The Wandering Earth

The Wandering Earth is a representative novella of science fiction by Liu Cixin, first published in Science Fiction World, issue 7 of 2000, and awarded that year's Galaxy Award for Chinese science fiction (Special Prize). The story is set against the end-of-days backdrop of the Sun about to undergo a helium flash and engulf the inner planets: humanity abandons the traditional plan of migrating to another star and instead builds tens of thousands of enormous planetary engines on Earth's surface, propelling the entire planet out of the solar system toward a new home four light-years away. This journey through the "Braking Era—Escape Era—Wandering Era," lasting 2,500 years, exacts an enormous price from Earth civilization: art, ethics, and common sense are progressively subordinated to the rationality of survival; the surface is reduced to a wasteland at more than a hundred degrees below zero; humanity moves into underground cities; and marriage, reproduction, and even emotions must submit to the plans of the United Earth Government. The novel looks back, through the narrator "I," at the fates of his grandfather, parents, and himself—three generations in the end times—describing such thrilling passages as Earth passing through the asteroid belt and using Jupiter's gravity to accelerate, as well as the suspicion and rebellion brewing among the people under prolonged repression, until the Sun's final moment supplies the answer in the cruelest way. Though short, the work uses a vast cosmic scale and a calm brush to discuss the tensions between the survival of civilization, reason and humanity, sacrifice and hope. This edition is a collection of novellas and short stories in the Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House's "Liu Cixin Science Fiction Series," which, in addition to the title novella, also includes award-winning works such as "The Sun of China," "The Village Teacher," "Full-Spectrum Barrage Jamming," "With Her Eyes," "Earth Cannon," "The Mirror," and "Supporting the Gods."