I started reading this. I was a bit surprised. It starts off during the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the 60s and 70s. Intellectuals were being horribly repressed. I am a bit surprised a Chinese author felt he could set a book at this point of Chinese history. The other thing that surprises me is that I thought it would be hard science. Maybe it will be but part 1 was mostly Chinese modern history. A three body problem is a sci-fi pun. It is mathematically very difficult to predict how three bodies in space will interact and revolve around each other. I suspect three bodies are approximately similar masses.