173:, that the short story "emphasizes filial piety, especially with the warning at the end for humanity to safeguard against the problems of old age by having children of its own." She adds: "As a Chinese reader, I recognize this theme and final exhortation—I also find it tiresome, because it reflects the anxieties of my parents pushing me towards marriage and kids, but it may well land differently for a Western reader."
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Qiusheng's family has numerous problems and misunderstandings with their god. A little affection appears when the god confides in
Qiusheng's family that the photo he is always looking at is actually a receiver from a spaceship belonging to his lover, which is eighty million light years away. However,
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One day, thousands of spaceships appear in Earth's orbit, and at the same time, millions of bearded old men appear in the world's major cities. They claim to have created humanity, which turns out to be true thanks to buried surveillance technology, and that their civilization has now grown old (for
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from the extinction of all life. As a parting gift, they tell them that they have created three more civilizations on other planets, but that they are much more cruel. One of them has found out the coordinates of Earth, so humanity must flee as quickly as possible. As the gods leave, Qiusheng's
180:, that the short story "takes a couple of Science Fiction’s classic tropes, alien invasion and the seeding of life on Earth, and ties them in with traditional Chinese values of respect for elders, family loyalty and hospitality." It is a "a touching and wryly amusing story."
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flight. Each family is then required by law to take in one of the "gods", who are almost three thousand years old, and the Care Age begins. People receive the technological achievements of the gods, but cannot understand them as well.
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example by no longer understanding its own technology) and hence needs to be cared for by humanity. Since they already saw this coming, they created humanity and then embarked on a
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the gods decide to leave the Earth together. Not because they have been treated badly, but because they do not want pity as they once even saved the
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161:"Taking Care of God" was also translated into Spanish (2014 & 2017), German (2018 & 2019) and Japanese (2018).
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family wonders who will take care of humanity when it grows old.
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251:"The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu (book review)"
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201:"Summary Bibliography: Cixin Liu"
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249:Jones, Gareth D. (2017-06-06).
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16:2005 short story by Liu Cixin
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335:Remembrance of Earth's Past
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570:For the Benefit of Mankind
224:Goh, Jaymee (2018-06-04).
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612:(indefinitely postponed)
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652:The Three-Body Problem
609:The Three-Body Problem
450:End of the Microcosmos
345:The Three-Body Problem
636:TV series adaptations
625:The Wandering Earth 2
431:A View from the Stars
396:Of Ants and Dinosaurs
282:title listing at the
169:Jaymee Goh wrote on
27:"Taking Care of God"
617:The Wandering Earth
493:The Village Teacher
478:The Wandering Earth
415:The Wandering Earth
230:strangehorizons.com
124:The Wandering Earth
701:2005 short stories
563:Taking Care of God
423:To Hold Up the Sky
279:Taking Care of God
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407:Collections
361:Death's End
255:SFcrowsnest
157:Translation
73:Publication
33:Short story
685:Categories
660:Three-Body
584:2018-04-01
556:Cannonball
457:Whale Song
260:2024-09-08
235:2024-09-01
210:2024-09-01
184:References
591:Curse 5.0
514:Butterfly
326:Liu Cixin
205:isfdb.org
150:Milky Way
120:Liu Cixin
37:Liu Cixin
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577:Mountain
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63:Genre(s)
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507:Destiny
165:Reviews
118:writer
116:Chinese
110:) is a
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57:Chinese
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102:pinyin
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47:China
289:赡养上帝
134:Plot
98:赡养上帝
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