First contact with the world

The Three-Body Problem, Hardcover By: Cixin Liu (another), Ken Liu (translator) Publisher: Tor Books Year published: 2014 Pages: 400 Price: $25.99 Photo provided to China Daily

As earthlings broadcast signals to other planets in hopes of contacting extraterrestrial life, Chinese science-fiction writer Liu Cixin has made first contact with the English-speaking world with his Three-Body trilogy—and the response has been positive.

The first installment of the series landed in the United States on Nov 11 as the only Chinese sci-fi book published in the country, which is the planet's biggest sci-fi market.

The English version published by US-based Tor Books has quickly become the best-selling Asian literary work on Amazon.com, where it's rated 4.5 out of 5. The first run printed 15,000 copies.

"We could view this as a good start," Liu says.

"But I don't expect huge success. After all, the US is the global center of science fiction, where more than 1,000 sci-fi works are published a year."

Each installment of the Chinese version has sold more than 500,000 copies and is being adapted for film.

Liu wrote the trilogy during his spare time when he was working as a computer engineer at a power plant in Shanxi province's Yangquan between 2006 and 2010.

He was born in 1963 and experienced difficulty obtaining sci-fi books early in life, since the genre was banned during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).