Photo: opacity from Chicago / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
What strikes me most about Liu Cixin is that a working power-plant engineer reshaped global science fiction almost single-handedly. The Three-Body trilogy doesn't just borrow Western SF tropes; it brings a cold, almost cosmic indifference to the human scale that feels genuinely his own, and the Dark Forest idea has lodged itself in how a generation thinks about the universe. His Hugo win was a landmark, but the repeated Seiun Awards tell me how deeply he connects with Japanese readers too. I admire that the ambition stayed enormous while the prose stayed grounded. He earned every bit of the attention.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Liu Cixin
- Name (Japanese)
- 劉慈欣
- Reading
- 不明
- Born
- June 23, 1963 (age 63)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Rabbit
- Origin
- Beijing, People's Republic of China
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- science fiction writer / engineer / writer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power
Awards & achievements
- 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel
- 2017 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
- 2017 Ignotus Award for Best Foreign Novel
- 2020 Seiun Award for Best Translated Long Work
- 2021 Seiun Award for Best Translated Long Work
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | The Three-Body Problem | — | |
| Notable work | The Dark Forest | — | |
| Notable work | Death's End | — | |
| Notable work | The Wandering Earth | — | |
| Notable work | Hold Up the Sky | — | |
| Notable work | The Rural Teacher | — |
6. Links
- Xhttps://x.com/liu_cixin
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8A%89%E6%85%88%E6%AC%A3
Frequently asked questions
When was Liu Cixin born?
Born June 23, 1963 (age 63).
Where is Liu Cixin from?
Liu Cixin is from Beijing, People's Republic of China.
What does Liu Cixin do?
Liu Cixin works as science fiction writer, engineer, writer.
What is Liu Cixin known for?
Notable works include The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, Death's End.
Science fiction writer — see all → · Engineer — see all → · More people from People's Republic of China →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-17
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.