The Three-Body Problem

The only item of furniture in Ding Yi’s “very empty” home is a pool table. Ding Yi was the boyfriend of Yang Dong but he laments that they weren’t close. Ding had hoped that the new apartment might convince her to settle down with him. He has heard of the Frontiers of Science and warns Wang to stay away. The men play pool, discussing how the balls remind them of particles colliding together inside an accelerator. The recently developed particle accelerators are now so advanced, Ding explains, that the fundamental ideas scientists once believed were constant throughout the universe may not be so fundamental because the particle accelerators can’t reproduce the results that theory dictates should exist. As such, scientists now suspect that “the laws of physics are not invariant across time and space” (73). Wang suggests that if this is true, then physics as a field of research is over. The uncertainty is the reason why many physicists—such as Yang Dong—recently gave up on the field as well as their own lives. Ding suggests that Wang “visit Yang Dong’s mother” (74) because she lives alone and would enjoy the company. Wang leaves.

Wang enters the city to take photographs. Feeling in a more chaotic mood than usual, he thinks about “two hypotheses, both involving the fundamental nature of the laws of the universe” (76). The shooter theory describes a hunter who can shoot bullets into a target at precise 10 cm intervals. If a hypothetical species of sentient creatures lived on the target, they might believe that the universe itself had a hole at 10 cm intervals. The farmer theory then describes a farmer who receives a package of food every day at 11 o’clock in the morning. When Thanksgiving arrives, the farmer tells the turkeys that, rather than receiving food at 11 o’clock in the morning, they’ll be slaughtered. They’re the food. The theory makes Wang consider his preconceived ideas about his place in the universe. Later, as he develops his photographs, he notices “numbers” on every negative. The “countdown” has no apparent source or explanation but alerts him that 1,200 hours remain.

Wang asks his family to use his camera. The photographs that they take don’t contain the “ghostlike figures.” Wang dismantles his camera and changes the film, but the countdown appears whenever he takes a picture, even when he uses someone else’s camera. As his wife weeps, Wang visits Shen Yufei. Inside Shen’s lavish house, Shen’s husband, Wei Cheng, greets Wang. Neither Wang nor anyone else knows what the pleasant but befuddled Wei does for a living or how he and his wife can afford their expensive house. Wei seemingly spends all day sitting at a high-end computer. Wang finds Shen dressed in a V-suit, a virtual reality device that allows users to “experience the sensations of the game” (85). Wang is surprised to learn that Shen plays video games. She’s playing something on “www.3body.net” but logs off, and Wang tells her about the mysterious countdowns. She’s unsurprised and tells him to stop researching nanomaterials. As Wang is about to leave, a notable environmentalist named Pan Han arrives. Pan has made accurate predictions about the environmental damage done by new farming techniques and has long warned against the “disease” of technological progress. Wang sees Shen talking to Pan outside but can’t hear what they say. Pan doesn’t enter.

On the way home, Wang argues with Shi. He suspects that Shi is following him. Wang falls asleep, and the countdown fills his “chaotic” dreams. When he wakes, the “infernal numbers” are now seared into his vision. He visits an ophthalmologist, who’s bemused by Wang’s problem and suggests that Wang is simply exhausted. He recommends that Wang take time away from his research. Instead, Wang goes to work. The latest machine in the lab has been malfunctioning, and other members of Wang’s team have, like the ophthalmologist, suggested that he take time off. Wang tells the lab director to “shut down the experiment” (95) and take a few days to regroup. Secretly, he reassures himself that the countdown isn’t influencing his change of mind. As soon as the order to shut down the machine is issued, the numbers vanish. Wang is angry. He demands answers from Shen Yufei. She suggests that some sort of God may be involved. Wang demands to look at the countdown from a different perspective, referencing the theories about the farmer and the shooter. Shen sends Wang a chart written in Morse code. The chart will allow him to measure the universe’s “cosmic microwave background” (99). If he checks the chart at a certain time, she says, Wang will be able to see the universe “flicker.”

Wang contacts Ding Yi for advice on reading “the cosmic microwave background” (99). Ding recommends that Wang talk to Yang Dong’s mother, who is also an astrophysicist and is “very familiar” with the respective facilities. Ending the call, Wang thinks about the video game Shen Yufei was playing. Putting on his own V-suit, he logs on to Three Body under the screen name Hairen. The V-suit immediately turns cold. In the game, “two walking figures” (101) approach Wang on a barren landscape. One of the men is King Wen, and the other is his follower. Wang notes that King Wen existed long before the Warring States Period, but his comments are ignored. The two men produce a large hourglass, which is their only way to measure time while on their “very long journey” (102). Wen is surprised by Wang’s suggestion that they tell the time by the position of the sun. The sun will make them warmer, though the follower is surprised by the suggestion that it will rise soon. Wen says that they’re “in the midst of a Chaotic Era” (103), a time when there’s no way to be certain that the sun will rise at all because it doesn’t follow a strict pattern. There’s no way to tell when a Stable Era will become a Chaotic Era. Wang looks around and sees the sun about to rise and set in different parts of the sky. In silence, Wen turns the hourglass upside down. Time speeds up. Wang notices that his in-game health is low.

The sun rises without warning. Wang is surprised that it seems to be getting closer, almost burning everything. The three men try to “find shade.” Living through a Chaotic Era, the follower says, is like “walking through hell” (106). Wen suggests that they dehydrate his follower, who then lays on the ground and releases all the water from his body. Wen then asks Wang to carry the follower’s shriveled form. When they reach their destination, they can rehydrate the follower. Wang remembers seeing other shriveled husks in the road and realizes that they’re dehydrated people. Time accelerates as Wen and Wang resume their journey. Above them, Wen notices “two flying stars” (107). These flying stars indicate the beginning of a Stable Era, he says. Wang’s idea about three such stars seems to worry Wen. A Stable Era does indeed begin. The people rehydrate and rebuild their cities and farms. Civilization progresses only during Stable Eras, Wen explains. The game is built on crafting “an accurate calendar” (109) of Stable Eras and Chaotic Eras. Wen wants to share his idea for such a calendar with King Zhou. They reach King Zhou’s palace. Wang hears “giant pendulums” swinging in the air. They sound like thunder. The palace’s thick walls protect Zhou during Chaotic Eras. Inside, Zhou sits on his throne beside a man dressed in all black named Fu Xi. Zhou explain that Fu Xi built the pendulums to harness the sun (which he believed was an angry deity) and use their “hypnotic effect.” He was proved wrong, so Zhou has ordered him to jump into a cauldron of boiling water as punishment. Fu Xi obeys.

Wen explains his calendar to Zhou. He uses the I Ching, a traditional Chinese oracle system, to perform calculations. His initial calculations provide a rough calendar, and he speeds up the time in the game to prove that it’s generally accurate. Zhou is impressed and promises to build a monument in Wen’s honor. When a Stable Era begins, as Wen has predicted, Zhou orders his city to rehydrate itself. The shriveled husks turn into celebrating people. They immediately begin rebuilding their civilization. Within eight days, however, Wen’s predictions begin to fail when “three flying stars” (116) are spotted in the sky. Wen announces that this foretells an era of extreme cold. The Stable Era ends quickly, and the people dehydrate again. Wen is ordered to leap into the boiling cauldron. The game won’t be fun after this point, Zhou suggests, so Wang should leave. For several weeks, the world is ravaged by snow and ice. Civilization is destroyed, Wang learns from an in-game message. Civilization Number 137, Wang reads, advanced to the Warring States Period before being destroyed. As three stars fly around Wang, the game invites him to return “in the future” (118).

Even outside the game, Wang obsesses over the idea of the Chaotic Era. He remembers learning about information theory in school when his professor showed the class two images: One was a painting; the other was a photograph. The latter contained much more information. Wang believes that the game, like the photograph, has “enormous information content” (120). He visits Yang Dong’s mother, helping her with her groceries. Yang Dong’s mother is Ye Wenjie, a famous scientist. As Wang helps her into her apartment, he sees that she’s watching several of “the neighbors’ kids” (121). Yang Dong never had children, Wang notes, but Ye Wenjie seems like a natural grandmother. Given the tour of the house, Wang is surprised that Yang Dong’s room is so bare. One of the few items in the room is a “black-and-white photograph in a wooden frame” (122) which portrays Yang Dong and her mother on top of Radar Peak, below the antenna. In the photograph, Yang looks “terrified.”

Ye shows Wang a notebook that belongs to Yang. The pages are filled with abstract doodles, which Yang drew as a child. Ye regrets that she introduced her child to “very abstract, very extreme topics” (124) which made her child’s “simple” world much more complicated. Yang had nothing substantive to fall back on when her theories collapsed. Wang points out that Yang isn’t the only scientist who died by suicide. Ye had hoped that, as a woman, her daughter might have been flexible enough to endure the widespread spate of disillusionment and deaths by suicide. As he’s about to leave, Wang asks Ye about the chart. Ye suggests that he visit a Beijing suburb where one of her former students now works. Noticing that Wang seems “a bit pale” (126), Ye gives him some tea. He promises to return.

Wang travels to the National Astronomical Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Driving along the mountain road to the center, he passes several “parabolic antenna dishes” (127). He remembers the photograph of Yang Dong. At the center, Ye’s former student Sha Ruishan greets him. Wang explains his goal to observe the “overall fluctuation in the cosmic microwave background” (128). This makes Sha laugh, as the changes are so minute and gradual that he’d need millions of years to notice any substantial change. Nevertheless, he agrees to help. They watch an outdated Cosmic Background Explorer probe, agreeing to return to the monitor at one o’ clock in the morning, when the supposed shift will take place. In the meantime, Sha and Wang share a drink and talk in an “all-night bar for tourists” (130). He tells Ye Wenjie’s life story, including her father’s brutal execution. For a short period, Sha says, Ye seemed to disappear. She returned in the 1990s and took a teaching position at Tsinghua University. Recently, people learned that Ye spent these missing years at the Red Coast Base.

At one o’ clock in the morning, Sha and Wang return to the monitor. Much to Sha’s surprise, the monitor shows a change. He consults other, more modern probes. Each one shows a similar, unprecedented radiation shift. Wang spots a pattern in the changes. He realizes that they’re communicating in Morse code. He uses the chart to decipher the message, which reveals the same “countdown” from his photographs. Sha tells Wang to find a radiation monitoring headset, which will allow him to observe the changes through his own eyes. He’s too disturbed by events to continue with Wang but tells him where to go. As Sha mentions the recent strange events which have happened to scientists, Wang suggests that it’s now his “turn.” He collects five headsets from a local planetarium. Wearing one set over his eyes, he sees the universe flickering with radiation. He’s suddenly aware of a “strange, perverse, immense presence” (137) beyond the scope of human comprehension. Scared, he removes the headset. Wang leaves the planetarium sometime later. He calls Shen Yufei and asks, “What happens at the end of the countdown?” (138). She doesn’t know. Feeling powerless, he wonders whether this has happened to other individuals throughout history. Passing a church, he’s unable to focus on the details of the building or the occupants. All he can see is the flicker of background radiation. As he breaks down in tears, Shi Qiang passes by and mockingly comments that “another one bites the dust” (139).

Shi Qiang is nicknamed Da Shi by his friends. He speaks to Wang and confirms that he has been following him. Wang, surprisingly, finds “comfort” in this. Shi invites him for a drink, noticing that Wang has been crying. At a bar, Wang runs down the events of the past day. Shi seems less concerned than Wang. He’s too busy with his job to think about the state of the universe. He suggests that Wang have another drink and sleep. Wang catches a few hours’ sleep in his car. He wakes up and realizes that he has parked near the Forbidden City. He’s comforted by the “classical and stable” (143) historic site. However, the comfort doesn’t last long. He speaks to Shi again, who offers the same advice. During the course of their conversation, Shi suggests that he’s equally confused about what’s happening. However, he eventually agrees to reveal what he knows. Shi describes the “apparently unconnected things” (144) that have occurred recently. The scientists’ deaths by suicide, the Frontiers of Science, and a series of unexpected crimes targeting academic institutions, he says, have been linked to environmental activists who have become more radical. Meanwhile, art such as movies has explored pastoral, rural themes. In addition, Shi mentions a number of cults that are suspiciously well funded. Grouped together, Shi suggests that these seemingly disparate events point to a concerted effort to “completely ruin scientific research” (145). General Chang now agrees with this theory and Shi is proud of himself for developing it, rather than one of the scientists in the group.

Wang quizzes Shi about the group. He wants to know about Chang’s reference to a “war.” Shi claims to know nothing but admits that China seems to be working alongside NATO. Men who are rarely scared, Shi mentions, now seem frightened of something. Most of the scientists in the group work on abstract science, such as the work carried out by Yang Dong. Wang’s work is much more practical. He wonders why the group’s enemies would be “afraid of fundamental science” (148), such as his research. Sensing that Wang is becoming upset again, Shi suggests that he go to the lab and play the Three Body video game again. He drives away, promising to contact Wang soon.

Wang buys a V-suit and returns home. Once his wife is asleep, he loads up the game. He finds himself in King Zhou’s palace, which now has an Aztec theme. Wang senses that “eons [have] passed” (149). He inspects the civilization’s technological advancements, including a machine powered by slaves. The machine moves a “large copper sphere” (150) in random directions. A man named Mozi approaches Wang. This, Mozi explains, is Civilization Number 139. Unlike most civilizations that came before, this one has advanced “all the way to the Steam Age” (151). While examining a statue of Confucius, Mozi describes how Confucius tried to predict the sun’s movements based on his philosophy of order. Wang listens to Mozi’s story, but he’s confused. Mozi explains that they’re currently in the Han Dynasty. Mozi claims to have solved the universe’s mysteries. In his belief, the universe is built from two hollow spheres, one inside the other, which float across a “sea of fire” (153). The sun and the stars are actually holes in the external sphere that allow light to enter. The sun’s irregular movement is caused by the movement across the sea of fire. Wang asks about this theory, but Mozi can’t provide satisfying answers. He now understands that the copper sphere is a large model of Mozi’s theory. A person inside the model records all the movement to make a calendar and complete the game.

According to Mozi, all signs point to an imminent and productive Stable Era. The game speeds up, the people rehydrate, and Mozi cheers. Wang observes the sun, which is very different from the actual sun. Wang realizes how much data is actually hidden inside the game, waiting for players to find. Wang spends 10 days watching the sun and the stars. When the sun fails to rise, however, Mozi insists that he isn’t worried about civilizational collapse. As he speaks, the sun rises very quickly and sets fire to the world. Even as he burns, Mozi insists that “the Stable Era will continue” (158). Wang realizes that he’s also on fire. The sun vanishes, and the sky turns dark. The game is over, so Wang removes his V-suit. He’s starting to worry that the game has a “deep reality,” especially compared to reality. To Wang, reality now seems only superficially complex while actually being very simple, just like the painting the teacher showed his class. The next day, Wang goes to his lab. He tries not to let his anxiety creep into his thoughts. Once work is over, he visits Ye Wenjie again. Although he wants to ask about her past, she’s unwilling to talk about it. Instead, she’d rather talk about her work at the Red Coast Base, which is “still classified.”