Where Three-Body Was Born — Niangziguan Power Plant

⚡ Niangziguan Power Plant — Where Three-Body Was Born

Did you know? The Three-Body trilogy — a work that changed Chinese science fiction history — was born in an ordinary coal-fired power plant in Shanxi Province.

🏭 The Backstory

Niangziguan Power Plant is located in Niangziguan Town, Pingding County, Yangquan, near the border between Shanxi and Hebei. After graduating from North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power in 1985, Liu Cixin was assigned here as a computer engineer and worked for 25 years (1985-2010).

📖 The Birth of a Masterpiece

During those years, Liu used his spare time to write science fiction:

- Creative environment: The quiet shifts at the plant gave him plenty of time to read and write. "The power plant was very peaceful," Liu recalled. "It gave me a lot of time to think."

- Inspiration: Located in the Taihang Mountains, the night sky was exceptionally bright. Being surrounded by mountains and stars shaped the vast cosmic perspective of Three-Body.

- Writing method: First drafts were written on paper with a pen in the duty room, then typed into the work computer.

🔄 From Power Plant to the World

- May 2006: Three-Body began serialization in *Science Fiction World* magazine

- 2008: Three-Body trilogy fully published

- 2015: English edition won the Hugo Award for Best Novel

- 2016: Liu Cixin officially retired from the power plant

- 2019: Niangziguan Power Plant was decommissioned

Today the power plant has become a pilgrimage site for Three-Body fans. Though no longer operating, its place in history is secure — this is where one of humanity's greatest sci-fi works was born.

*The story of Niangziguan proves: great creation doesn't need a fancy office. An engineer at a grassroots power plant, writing in his spare time, changed the world. That's the hardest-core sci-fi spirit of all — creating infinite possibilities with the most limited resources.*