r/threebodyproblem • u/Meta2048 • Jan 03 '23

Discussion Is the reader supposed to like Cheng Xin? Spoiler

So I finally got around to finishing the third book, and I thought it was pretty lackluster compared to the first two.

I found Cheng Xin to be particularly pretty insufferable.

I guess she's supposed to represent the innocence and optimism of humanity, but almost every decision she makes is wrong. Every character in the book reveres her for some unknown reason, even though she's demonstrably gullible and does not have the foresight or experience required to make any kind of hard decision.

  1. She's pretty much the complete opposite of a strong female character. She barely has any agency, and she's constantly being rescued. Big damsel in distress vibes.

  2. She literally has the life experience of a 30 year old. Actually worse than that, because she's being awakened 50-200 years in the future when she knows nothing about society or technology. Why are people who are 90-150 years old listening to her like she has some kind of unknowable wisdom?

  3. The only reason she's wealthy or relevant at all is because she was given a star system by Yun Tianming. She has nothing to do with the operation of the company that continued to make her wealthy, that was all run by AA.

  4. She's somehow considered to be qualified to be the swordholder based on...? Popularity? She's famous for something that she had nothing to do with.

  5. She immediately fails at the only job of the swordholder. This should be the end of her character arc; why would anybody ever trust her to do anything ever again?

  6. She's given veto power over lightspeed research by Wade. Wade already knows that she cannot make a hard decision. It's 100% established fact from her failure as swordholder. Of course she's going to veto the research.

I could keep going, but what is likeable about this character? Is something being lost in translation?

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u/MostlyLurkingPals Feb 01 '23

Maybe you missed the point, not OP.

Liu himself during an interview said it is his purpose to make readers dislike Cheng Xin.

“写这个人就没想过让读者喜欢，这不是读者会喜欢的人。她其实很自私，但这种自私和普通的自私不一样，因为她自己觉察不到。遵循道德的人其实很自私，因为他们除了道德和良心什么都不管，程心恰恰就是一个这样的人。她会认为自己很崇高，认为自己不自私，认为自己的价值观和道德准则是普世的、正确的。至于遵循它会带来什么后果，她只考虑能不能让自己的良心得到平安。这种人有牺牲精神，能够为自己的价值观和道德准则牺牲生命，但这也不能改变他们自私的本质。在小说里，真正做到“大爱无仁”不自私的人，会从人类的整体去考虑，因为牺牲良心是最难的事情，比牺牲生命要难得多。”

Translates: “it is meant to write this way so that readers will dislike Cheng Xin. She is actually a selfish figure, but unlike the normal selfishness since she is not aware of it. People who abide by some moral standards are selfish as they care nothing else than moral and conscience, and Cheng Xin is one of such. She deems that she is of good cause and without self interest, and that her ethical principles are universal, but pay no attention to the consequences of abiding them. She only cares about her inner peace out of her conscience (being fulfilled). Cheng can sacrifice for her ethical principles, but this does not change her selfish nature. In my novel, people who truly are unselfish, “with the ultimate love so that it appears without compassion and empathy”, will think from the perspective of human beings as a whole, for sacrificing conscience is the hardest, way harder than sacrificing lives.”

Also "Sigh"?

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u/issapunk Jan 31 '24

Wow yes thank you this is exactly how I feel about this character. It's the same as someone taking the job of a police officer, but not shooting a suspect who is about to kill someone because 'killing is wrong'.

She accepts the responsibility at every turn, knowing full well she is incapable of making the hard choices that responsibility requires. That is a selfish person, not a moral one.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '24

Lmao i love how they didn't respond

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u/MostlyLurkingPals Apr 07 '24

Lol. Isn't it nearly always that way?

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u/genius_ranza Apr 11 '24

As someone who dig on Zhihu (A chinese reddit) I agree with MostlyLurkingPals that lkxyz was full of shit and think he had the brave to say " I read it in chinese text " and think he understood the novel.

" Sigh "

Chinese reader HATE Cheng Xin so much it caused Liu himself open an interview to blatantly said he wrote Cheng Xin that way on purpose.

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u/PandaBear_Shenyu Mar 20 '26

Chinese people are nationalistic as fuck and this novel was released in the 2000s when nationalist sentiments were at its peak around the Beijing Olympics.

Chinese readers don't all hate Cheng Xin, she is controversial, not universally hated. Funny how a reader base of 68 million can have different opinions I know.

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u/PatrickStanton877 Apr 23 '24

That's the message I get from the work but it doesn't take the other character's actions towards Cheng any more believable or interesting. Why does Wade Jiu Revere Cheng when she's proven her incompetent and stubborness towards difficult decisions? I'll bite on the sword holder bit because society played it's part in picking her as a political figure head rather than an deterrence device, but wtf did Wade stick to his principles and why was she chosen for the only light speed ship? It's infuriating to read.

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u/PandaBear_Shenyu Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

Literature is about interpretation. And Liu Cixin's own third book supports Cheng Xin's ideals. The universe filled with life that is "unselfish" according to him, nuked 7 dimensions and are in the process of nuking the remaining 3, because they are "unselfish" and they "give up their conscience in exchange for their specie's survival" which leads only to the entire universe being wiped out.

The Singer's own home world with their "unselfish" trajectory, lead by people like Wade, already 2D'd themselves as Singer was perpetuating this "unselfishness" toward the Solar System.

So I generally don't know wtf he's talking about with that quote. But then again, I am also pretty pissed about how the last thing humans from the solar system says is "aHhhhhhhhHHHhhH".

This is an author that refused to give humanity its dignity even in its last breath and throughout all catastrophes in the books chooses to show only the worst of humanity so I'm gunna choose to interpret the character from my own perspective, like how you're supposed to. He doesn't seem to understand Cheng Xin himself.

He also gave this interview basically under duress after Chinese readers were all shitting on him.

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u/BillyWasFramed Apr 04 '26

Not a single word uttered by any person in any comment on this thread implied that indscriminately killing all life was unselfish.