuaded first". But if no one is willing to bow their heads, the world will be destroyed in the constant playing of this game. Or, because of this, all parties will rack their brains to strengthen themselves and weaken each other, and use whatever means at any cost. Human beings will lose their conscience, drive each other to extinction or absolutely suppress them. More jungle than animal jungle. As for the balance of deterrence, is there a permanent balance? Won't there be a moment of loss of control? Is such a world really good? Who can be sure that he is the ultimate winner? Or is there a final winner? Should the losers live on the breath of the winners? Is this the human civilized world we are after?

But if this is not done, then he who does will win and will rule the group, the region, the country, the world. Such a world, of course, is hell. Therefore, in order to fight against the devil, one has to become the devil himself. Just hoping it's a less evil devil, or better yet has the means of a devil but the heart of an angel. But how can the hearts of angels not be polluted in such a game and competition for survival?

The next point where Cheng Xin was taunted and attacked was similar to the previous reason. Cheng Xin prevented Vader and others from studying the lightspeed spacecraft, and asked them to give up confrontation with the government and lay down their weapons. And this is doomed to the extinction of almost all human beings. Ironically, she ended up being one of the very few survivors who didn't go two-dimensional with the solar system. Her efforts to stop the human race in the solar system almost wiped out, but she was able to escape, so it's no wonder she wasn't scolded.

But this is also her doing bad things with good intentions. Or, it is her good intentions that always do bad things, which makes her more disgusting. If people do bad things with bad intentions, like Wade and Ye Wenjie, people will not attack and abuse them so much. This is what I said before, so I won't repeat it here. At this point, she deserved to be scolded. But I still want to emphasize its good original intention, because "good intentions" are already scarce things in the real world, and doing bad things with good intentions does not always happen, and even in many cases the probability is still lower than 50 %of.

In fact, Liu Cixin also wrote a lot of plots in Liu Cixin's article that almost everyone considered Cheng Xin's positive and shining points, such as giving up the huge sum of money that the United Nations could have paid her to buy the stars that Yun Tianming gave her and choosing to donate instead. , Meeting Yun Tianming for the responsibility risk, giving up the small universe to return the quality of the universe for the restart of the universe, these have also been praised by many readers. But, why do so many people still abuse Cheng Xin? Do these two waves overlap?

There is some overlap. Some people just can divide and evaluate a coherent person, affirming one part of it but spurning another part. If part of it is worthy of recognition and part of it is worthy of disdain, then of course it can and should be done. However, it is stupid or morally corrupt to deny something that should not be cast aside or should be evaluated more comprehensively and objectively, or if the negation does not reach the point and instead spouts and scolds.

There are still some parts that don't overlap, and the whole thing is abusive towards Cheng Xin. In addition to the jealousy I mentioned earlier or the fact that Cheng Xin, a "Holy Mother", is not trustworthy, there is another reason, which is even more terrifying. That is, the villains, villains, sanctimonious conservatives and fangsed Social Darwinists. These people abuse Cheng Xin and all the "white leftists" and "Holy Mothers" because they are very afraid that the world will become love and peace, that they will be excluded or assimilated. In order for them to continue to live with evil, for their evil values to last forever, and to achieve their various practical interests and value interests, they want to slander and completely deny the "White Left" and "Holy Mother", criticizing and criticizing them , so that the ugly values they promote can continue to prevail in the world, and these people can continue to thrive. There are many such people in the world, especially in China.

It is worth mentioning that Liu Cixin himself has a rather negative view of the character Cheng Xin he created, not that he is dissatisfied with the portrayal of Cheng Xin as a character, but that he simply dislikes Cheng Xin. Therefore, Liu Cixin himself is one of the above-mentioned people who attack and abuse Cheng Xin, and his views are more profound (can the image he created not be more profound), so his evilness is also more terrifying.

Finally, I would like to talk about my evaluation of people like Cheng Xin. I think it is six to four, six points are positive (not six points "right") and four points are wrong. Their quality is commendable, but value choices are often not desirable. If love and peace could solve everything in the world, the great unity of the world would have been realized long ago. For the sake of justice, we have to make some bad preparations.

(10) Controversy over gender bias

After Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" was published (especially after it was translated into English and other foreign languages and won the Hugo Award), it caused a lot of controversy. One of the controversies is that he has sexism and stereotyping of women in his works.

After reading the full text, I found that this is indeed the case. I have said before that his portrayal of Ye Wenjie, Shao Lin and the female Red Guards reflects discrimination and prejudice. In fact, it is more than that. There are more common and obvious sex discrimination and prejudice in the whole book and the whole book.

Throughout the book, Liu Cixin portrays more than a dozen main characters, most of whom are relatively positive (at least these people are "good people at heart"). Most of these people have sacrificed a lot and made outstanding contributions in saving the earth. Except for Say, who is set to be the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who is a woman, the rest of these characters are men, such as Luo Ji, Shi Qiang, Zhang Beihai, Thomas Vader, Cao Bin, Taylor, Rey Diaz, Wang Miao, Chang Weiss et al. Even Say, who is obviously a positive image and has made great contributions, is also a supporting role with a limited number of appearances. And the few negative images are almost "taken over" by women.

In addition to the female Red Guards I mentioned earlier, there is also a specific uglification of female images. At the end of "The Three-Body Problem", I wrote about the two-dimensionalization of the solar system, when Cheng Xin and Ai AA left in a spaceship at the speed of light, and when other escapers found them:

"Look, how did that ship accelerate so fast?!" a woman screamed.

"Oh, my God, the people in it will be crushed to flesh." A man said.

Then another man's voice appeared: "You idiots, such an accelerated spaceship will be crushed! But it doesn't, that's not a fusion engine, it's a space curvature drive!"

"Curvature engine?! Lightspeed spaceship?! Lightspeed spaceship!"

"It seems that the rumors are true. They are secretly building light-speed spaceships and escaping by themselves..."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

"The one in front, intercept it! Crash it to death!!"

It was the woman's voice again, "Ah! They can achieve the speed of escape, they can escape! They can live! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The ugliness of women is self-evident. In addition, there are some little people with negative images who are not noticed. For example, the director of the neighborhood committee who drove away Luo Ji was also a woman (of course, in reality, most of the directors of the neighborhood committee are indeed women).

And the objectification of women. For example, Luo Ji's wife, Zhuang Yan, is a highly objectified female image. Of course, this is not entirely a stereotype, but a character image deliberately designed by Liu Cixin for the needs of the plot (such as to set off Luo Ji's character and its changes). But on the other hand, other characters and storyline settings that vilify women are not necessary, and negative characters do not have to be set as women (but Liu Cixin set it like this).

Cheng Xin's image of the "Holy Mother" who "does not succeed enough but ruins it" is a woman, and the hint in the book is her femininity (the "Holy Mother") that made her "failure". This has already been explained and analyzed in the previous section that specifically analyzed Cheng Xin, so I won't repeat it. Cheng Xin is also Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" in which sexism and stereotypes permeate most quietly and deeply into the image of a female character.

And Ke Manlin, a female scientist with the opposite personality and temperament of Cheng Xin, is the kind of rude woman who also likes female rivals (a woman is hard to be a woman).

"Using resources to change the principle?" An elderly French woman named Ke Manlin said in a contemptuous tone. She is a senior consultant from the European Space Agency. She felt very uncomfortable when she noticed the men's eyes focused on Cheng Xin. uncomfortable.

……

There were a few more laughs, and Ke Manlin laughed the loudest, "Honey, you provided us with a cartoon-style scene..." Amidst more and more laughter, she continued, "You'd better do it all over again For freshman homework, calculate the thrust-to-weight ratio."

……

The eyes of the men moved away from Cheng Xin one by one, and now they finally began to seriously consider what she said, and for the time being, their admiration for her was temporarily ignored. Only Ke Manlin kept staring at Cheng Xin, as if they didn't know her.

……

She held the document up for a few seconds, and instead of handing it to anyone, she slammed it on the ground.

"Damn!" Ke Manlin yelled angrily.

……

"You, and you," Wade pointed at Cheng Xin and Ke Manlin, "this kind of meaningless loss of control will not be allowed in the future."

Due to space issues and the trivial distribution of related content, I cannot list all the discrimination and prejudice against women in "Three-Body" one by one, but the above examples are enough, and other readers have actually seen them, so there is no need I list and repeat them one by one.

These are arguably undeniably sexist and biased. But is this some degree of objective fact? That is, are women really like this?

In my personal opinion, first of all, fundamentally speaking, the negative behaviors and negative personality traits of these women portrayed by Liu Cixin, especially the various ugly words and deeds, are shared by men and women, not unique to women. Secondly, to some extent and under certain circumstances, women do have certain characteristics that are different from men in some aspects, such as the above-mentioned vilified or stereotyped images or words and deeds. However, the degree is far less severe than that described by Liu Cixin.

Moreover, are they born like this, or are they shaped and disciplined by the patriarchal society? This question is important, very important.

In my opinion, this is of course the result of the shaping of the acquired social environment, rather than a congenital inevitable situation. In some things and situations, women have prominent narrowness, anti-intellectuality, objectification, and weakness, which are created, lured, and forced by the society, which is precisely a patriarchal society. Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" is a A part of temptation and persecution. This is like saying that "the cultural quality of migrant workers is low". It is not that the quality of migrant workers is inherently low, but that they are often in a bad family and social environment, and they do not have the conditions to get a good education and a good external environment. Victims rather than natural low-quality scumbags. What we need to do is to sympathize with and change, and to condemn the people or the institutional environment that caused such consequences, rather than sneering at and pointing fingers at these victims.

In the same way, some narrow, anti-intellectual, objectified, and weak characteristics of women are not a reason for discrimination against women, nor an excuse for oppressing and blaming women in a patriarchal society. On the contrary, they are victims, and they need the patriarchal society to bear the burden Responsibility, through changes in systems, culture, and habits, reduce or even eliminate non-physiological gender differences, and achieve true gender equality and gender justice.

What needs to be emphasized is that the differences between men and women in certain traits I mentioned are much smaller than the differences within men and women, and are generally smaller than the differences between groups with different levels of education and income. . Regardless of physical or non-physiological aspects, the commonality of men and women is far greater than "personality" or specificity, especially in non-physiological aspects. People can discuss and have their own views on gender differences, but this should not limit or persecute the various basic human rights of any gender (including transgender people) and the right to freedom of choice in various affairs of study, work and life. Judging, disciplining, and blaming men and women, or anyone else of any gender/gender identity, on the basis of these involuntary differences is fallacious and should be criticized.

So, there is so much sexism and prejudice in "The Three-Body Problem", does it mean that Liu Cixin himself has such sexism and prejudice? The answer is obviously yes. Liu Cixin denied this in the interview, but his denial was untenable because it was contrary to the facts. In other words, even if Liu Cixin does not intend to discriminate subjectively, he still has the essence of discriminatory objectively. When Liu Cixin showed certain characteristics that are considered to be more prominent in women, it was obviously a discriminatory stance, not an attitude that needed sympathy and change, and it was not intended to expose and criticize the influence and influence of the patriarchal society on women. discipline.

In addition, Liu Cixin once hypothesized in a debate with scholar Jiang Xiaoyuan thatIf the world is doomsday, only him, Jiang Xiaoyuan, and a hostess are left, "The three of us carry everything about human civilization, and we must eat her to survive. Do you eat it?" Liu Cixin stood in the "eat " side. Although this is largely just a hypothesis, Liu set the subject as a "beauty" in the hypothesis (even though there was indeed a hostess next to them at the time), that is, a woman, which itself implies that women are sacrificed. Even if you don't go into it, it's enough to reflect Liu Cixin's bad psychology and value orientation towards women. Even as a joke, it's inappropriate. Moreover, Liu Cixin seriously argued with Jiang, which shows that he did not take it as a joke, but took the assumption seriously.

(11) Image of the public

In "The Three-Body Problem", Liu Cixin not only failed to endow the masses with qualities such as unity and bravery, but instead gave them extremely strong belittlement and contempt. In Liu Cixin's writing, the masses are selfish, blindly obedient, weak, and barbaric, and they are out-and-out "crowds."

In addition to the Red Guards criticizing Ye Zhetai mentioned above, and the female refugees shouting when the earth became two-dimensional, there are many plots that reflect the inferiority of the public.

For example, Luo Ji predicted that a star would be destroyed according to the law of the dark forest. When this incident was made public, the Starfleet was destroyed. The public worshiped Luo Ji as a god-like person in order to survive the crisis:

"Seeing Luo Ji stop, the crowd moved towards him. At a distance of two or three meters from him, the people in the front row tried their best to block the advance of the crowd behind them, then knelt down, and the people behind also knelt down one after another, glowing brightly." The crowd sank like waves receding from the sand.

"Lord, save us!" Luo Ji heard a person say, and his words caused a buzzing resonance.

"Our God, save the world!"

"Great spokesperson, preside over the justice of the universe!"

"Angel of justice, save mankind!"

……”

When Luo Ji showed that he was unable to resolve the crisis, people's views on him and the way they treated him took a 180-degree turn:

On a cold and rainy autumn afternoon, the resident representative meeting of District 5 of New Life made a decision: Luo Ji should be expelled from the community on the grounds that he affected the normal life of the residents in the district. During the snow project, Luo Ji often went out to attend meetings, but he spent most of his time in the community. He kept in touch with various organizations of the snow project in his own residence. After Luo Ji resumed his status as a Wallfacer, the fifth district of New Life was under martial law, and the life and work of residents were affected. Later, with the decline of Luo Ji's status, the martial law on the community was gradually relaxed, but the situation was even worse: from time to time, people from the city gathered downstairs where Luo Ji lived, yelling at him, jeering at him, and shouting at him. Stones were thrown from windows, and the news media was intrigued by the sight, often with as many journalists as protesters. But the real reason why Luo Ji was expelled was because the hibernators were completely disappointed in him.

……

Facing this man who had exhausted everything, the director showed no mercy. Like other people in that era, she always felt that no matter how dark the world was, there was always ultimate justice somewhere in the dark. Luo Ji first confirmed her feeling, and then ruthlessly shattered it. Furious at his disappointment, she announced the meeting's decision coldly.

……

"Ah, he seems to be a Wallfacer!" Then the child's parents also looked back at him, and he had no choice but to admit that he was Luo Ji.

At this time, "The Hawthorn Tree" sounded in the car.

The car stopped, "Get down." The child's father said coldly, and the eyes of the mother and child were as cold as the autumn rain outside.

Luo Ji didn't move, he wanted to hear that song.

"Please go down," the man said again, and Luo Ji read the meaning in their eyes: It's not your fault that you don't have the ability to save the world, but it is an unforgivable sin to give the world hope and then smash it.

……

The journey went smoothly, but after more than an hour, someone still recognized Luo Ji, and everyone in the car unanimously asked him to get out of the car. Luo Ji argued that he had entered the credit points to buy the ticket, so of course he had the right to take the bus. An old man with gray hair took out two cash

He was kicked out of the car after the already uncommon cash coins were thrown at him.

"Wallfacer, what are you doing with your shovel on your back?" Someone asked from the car window while the car was driving.

"Digging a grave for myself," Luo Ji said, causing a burst of laughter in the car.

The Wallfacer, populist, and Venezuelan President Rey Diaz was stoned to death by people who knew that he was trying to fight the three-body problem by means of death:

Rey Diaz raised his hands high, and with tears in his eyes, he called affectionately to the crowd rushing towards him: "Oh, my people!"

The first stone thrown by his people hit him on his upraised left hand, the second hit him on the chest, and the third fell on his forehead and knocked him down. Then the stones of the people rained down, and at last nearly buried his long lifeless body. The last stone that fell on Wallfacer Rey Diaz was thrown by an old lady. She struggled to lift a stone up to Rey Diaz's body and said in Spanish:

"Wicked man, you want to kill everyone, but there is my grandson inside, and you want to kill my grandson!"

As she said that, with all her strength, she tremblingly smashed the rock in her hand onto Rey Diaz's broken head exposed from the pile of stones.

There are also some details that show Liu Cixin’s disdainful attitude towards the public, for example, when Shen Yufei’s husband Wei Cheng dictated some of his experiences:

I don't have a good impression of the tourists and pilgrims who come here. Those tourists don't know what they are here for, they just run around to take pictures; and those pilgrims, who generally seem to be much poorer than the tourists, are in a kind of numbness. Intellectual inhibition state.

The most ironic thing is the following passage describing the pessimism and despair of human beings after the destruction of Starfleet, so 100,000 people gather together for a nude sex party:

The entire square was covered with white flowers, and those white particles squirmed like a pot of rice porridge.

"Are they all human?" Luo Ji asked suspiciously.

"Naked people, this is a super sex party, the number is over 100,000 now and it's still growing."

Of course, Liu Cixin also portrays some common people's kindness and great love in this book. For example, when describing the two-dimensionalization of the solar system, there is such a paragraph:

On an enlarged screen pulled out by the spacecraft A.I., a couple can be seen hugging and falling into the plane. The two-dimensionalized two human bodies are arranged side by side on the plane, and the embrace can still be seen, but the posture is very strange. Drawn clumsily like a child who doesn't understand the principles of perspective. There is also a mother, holding her infant child high and falling into the plane, the child lived only 0.1 second longer than her in the three-dimensional world, and their shapes are also vividly printed on this giant painting.

But such portrayals are rare (this is a bit exaggerated, it seems that the only one that portrays the public positively is the above paragraph), and most of the depictions of civilians are derogatory in nature. And it should be noted that Liu Cixin's praise for the public only refers to his love for family members, not his altruism and public service in the public sphere. Although this is a statement of certain facts, it can also reflect Liu Cixin's conservatism and stance (emphasis on the traditional family and neglect of the public sphere is a typical feature of conservatism).

Liu Cixin's description of the masses is in line with what academic analysts such as "The Crowd" criticize the inferiority of the masses (or "the masses"). There are also many other literary and artistic works that express the inferiority of the masses, but few are as vivid and vicious as Liu Cixin's description.

These descriptions of Liu Cixin are indeed the true face of the public in many parts of the world today. In China, this inferiority of the public is more common and prominent.

However, like the previous descriptions, when Liu Cixin stated the facts, he did not have a compassionate attitude, but pure cynicism. Liu Cixin's understanding of the public is not a profoundly sympathetic understanding, but a mocking understanding. This is completely different in nature and direction from Lu Xun's kind of strong criticism of the inferiority of the people, but full of grief and sympathy, kindness and goodwill.

Another important point is that what Liu Cixin describes is the future world, and the scenes he sets, especially the human world after the "Great Trough" era, are often very developed, and the people are also kind and qualified. Then such a society should have a civil society similar to that of Western developed countries, and the people should also have a certain quality of participating in politics. But Liu Cixin did not describe any public with civic qualities, nor did he describe civil society (there are only a few mentions of similar things, such as citizens throwing tomatoes at parliamentarians, or belittling). On the contrary, there are many heroes in "Three-Body Problem". Of course, this can also be justified by the harsh environment of strict speech censorship. However, according to Liu Cixin's value orientation in this book and other occasions, it is fundamentally "you have to do it, you can't do it." Even if there is no strict speech censorship, he still can't write about civil society, or he can't write about the "goodness" of civil society.

(12) The Grand Epic of Social Darwinism

Compared with whitewashing dictators, gender prejudice, contempt for the public and other things that belong to the "leaves" of Liu Cixin's thought, its socialism value is the "body" of Liu Cixin and "Three-Body Problem".

Regarding the social Darwinist tendency expressed by Liu Cixin in "The Three-Body Problem", I don't need to list new examples. There are so many analyzes and examples in the previous article that almost everywhere have the color of social Darwinism.

The core of the so-called "social Darwinism" is "survival of the fittest". These eight characters are also the core of the theory of evolution in nature, and Sheda moved it from nature to human society. These eight words seem simple, but they can cover everything. There are many analyzes and studies on the specific content and manifestations of Social Darwinism, so I will not repeat them here, and directly analyze Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" and Liu himself.

The three elements of a novel are characters, environment, and plot. It can be said that these three elements are equal to the entire content of the novel. And Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem", its characters, environment, and storyline, are full of social Darwinism.

Wade, Shi Qiang, and Zhang Beihai relied on unscrupulous means to achieve their important goals. Moreover, it is necessary to use methods that should not be even firmly opposed under the evaluation system of a civilized society, in order to achieve its important purpose and save mankind. Vader is a typical social Darwinist, while the other two are not complete social Darwinists, but they sometimes show socialist thought tendencies and actions. And Cheng Xin was their opposite. Cheng Xin's thoughts and actions are in line with the moral norms and legal requirements in a civilized environment, and she is even very caring, kind, and upright, but these virtues are exactly the reasons for her failure and the ultimate destruction of most human beings. The essential. To borrow a line from a poem, "Despicableness is the passport of the humble, and nobleness is the epitaph of the noble." These are, of course, the characteristics and manifestations of Social Darwinism.

The design and description of the environmental background in the article also make people feel that social Darwinism is prominent. The theory and reality of "Dark Forest" are the most prominent features of Sheda. In addition, such as the background of the Cultural Revolution and Ye Wenjie's experience, the process of human beings and the three-body contest, and the performance of "crowd" that is, various popular characters in the article, all reflect the cruelty and darkness of this society, power, evil people, cruelty, lies And betrayal, bullying the weak, fearing the strong, bullying the good, and fearing the evil... all are telling readers that social Darwinism is the foundation and mainstream of social laws, and only by adapting to this law of survival can one win or at least survive, rejecting or even resisting social Darwinism, it is not only Unable to survive, there is not even a scum left of the dead.

Not only from the basic elements of the novel, the social Darwinism of "Three-Body Problem" is everywhere. According to the time and narrative sequence of the plots, socialism also runs through the entire story of the novel (although the opening part of the novel and the part of the Cultural Revolution recalling Ye Wenjie's experience rarely involve the Three-Body World, these human intrigues are all for later people and The struggle in the three-body world served as an introduction and paved the way). The process of human beings' struggle with the Trisolaran world, the ups and downs of success and failure, are all related to the thought and behavior of social Darwinism.

The simplification of the confrontation process between humans and Trisolarans is as follows: the injustice and persecution of human society itself gave birth to rebels like Ye Wenjie. But some other rebels joined the army of rebelling against evil human beings because their lives were too superior and their sense of morality and justice was too strong. After the human rebels attracted the invasion of the Trisolaran world, the earth fell into a deep trough in order to fight the crisis. But after the great trough, people learned from the past and "give civilization to the years" to achieve recovery. But after recovery, human beings lost their vigilance and sense of crisis. At the same time, after learning about the opacity of human thinking, Trisolarans learned to deceive, and successfully anesthetized people in a dream of peace, and then defeated human beings in an interstellar battle. Human beings have recovered from despair by establishing a dark forest deterrent system. But after recovering, he "returned to his old ways", once again let down his vigilance, became weak and defenseless because of the emphasis on morality and "human rights (here, 'human rights' also includes the right to life of other planets)", and chose Cheng Xin, a "Holy Mother", to be the "executive" Sword Man". Humanity then almost lost again because of this. The price of victory is to expose both the Earth and Trisolaris to the targets of the dark forest of the universe. Human beings once again lost the chance to escape the attack of the dark forest because of the emphasis on morality and "human rights", and finally all but a very few people died.

Obviously, all of this reflects the social reality of Social Darwinism and the victory of Social Darwinism at the realistic level. If you are imprisoned by morality and law, you will fail, but if you follow the evil side of human nature and even the universe, you can survive.

The ideology of a novel is to a large extent (even completely) the author's own ideology. The strong social Darwinism thought in "The Three-Body Problem" is probably also what he himself agrees with and owns. Moreover, "Three-Body Problem" is not the only one among Liu Cixin's works. In Liu Cixin's other work "Ball Lightning", there is also an obvious atmosphere of social Darwinism. For example, the heroine Lin Yun forced the enemy to give up the invasion and won the war for her own country (or to restore the crisis from the brink of failure and achieve a truce) through the method of mutual destruction.

In "Ball Lightning", there is also a more explicit socialist tendency.

"Yes, Dad, after listening to what I said, you looked at me silently for a while, and then took out two photos from the briefcase. The two photos were exactly the same, except that one corner was burnt, and the other There are some brown marks on it, which turned out to be blood. The photo shows a family of three, both parents are military officers, but their military uniforms are very different from their father’s. They wear epaulettes that my father didn’t have at the time. The girl’s age and I am almost the same, a very beautiful child, with rosy white skin, like fine porcelain, I have never seen such a beautiful skin growing up in the north, her hair is so black and so long, it reaches her waist , so cute. Her mother is also very beautiful, and her father is very handsome. It is a family that I envy. But you tell me, these are two enemy officers, both of whom were killed in our shelling. They separated when cleaning the battlefield Find these two identical photos from the two bodies, and now, the sweet little girl in the middle has no mother and no father."

The general said: "I also told you that the enemies who killed your mother were not bad people, they did it because they were soldiers and had to do their duty, just like Dad was a soldier and he had to do his duty on the battlefield to kill Like a dead enemy."

……

On the battlefield in southern Xinjiang, one of my comrades-in-arms was licked by its tail, and the skin on his body fell off as soon as he touched it. It would be better to die than to be alive. In the field hospital, he shot himself with a pistol while no one was paying attention. It's over. At that time, I thought of the last time I saw my mother in the hospital. Her skin was festered all over her body, and her fingers were swollen and black. Others will get hooked on it, and I am one of the latter, a power lurking in the macabre machine that has me hooked like a drug. "

……

"Yun, for our ideals and beliefs, and for the motherland, we two women have embarked on this road that women should not have traveled. I have walked this road longer than you, so I know its dangers better. A little more. The forces of nature, including those considered the most gentle and harmless, can be turned into weapons of life-destruction, and some of these weapons are so cruel and horrible that you cannot imagine unless you see them yourself. Yes. But I, a woman you think is like your mother, still want to tell you that our path is not wrong, I have no regrets about my life, and I hope you will be like this when you are my age. Son, I have moved Go to a place you don't know, and I will never contact you again. Before I say goodbye, I don't send you empty blessings. Blessings are meaningless to a soldier. I only give you a warning: those terrible Something that may one day fall on the heads of your fellow-creatures and loved ones, on the delicate skin of the baby in your arms, and the best way to prevent this is to build it before your enemy or potential enemy Come out! Child, this is all I can give you."

What information are these words conveying, different people will have different interpretations out of different values and interests. However, it is completely valid to say that it has a social color.

Need to add, the most shocking Sheda words are this:

"To kill everything is the highest value for a civilization."

In addition to the things in the book, Liu Cixin also showed something in reality. As mentioned earlier, when he was debating with a scholar on the topic of "whether or not to cannibalize human beings in order to continue human civilization", he tended to take the "unscrupulous" position of cannibalism in order to achieve the goal of human continuation. In addition, in some interviews, he also expressed some inclinations, such as agreeing with Xinjiang's "re-education camp" policy. Of course, he also showed some neutral attitude. For example, when interviewed by a media person, Li Jiajia, he did not have any obvious emotions when commenting on the matter, but was gentle and rational, and what he said was quite pragmatic and neutral.

As I said at the beginning of the article, of course I don't have the ability to see through Liu Cixin's mind what's going on. Everything is just speculation based on reason. I evaluate it as a social Darwinist or a supporter of socialism, and I think it is still in line with the facts.

Going back to "The Three-Body Problem", this book can be said to fully embody the various characteristics and manifestations of Social Darwinism. Most importantly, the book tends to support sympathy rather than criticism for Social Darwinism or "the law of the jungle, unscrupulous" opposing. This is also the difference between it and other works that reflect the darkness of human nature and the ugliness of society. This again has already been said before, but it is indeed necessary to say it again. Therefore, considering the breadth and depth of content, ideological tendency, implied propositions, and realistic influence of "Three-Body", it can be called "the magnificent epic of social Darwinism".

In fact, the reason why The Three-Body Problem is considered to be Social Darwinism largely lies in the fact that a large proportion of its readers are Social Darwinists. People admire it very much, admiring the idea of "lose the beast, lose everything" in the book, and then strongly admire the whole book "Three-Body Problem", and highly admire Liu Cixin. . It is the understanding and interpretation of these people that makes the original social Darwinism of this book more intense. This is exactly what I want to say. The popularity of "Three-Body Problem" lies not only in the attractiveness of the content in the book itself, but also in the fact that it reflects the values of real Chinese people, which shows the objective reality of the Darwinian culture of China's highly educated society in the 21st century. .

It is worth noting that after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in China from the end of 2019 to the present, the economic situation has deteriorated sharply. Except for a very small number of people, the lives of the vast majority of people are generally difficult. This dealt a heavy blow to the Social Darwinists, and made them realize that "capability" and "struggle" are still not rewarding. This led to the decline of socialism and stimulated the rise of China's youth Maoists. But today the Young Maoists in China still have a strong socialism complex. Coincidentally, but also to a certain extent, Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" not only caters to socialism, but also caters to the youth Maoists, so "Three-Body Problem" is still hot when the epidemic breaks out.

(13) "What to do" after "What"?

Obviously, I have repeatedly described and analyzed some issues. So in the review part, I will not re-enumerate the content, but comment and analyze based on the content I have written before.

Based on the key points I have emphasized in the above specific narrative analysis, I admit the existence of various dark and ugly realities mentioned by Liu Cixin; on the issue of the causes and responsibilities of such realities, I have different views with Liu Cixin; but in There is a fundamental difference in how to deal with such realistic issues (even if some non-qualitative levels are exactly the same). That is to say, Liu Cixin and I have similar views to some extent on "what", but there are major differences on "why", and there are qualitative differences in the choices on "how to do".

Borrowing a few proverbs to summarize "what is", that is, "a gentleman can't beat a villain", "meanness is the passport of the mean man, and nobleness is the epitaph of the noble man", "when you stare into the abyss (grudge against evil, Confrontation), the abyss is also staring at you (maybe you become the same evil person in the resistance, otherwise you can be called a "gentleman")", "good people don't live long, bad people live for thousands of years"... So, what should we do? To be a "gentleman", "noble man", "lenient man" and "good man", or to be a "little man", "despicable man", "wicked man" and "bad man"?

If under such a simple condition, many people may still choose the former, then what about adding the condition one by one, that is, the important interests of the losers are damaged/the things they care about are damaged? What about badly damaged/careful about something badly damaged? Can't survive by itself? Will the country be destroyed and the family be destroyed, and things that are more important than life will be destroyed in a cruel way? Still choose the former?

If additional conditions are added, good people may not be completely good, and bad people may not be completely bad; good things may not be all advantages, and all bad things may not be all disadvantages. There are more high-sounding justifications for choosing to be a "villain", so how to choose? Then you can add many conditions that increase or "reduce" the difficulty of selection ("reducing" the difficulty of selection may not necessarily mean "releasing"), and then how to choose?

This kind of discussion is not uncommon, especially in developed democracies with free thought after entering modern society. But these discussions did not have a definitive consensus. In countries like China, there are few similar discussions, but in reality, such choices are constantly being staged (although they may not be as clear as the good and evil in the above-mentioned proverbs), and it should be well known what to choose. Of course, it is not limited to China. Everyone in every country of mankind will face these choices. And Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" raises such questions more deeply and sharply. Wade's words, "If you lose your humanity, you lose a lot; if you lose your bestiality, you lose everything." This is Liu Cixin's condensed answer to the question.

Realistic choices are of course more complicated, but there are always relative good and evil, victory and defeat, good and evil and rise and fall. In many cases, especially when the fate of individuals, families, communities, countries, and human beings is at stake, we often have to choose. Each of us may participate in this choice or even participate in this choice many times in our life. Maybe we don't need to be crazy, and we don't choose to become evil every time in order to survive, but we won't be clean after all.

(14) About Liu Cixin

A person's masterpiece, to a large extent, represents the person himself. Liu Cixin is no exception. My analysis and evaluation of the ideological value of this book is to a large extent the analysis and evaluation of Liu Cixin himself. I also specifically mentioned Liu Cixin's personal words and deeds many times earlier. If his works are not based on the current values, but eulogize justice and light, and speak out for the weak, then he is undoubtedly a great writer by virtue of his thought depth and value. But now he can't bear the word "great". But there is no doubt that his thinking is profound, his imagination is bold and rich, and his ability to express is amazing. His depth of thought, imagination and ability of expression can be said to be ranked among the top among many writers in ancient and modern times.

Although Liu Cixin's works are all science fiction themes, they have a strong sense of realism. What it says and metaphors are what has happened, is happening, and will happen in the real world. Rather than saying that Liu Cixin is a science fiction writer, it is better to say that he is a special realist writer. But he is different from other critical realist writers. On the one hand, the value orientation he advocates is dark and cruel, which is completely different from the works of writers who eulogize the light and justice and sympathize with the weak and weak; on the other hand, he integrates reality into science fiction. , and set their sights on the extremely distant future beyond the reach of ordinary people, making predictive conclusions that make people feel quite real and even indeed true, linking the real human nature and society with the fate of human beings and even the universe in the extremely distant future. For example, its depiction of human beings and the changes of the universe on different time scales gives people a very intuitive and real feeling, making people feel that this is not a science fiction novel but an epic of human beings and the universe.

From these perspectives, Liu Cixin is a giant writer. However, according to Liu Cixin's actions in reality, he is not like a real giant. Although his thoughts are profound, and the language in various interviews is also very plain, rigorous, broad and profound, but the aspects of him exposed in various interviews and other things, as well as the return to "Three-Body Problem" and other works themselves, can be seen It shows the shallowness of his humanistic background and the lack of moral care (of course he also has some relevant background and certain care, but compared with his supposed "giant" status, these are far from insufficient). Liu Cixin's fans will make various excuses, and even generally regard this as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. As I said earlier, Liu Cixin's fans regard cold-blooded cruelty as mature and rational. However, any writer should be judged on the basis of universal morality and conscience. Liu Cixin is obviously "unqualified". Just its admiration and whitewashing of the dictator who caused great disasters makes him no longer worthy of being called "great" (even if his talent is amazing).

In addition, after Liu Cixin won the "Hugo Award" and "Three-Body Problem" became popular all over the world, he himself has become a world-renowned writer and public figure with great influence. He also often accepts interviews and discusses his works with people from all walks of life at home and abroad. However, in the ten years since he became famous, he has never actively commented on national and social affairs that are related to public interests (only when he is asked, he speaks some words that are quite in line with the position of the current Chinese government). He has never used his influence to do constructive things for his two hometowns that are still relatively poor and backward (Henan, where he was born and went to school, and Shanxi, where he worked and settled down), and he has never done anything for the suffering fathers and villagers in his hometown. One time (but after he became famous, he quickly returned to the post bar and responded anonymously to colleagues who had criticized him. Although it is understandable, it also shows that he cares more about personal emotions than the overall situation of the country and mankind, even if his thoughts extend to the universe) . In the face of various major controversies in China and the world, and many realities that need to be criticized and changed in Henan and Jinan provinces, he chooses to avoid them, which can be said to have no public awareness and sense of responsibility.

It's not that he can't see the darkness and crisis in reality, on the contrary, he knows it very well, but refuses to talk about it. In "Three-Body Problem" and other works, he reflects that he has a good understanding of the dark side of Chinese society, and even learned through some channels far beyond what ordinary people can know. However, he refuses to directly mention real issues, and only discusses the fictional and abstract aspects of his works without connecting them with reality. For example, in his "The Wandering Earth" about the destruction of the earth, countries taking measures to deal with it, and the people's refusal to cooperate and even riots due to conspiracy theories, the whole plot is almost exactly the same as the hazards and responses of the climate crisis faced by human beings in the real world. But Liu Cixin has never commented on the climate crisis, even though he mentioned in some interviews that human beings should make long-term plans and prevent some crises in the universe that may destroy human beings. With Liu Cixin's erudition and intelligence, it is impossible not to understand the great harm of the climate crisis to human beings, but he keeps silent. Liu Cixin has never commented on China's high-intensity lockdown and isolation measures in the prevention and control of the new crown in recent years and the impact it has caused. Liu Cixin's behavior is not only indifferent, but shameful; he is not stupid, but he is even more corrupt.

The thoughts and values of Liu Cixin's works are contradictory and very unified with his personal character and morality. This sentence is not easy to understand at first glance, but for those who are familiar with "Three-Body" and Liu Cixin himself, as long as they think a little dialectically, it should not be difficult to understand.

The co-existence and even unity of the grand and profound and the pollution of conscience is the most appropriate and concise evaluation of Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" and Liu Cixin himself.

But in any case, "Three-Body" is still worth reading, and Liu Cixin's thoughts should be understood by more people. We should also think about why there are no people with high moral character and both ability and political integrity in China and even in the world who wrote such a magnificent work as "The Three-Body Problem". Perhaps, this is the same as the previous difficult choices. Only by accepting the gaze of the abyss can we truly understand what the abyss is. When a person has insight into the truth of human beings and even the universe, but does not have enough faith to keep his conscience, he will not be able to get out of the contradiction between morality and cognition, which will eventually lead to hissoulvanity and depravity. This is really sad and common.