Why Is Chinese Sci-Fi Everywhere now, Ken Liu knows-2019-12-29

Why is Chinese Sci-Fi Everywhere now, Ken Liu Knows.

In the fall of 2012, a Chinese publisher was seeking an English-language translator for a trippy science fiction novel titled "The Three Body Problem".

2012年秋天，一家中国出版机构正在为一部充满迷幻色彩的科幻小说《三体》寻找一位英语翻译。

Ken Liu- an American computer programmer turned coporate lawyer turned science fiction writer- was a natural choice- fluent in Madarian, familiar with sci-fi tropes and culture, and a rising star in the genre.

从计算机程序转到公司律师，转到科幻作家的美国华裔刘宇昆是个理所当然的人选 ，他说着一口流利中文，熟悉科幻小说的写法与文化背景，也是这个领域一颗冉冉升起的新星。

The Three Body Problem, a mind-bending epic set in Beijing, Inner Mogolia and on a distant planet, was full of heady technical passages about quantamthoery, nanotechnology, and astrophysics, interwind with profound moral questions about the nature of good and evil, and humanity's place in the universe.

《三体》是一部背景设立在背景，内蒙古与一个遥远星球的烧脑史诗著作。其中包含重多关于量子理念，纳米技术，以及天体物理知识的专业术语，围绕着关于自然界中好与坏的本质，以及人类在宇宙中的位置的道德问题。

The sucess of the three body problem not only turned its original author Niu CIXIN into a global literary star, but also opened the floodgates for new translations of Chinese sicence fiction. This, in turn, has made Liu a critical conduit for Chinese sicence fiction writer seeking for Western audiences. A literary brand as sought-after as the best-selling novel he has translated.

《三体》的成功不仅让该著作的原作者刘慈新在世界文学界成为了一颗星，也让喷发了更多中国科幻小说的译本。反过来，也让刘宇昆成为了中国科幻小说家寻找欧洲受众的重要渠道。这是一个受欢迎的品牌，就像他翻译过的著名小说一样。

Liu's translations have reshaped the global science fiction landscape, which has been long dominated by American and English authors. Over the past decades, he has translated 5 novels and 50 works of short novels for dozens Chinese writers. Some of whome he discovered and championed himself.

刘的翻译重新塑造了科幻小说的格局，一直以来科幻小说的领导都是欧美作家。在过去的10年里，他为几十位中国作家翻译了5本长篇小说以及50多部短篇小说，其中有一些是他自己挖掘并支持的。

As an emissary for some of China's most provocative and boundary-breaking writers, Liu has become much more than a scout and a translator. He is now a fixer, an editor, and a curator. A savvy interpreter who has done more than any one to bridge the imagination gap between the world's current, fading superpower, and its ascendant one.

作为中国最发人深省以及勇于跨越界限的中国写作者代表，刘宇昆不仅仅是一位星探和翻译者，他也是一位问题解决者，校对以及策划者。一位聪明的翻译家，在为下在衰退以及正在崛起的超级大国的思想鸿沟建立桥梁的事情上，他的功劳无可比拟。

2019-12-29