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Review: Liu Cixin (劉慈欣) - Taking Care of Gods (2012, Translated by Ken Liu)
Another interesting short story from Liu Cixin, about a civilization of elderly folks who had created Earth, coming home to have someone to take care of them in old age.
Spoilers.
Story
The story began in a more down to earth way, showing us the daily lives of Qiusheng’s family in a village. The family consisted of Qiusheng, his wife Yulian, his father, his son Bingbing, and God, a member of the God civilization. God had come to find his life with this family less than ideal.
Then we were given information on this God civilization. They had arrived on Earth, asking for the humans to take care of them as a sign of filial piety, for the God civilization had created them. The God civilization had created their world long ago, and now most of the members of their civilization were elderly, around three to four thousand years old. Because their civilization was so advanced, they were unable to do basic things. Their ships were essentially self-running.
Each family on earth was assigned a God or two to take care of, and provided some funding to do so. However, the relationship between the Gods and humans turned sour shortly. The money was not enough to pay for taking care of the Gods, especially since they were old and had health problems. The scientific knowledge that the Gods had given to humans was also too advanced, and humans could not do anything with the knowledge practically speaking, until their own science had developed. Many Gods were starting to be abused, and laws were passed to protect them from abuse, but many Gods left their homes due to soured relationships with their human families. After an argument, Qiusheng’s God left home as well. Qiusheng wanted to leave with God, but God said that it was the God civilization’s time to go. They found that the humans pitied them, and that was not the relationship they wanted.
They all boarded their spaceships. Before they left, God told Qiusheng’s family that there were other Earths, and that our Earth (Earth Four) had to start preparing as the other Earths would come and attack them. When he left, God had asked Qiusheng for some of his science textbooks, so that he could learn science in his spare time in old age.
This was a short story that combined a few different scientific and social issues. It was interesting, though I found the science fiction part of this story more compelling than the social commentary.
Writing & Translation
This novel was also translated by Ken Liu, as was the Three Body Problem and its sequels. I found that the translation was fine, though there was some wording that was a little clunky at times. But overall, I think that I was reading a story that was in the same tone as Liu Cixin’s other books.
Characters
Qiusheng
Qiusheng was the father of the family. He was the breadwinner, but at home, he was under pressure to listen to his father and his wife. Towards the end of the story, as the relationship with God soured, Qiusheng was the only person who still looked on God kindly. I think this was a representation of family dynamics in China.
Qiusheng listened to his father out of filial piety. Qiusheng listened to his wife as she ran the household. Qiusheng did things for his son, because as a father that was his job. Qiusheng was at the mercy of everyone else. When God came into the picture, he was supposed to override the authority of all of the other members of the family, if only due to age alone. I think Qiusheng supported God because he was tired of submitting to the authority of the others. And perhaps God would understand. His loyalty to God, to the point of leaving home did surprise me a little, but we could tell he was under stress.
God
God was both the character living with Qiusheng’s family, as well as every member of the God civilization living with other human families. When the Earthly authorities wanted to meet with the God civilization, they insisted that they had no leaders, that all members of the God civilization were equal and had equal information. So the God in Qiusheng’s home was pretty much the same as the Gods across the world.
He was pretty normal as a person. After all, he was technically just an older person. He was afraid of Yulian and Qiusheng’s father, enjoyed his alone time, sympathized with the other Gods. Fairly normal personality traits.
Something that set God apart was perspective. He was thousands of years old, and time meant nothing to him compared to humans. When he told Yulian that they’d have better technology by next century, she was infuriated because she would not be alive to reap the benefits, and her children would have to continue taking care of God. As well, due to God’s advanced civilization, no God was able to do basic tasks. They mentioned often that they didn’t know how to solve a quadratic equation. And at the beginning of the story, God kept forgetting to turn off the gas stove because that would have been an automatic function on the automatic spaceship.
Specific to the God in Qiusheng’s family, he had a woman that he loved, but she had set off on a journey long ago. She was a younger woman, due to travelling close to the speed of light. God had a broadcast of her, saying “I love you” to him, but at a very slow speed due to time relativity.
God did look upon the human civilization as children. And so that is why it hurt the Gods to be pitied. The humans pitied them because they were helpless and couldn’t solve their problems. And that is reflective of the relationships between people and the elderly, isn’t it? At the end of the story, God wanted to spend his time learning about science again, going back to the simple things, maybe become the God the humans imagined their creators to be.
Yulian
Yulian was Qiusheng’s wife, and she was a typical crabby lady. She berated God for everything, some for good reason, but much of it was due to building resentment. She yelled at God for forgetting to turn off the gas stove, for not having washed the vegetables in time for when she returned. But she was also very resentful that the family did not have enough money to take care of God, and had stopped taking God to the hospital until she was told that she would be compelled to by the law.
Her tune changed entirely when God left. She boiled some eggs for him, apologized for behaviour. But it rang hollow. She was only saying that because he was gone. And perhaps that is a childish trait too, isn’t it? To not enjoy something while you have it.
Qiusheng’s Father
Qiusheng’s father was a typical crabby old man. God dreaded playing Chinese chess with Qiusheng’s father because when God won, Qiusheng’s father would get angry, but when God lost, Qiusheng’s father would also get angry, thinking that God was going easy on him.
Qiusheng’s father was also ignorant to science and other things in life. He did not believe in the theory of relativity when God explained it to him, even though Qiusheng insisted to him that it had been proven by human scientists. So Qiusheng’s father was the kind of guy who needed to be the smartest in the room.
Bingbing
Bingbing was Qiusheng’s son. At first, Bingbing was curious and on good terms with Qiusheng, but as time passed, he would play pranks on God.
Themes
Civilization
This story treated civilizations similarly to lives. In this story, the Gods saw civilization as finite. There was no such thing as a civilization that would live forever. All civilizations came to an end. While humans were an infant civilization, the Gods were a very advanced civilization.
Perhaps this is a matter of perspective too, as the Gods did not see a reason to continue their civilization. Their only reason for planting civilizations on other planets was to have someone to take care of them in their old age, much like how many cultures have children in hopes that they’ll take care of them in their old age.
The concept of civilizations being finite is interesting and different. My impression of civilizations is that with every life, they pass on more information, healthier genes to the later generations, so that each generation is better than the last. But this story implies that there is a ceiling. Maybe the ceiling is a knowledge ceiling, as the Gods had become so lofty in their Machine Cradle that they had lost touch from basic science and weren’t able to fix their own problems. Or maybe the ceiling is an emotional one, in the sense that the Gods simply didn’t care to live longer. This is not really explored, but it’s interesting to think about.
Filial Piety
God spoke to all humans as humans speak to their young. This story very much reflected the struggle between people and the elderly folks that rely on them. Humans on earth showed filial piety at first, but grew to resent the Gods for very similar reasons why people grow to resent having to care for their elderly parents.
But at the end of the story, God reminded Qiusheng’s family that they should look to start planting civilizations as soon as they can so someone will take care of them as their civilization grows old. God reminded Qiusheng’s family that they will one day be old, and they will be the ones struggling to fit in, to find people who aren’t resentful of their mere existences.
Knowledge Gap
The humans could not take advantage of the knowledge provided by the Gods because the knowledge gap was too large. Humans would have to make many technological discoveries before they could use any of the Gods’ information, and that was disappointing to humans.
The Gods had become so content in their Machine cradle that they had lost touch with basic science. None of them could solve math equations, none of them could fix their own machines, that had been engineered to be automatic. We are seeing signs of this in our own civilization. As computers have become more convenient, more people have no reason to understand the basics of how computers work.
There was another point that was mentioned, about how humans have not written down anywhere the exact science on how to start a fire with wood (though technically I think it exists in manuals as such). But this is a reminder that as we grow more advanced, basic knowledge will become lost, will become a given because we have technology automate it for us. I couldn’t fix my car, I couldn’t fix my computer. I’ve forgotten much of the math I’ve studied because I use Microsoft Excel to organize a lot of my information. Maybe if I was born 500 years later, I might not know how to drive a car because I have a self-driving car. I might not need to know how to use a computer because I might have a brain implant.
Though humans are an infant civilization, it seemed like humans were individually more knowledgeable and resourceful than individual Gods. A human could cook their own food, fix a piece of equipment, etc. God could only do basic tasks. For that reason, humans pitied Gods. That of course, hurt the Gods’ feelings a bit, considering they were the ones who created the humans. But that is how people view the elderly, don’t they? People resent the elderly for not being capable, forgetting what they were once able to accomplish.
Other Earths
The last bombshell that God dropped on Qiusheng’s family was the existence of other Earths. God said that the other Earths weren’t so kind, particularly Earth Two and Three. The Three Earths became locked in warfare, and now that they were aware of Earth Four, they would be coming to attack Earth Four. Perhaps God was thankful to Earth Four for giving them the most hospitality out of all of the Earths, and that was why they warned them. This theme was extensively explored in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series, where The Dark Forest extensively explored the politics between worlds, though in this case, God is directly telling Earth Four that they will be attacked.
The God civilization had seeded six Earths. The last two Earths had been destroyed by Earth One and Three, so only four Earths remained. After outstaying their welcome at each of the Earths, the Gods have exhausted their options, and now they shall live out their days alone in their spaceships, their homes. Perhaps this is why some elderly people prefer to live on their own.
Overall
Another short story from Liu Cixin that packed in a lot of interesting discussion. Definitely recommend reading if you like Liu Cixin’s other books!
Spoilers.
Story
The story began in a more down to earth way, showing us the daily lives of Qiusheng’s family in a village. The family consisted of Qiusheng, his wife Yulian, his father, his son Bingbing, and God, a member of the God civilization. God had come to find his life with this family less than ideal.
Then we were given information on this God civilization. They had arrived on Earth, asking for the humans to take care of them as a sign of filial piety, for the God civilization had created them. The God civilization had created their world long ago, and now most of the members of their civilization were elderly, around three to four thousand years old. Because their civilization was so advanced, they were unable to do basic things. Their ships were essentially self-running.
Each family on earth was assigned a God or two to take care of, and provided some funding to do so. However, the relationship between the Gods and humans turned sour shortly. The money was not enough to pay for taking care of the Gods, especially since they were old and had health problems. The scientific knowledge that the Gods had given to humans was also too advanced, and humans could not do anything with the knowledge practically speaking, until their own science had developed. Many Gods were starting to be abused, and laws were passed to protect them from abuse, but many Gods left their homes due to soured relationships with their human families. After an argument, Qiusheng’s God left home as well. Qiusheng wanted to leave with God, but God said that it was the God civilization’s time to go. They found that the humans pitied them, and that was not the relationship they wanted.
They all boarded their spaceships. Before they left, God told Qiusheng’s family that there were other Earths, and that our Earth (Earth Four) had to start preparing as the other Earths would come and attack them. When he left, God had asked Qiusheng for some of his science textbooks, so that he could learn science in his spare time in old age.
This was a short story that combined a few different scientific and social issues. It was interesting, though I found the science fiction part of this story more compelling than the social commentary.
Writing & Translation
This novel was also translated by Ken Liu, as was the Three Body Problem and its sequels. I found that the translation was fine, though there was some wording that was a little clunky at times. But overall, I think that I was reading a story that was in the same tone as Liu Cixin’s other books.
Characters
Qiusheng
Qiusheng was the father of the family. He was the breadwinner, but at home, he was under pressure to listen to his father and his wife. Towards the end of the story, as the relationship with God soured, Qiusheng was the only person who still looked on God kindly. I think this was a representation of family dynamics in China.
Qiusheng listened to his father out of filial piety. Qiusheng listened to his wife as she ran the household. Qiusheng did things for his son, because as a father that was his job. Qiusheng was at the mercy of everyone else. When God came into the picture, he was supposed to override the authority of all of the other members of the family, if only due to age alone. I think Qiusheng supported God because he was tired of submitting to the authority of the others. And perhaps God would understand. His loyalty to God, to the point of leaving home did surprise me a little, but we could tell he was under stress.
God
God was both the character living with Qiusheng’s family, as well as every member of the God civilization living with other human families. When the Earthly authorities wanted to meet with the God civilization, they insisted that they had no leaders, that all members of the God civilization were equal and had equal information. So the God in Qiusheng’s home was pretty much the same as the Gods across the world.
He was pretty normal as a person. After all, he was technically just an older person. He was afraid of Yulian and Qiusheng’s father, enjoyed his alone time, sympathized with the other Gods. Fairly normal personality traits.
Something that set God apart was perspective. He was thousands of years old, and time meant nothing to him compared to humans. When he told Yulian that they’d have better technology by next century, she was infuriated because she would not be alive to reap the benefits, and her children would have to continue taking care of God. As well, due to God’s advanced civilization, no God was able to do basic tasks. They mentioned often that they didn’t know how to solve a quadratic equation. And at the beginning of the story, God kept forgetting to turn off the gas stove because that would have been an automatic function on the automatic spaceship.
Specific to the God in Qiusheng’s family, he had a woman that he loved, but she had set off on a journey long ago. She was a younger woman, due to travelling close to the speed of light. God had a broadcast of her, saying “I love you” to him, but at a very slow speed due to time relativity.
God did look upon the human civilization as children. And so that is why it hurt the Gods to be pitied. The humans pitied them because they were helpless and couldn’t solve their problems. And that is reflective of the relationships between people and the elderly, isn’t it? At the end of the story, God wanted to spend his time learning about science again, going back to the simple things, maybe become the God the humans imagined their creators to be.
Yulian
Yulian was Qiusheng’s wife, and she was a typical crabby lady. She berated God for everything, some for good reason, but much of it was due to building resentment. She yelled at God for forgetting to turn off the gas stove, for not having washed the vegetables in time for when she returned. But she was also very resentful that the family did not have enough money to take care of God, and had stopped taking God to the hospital until she was told that she would be compelled to by the law.
Her tune changed entirely when God left. She boiled some eggs for him, apologized for behaviour. But it rang hollow. She was only saying that because he was gone. And perhaps that is a childish trait too, isn’t it? To not enjoy something while you have it.
Qiusheng’s Father
Qiusheng’s father was a typical crabby old man. God dreaded playing Chinese chess with Qiusheng’s father because when God won, Qiusheng’s father would get angry, but when God lost, Qiusheng’s father would also get angry, thinking that God was going easy on him.
Qiusheng’s father was also ignorant to science and other things in life. He did not believe in the theory of relativity when God explained it to him, even though Qiusheng insisted to him that it had been proven by human scientists. So Qiusheng’s father was the kind of guy who needed to be the smartest in the room.
Bingbing
Bingbing was Qiusheng’s son. At first, Bingbing was curious and on good terms with Qiusheng, but as time passed, he would play pranks on God.
Themes
Civilization
This story treated civilizations similarly to lives. In this story, the Gods saw civilization as finite. There was no such thing as a civilization that would live forever. All civilizations came to an end. While humans were an infant civilization, the Gods were a very advanced civilization.
Perhaps this is a matter of perspective too, as the Gods did not see a reason to continue their civilization. Their only reason for planting civilizations on other planets was to have someone to take care of them in their old age, much like how many cultures have children in hopes that they’ll take care of them in their old age.
The concept of civilizations being finite is interesting and different. My impression of civilizations is that with every life, they pass on more information, healthier genes to the later generations, so that each generation is better than the last. But this story implies that there is a ceiling. Maybe the ceiling is a knowledge ceiling, as the Gods had become so lofty in their Machine Cradle that they had lost touch from basic science and weren’t able to fix their own problems. Or maybe the ceiling is an emotional one, in the sense that the Gods simply didn’t care to live longer. This is not really explored, but it’s interesting to think about.
Filial Piety
God spoke to all humans as humans speak to their young. This story very much reflected the struggle between people and the elderly folks that rely on them. Humans on earth showed filial piety at first, but grew to resent the Gods for very similar reasons why people grow to resent having to care for their elderly parents.
But at the end of the story, God reminded Qiusheng’s family that they should look to start planting civilizations as soon as they can so someone will take care of them as their civilization grows old. God reminded Qiusheng’s family that they will one day be old, and they will be the ones struggling to fit in, to find people who aren’t resentful of their mere existences.
Knowledge Gap
The humans could not take advantage of the knowledge provided by the Gods because the knowledge gap was too large. Humans would have to make many technological discoveries before they could use any of the Gods’ information, and that was disappointing to humans.
The Gods had become so content in their Machine cradle that they had lost touch with basic science. None of them could solve math equations, none of them could fix their own machines, that had been engineered to be automatic. We are seeing signs of this in our own civilization. As computers have become more convenient, more people have no reason to understand the basics of how computers work.
There was another point that was mentioned, about how humans have not written down anywhere the exact science on how to start a fire with wood (though technically I think it exists in manuals as such). But this is a reminder that as we grow more advanced, basic knowledge will become lost, will become a given because we have technology automate it for us. I couldn’t fix my car, I couldn’t fix my computer. I’ve forgotten much of the math I’ve studied because I use Microsoft Excel to organize a lot of my information. Maybe if I was born 500 years later, I might not know how to drive a car because I have a self-driving car. I might not need to know how to use a computer because I might have a brain implant.
Though humans are an infant civilization, it seemed like humans were individually more knowledgeable and resourceful than individual Gods. A human could cook their own food, fix a piece of equipment, etc. God could only do basic tasks. For that reason, humans pitied Gods. That of course, hurt the Gods’ feelings a bit, considering they were the ones who created the humans. But that is how people view the elderly, don’t they? People resent the elderly for not being capable, forgetting what they were once able to accomplish.
Other Earths
The last bombshell that God dropped on Qiusheng’s family was the existence of other Earths. God said that the other Earths weren’t so kind, particularly Earth Two and Three. The Three Earths became locked in warfare, and now that they were aware of Earth Four, they would be coming to attack Earth Four. Perhaps God was thankful to Earth Four for giving them the most hospitality out of all of the Earths, and that was why they warned them. This theme was extensively explored in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series, where The Dark Forest extensively explored the politics between worlds, though in this case, God is directly telling Earth Four that they will be attacked.
The God civilization had seeded six Earths. The last two Earths had been destroyed by Earth One and Three, so only four Earths remained. After outstaying their welcome at each of the Earths, the Gods have exhausted their options, and now they shall live out their days alone in their spaceships, their homes. Perhaps this is why some elderly people prefer to live on their own.
Overall
Another short story from Liu Cixin that packed in a lot of interesting discussion. Definitely recommend reading if you like Liu Cixin’s other books!