Current Events > Reading the Three Body Problem. I'm surprised a book like this came from China.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Well modern China at any rate.

For those unaware it's a sci-fi book written by a Chinese author with the opening chapters dealing with the Cultural Revolution in a pretty negative light.

Book is pretty cool so far.

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The author has actually been put on blast for supporting the CCP. Not that he probably has any choice.

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The cultural revolution is viewed quite negatively even by the CCP

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I heard some youtuber mention it and then read a little about it. Seems like your typical scifi nihilism to me, e.g. humanity would rather destroy itself than face some existential threat.

The only people who support the Cultural Revolution are Western larpers who support China because they like the communist aesthetics. They know nothing about China including that the government denounces the cultural revolution and that actual communists/leftists etc. wind up in jail there.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yue_Xin_(activist)

That's what happens if you try to be a socialist and support labor movements in modern China.

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Been meaning to check that out, an author I follow did a video on it.

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is this the series D&D (from GoT) are working on for Netflix?

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What a cool book. I'm glad others are enjoying it.

My absolute favourite part is when they make a computer out of people. It's so damn absurd.

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g0ldie posted...

is this the series D&D (from GoT) are working on for Netflix?

Yes. There are confusingly 3 different adaptations. A Chinese film version that was never released because it's apparently bad. A Chinese series coming out soon that has a trailer and looks quite good (though it somehow completely removed the actual TBP game or decided not to show it at all in the trailer) and finally a Westernized Netflix version we haven't seen a trailer of yet.

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cuh posted...

Im reading the sequel right now and its amazing. Youre in for a treat.

Interesting.

I thought the first book was good but didn't wow me. The second book I found terribly misogynistic and predictable. Never got to the third book then.

What do orbital mechanics got to do with the cultural revolution?

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ssjevot posted...

Yes. There are confusingly 3 different adaptations. A Chinese film version that was never released because it's apparently bad. A Chinese series coming out soon that has a trailer and looks quite good (though it somehow completely removed the actual TBP game or decided not to show it at all in the trailer) and finally a Westernized Netflix version we haven't seen a trailer of yet.

thanks!

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cuh posted...

@ssjevot is there anything on the scrapped film online? I know you said it was considered bad but Im still curious to see what it would have turned out like

Sadly there isn't. Basically the it's really bad thing is just a guess. Why the Chinese film board won't approve a film for release is usually a guess. Like when the Nanking war movie wasn't released years ago everyone was saying it's because it has Republic of China (Taiwan) flags everywhere, but that's just a guess. Eventually it got released years later and we don't really know what changed. So this film has been unreleased so long the assumption is it's just bad, but again that's a rumor.

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BettyB0op08 posted...

They want to censor condemnation of current CCP, not previous CCP

The official stance is Mao was responsible for the cultural revolution, not the party. It was used to justify term limits until now (Xi abolished them so he can rule indefinitely).

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ssjevot posted...

The official stance is Mao was responsible for the cultural revolution, not the party. It was used to justify term limits until now (Xi abolished them so he can rule indefinitely).

Yeah, there was some talk that Xi taking on president for life was going to bring up some old Mao political grudges that could eventually lead to his downfall...I'm not seeing it but he dissapperared for a while and has been pretty guarded and hasn't left Beijing since the pandemic began, but that's most likely due to the pandemic

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Xi has completely neutralized any actual opposition. The so-called Shanghai faction isn't going to challenge him. It's pretty much just wait it out and then let the succession crisis begin. I don't know if it will be post-Stalin levels of mayhem, but it isn't likely to be a smooth transition when he dies or becomes unable to rule.

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TC is a reactionary confirmed.

Maybe you need to review your preconceptions about China then TC. It is truly a wonderful and free country, where works of art like this can be published no problem.

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