Liu Cixin
Liu Cixin (, ; born 23 June 1963) is a Chinese science fiction writer. He is a nine-time winner of China's Galaxy Award and has also received the 2015 Hugo Award for his novel "The Three-Body Problem" as well as the 2017 Locus Award for "Death's End". He is also a winner of the Chinese Nebula Award. In English translations of his works, his name is given as Cixin Liu. He is a member of China Science Writers Association and the vice president of Shanxi Writers Association. He is also called "Da Liu". Life and career . Liu was born on 23 June 1963 in Beijing and raised in Yangquan, Shanxi, where Liu's parents had been sent to work in the mines. Due to the violence of the Cultural Revolution he was sent to live in his ancestral home in Luoshan County, Henan. Liu graduated from the North China University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power in 1988. He then worked as a computer engineer at a power plant in Shanxi province. Writing. Liu's writing is influenced by fiction. He cites British authors George Orwell and Arthur C. Clarke as important literary influences. He was  labeled the first cyberpunk Chinese author after his novel, "China 2185," was published in 1989. Liu's most famous work, "The Three-Body Problem", was published in 2007 (it is the first novel in the "Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy). American author Ken Liu's 2014 translation (published by Tor Books) won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Liu Cixin thus became the first author from Asia to win Best Novel. The German translation (which included some portions of the original text not included in the English translation) followed in 2016. Ken Liu also translated the third volume  of "The Three-Body Problem" series, "Death's End," in 2016. Death's End was a 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel finalist and won a 2017 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Liu’s three novels had been a sensation of Chinese science fiction literature within Chinese territory and internationally. In 2012, even the winner of the Nobel Prize of Literature, Mo Yan, would have acclaimed the remarkable originality of Liu Cixin. Liu’s fiction focuses primarily on problems such as social inequality, scientific development and ecological limitations that impacts humanity. Chinese science fiction, then, acts as a  vehicle that expresses hope for social change and modernization to contextualize the process of globalization. With the novels revolving around China, not implying the favourability to this country but to remind that China and as well as other countries face the same threats that endanger the civilization and the world. Similarly, with proper translation of Chinese science fiction literature and literature in general would allow to overcome the division between different cultures and cultural exchanges. Which would allow the integration of new ideas and allow Chinese culture to be an essential part for the world’s literature. Adaptations. A cinematic  adaptation of "The Three-Body Problem" has been filmed, but its release has been indefinitely postponed. In March 2018, Amazon was rumored to be negotiating for the rights to the project. However, YooZoo Pictures released a statement in response stating that it was the "sole owner of the rights for film and TV series adaptations." Although it "was originally scheduled to be released in 2017," the project "was postponed indefinitely due to the company's internal shuffling and the rumored 'bad quality' of the film's first cut." In June 2019, it was reported that work had begun on an  animated adaptation, and in 2020, October Media announced another adaptation in the works. The cinematic adaptation of his short story "The Wandering Earth" was released in China on February 5, 2019, which became the second highest-grossing film in the Chinese box office within 2 weeks. The science-fiction comedy film "Crazy Alien" was adapted from his science fiction "", which has grossed 2.2 billion at the box office, making it the fifteenth film in Chinese film history with a box office exceeding 2 billion. US streaming platform Netflix announced in September 2020 that it had ordered an English-language series  based on Liu's well-known trilogy The Three-Body Problem. Liu will act as a consulting producer on the project. Personal life. Liu is married and has a daughter. Political views. According to a June 2019 interview and profile article by "The New Yorker", Liu avoids talking about politics. In the same article, Liu argued that democracy was not appropriate for modern China, and individual liberty and freedom of governance is "not what Chinese people care about", adding "If you were to loosen up the country a bit, the consequences would be terrifying." He expressed support for policies such  as the one-child policy and the Xinjiang re-education camps, saying "the government is helping their economy and trying to lift them out of poverty". The article reported that Liu had "become wary of touting the geopolitical underpinnings of his work". Liu's remarks in the "New Yorker" interview were questioned by five Republican U.S. senators in a letter to Netflix in September 2020. The letter asks whether Netflix was aware of Liu's remarks and demands a justification for proceeding with the adaptation of "The Three-Body Problem". Netflix responded that Liu was not the creator of the  show, and that Liu's comments "are not reflective of the views of Netflix or of the show's creators, nor are they part of the plot or themes of the show". Bibliography. Works of short fiction. 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2010 2011 2014 2016 2018 2020 Novels Collection. 2003 2004 2008 2014 Science Essay. 2003