The Three-Body Problem: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

More than 40 years later, two cops and two PLA officers come to find Professor Wang Miao. The officers want to know whether Wang has had any contact with a secretive organization known as the Frontiers of Science, which is made up of prominent intellectuals from around the world. One of the cops, a reckless man named Shi Qiang, harasses Wang to give more information. Eventually, the other officers intervene, inviting Wang—who is an expert in nanotechnology—to a secretive meeting. When the officers leave, Wang overhears them talking about the “Battle Command Center,” adding to his confusion.

That afternoon, Wang arrives at what he guesses is the Battle Command Center. He is surprised to see that the room is a mess, and that everybody he encounters seems to be under-slept and overwhelmed. The group is a mix of generals—some of whom, shockingly, are from NATO—police officers, and prominent academics. The leader of the group is Chinese general Chang Weisi. Wang also spots the policeman Shi in the crowd. 

Shi inquires about Wang’s specialty, a new field called nanomaterials. Wang explains that the material he makes is so strong that one strand of it could cut through a car. Shi immediately begins to think about how such a technology could be used to commit crimes, annoying Wang.  

The meeting begins, and Wang is baffled to find that General Chang refers to the NATO officer (and some CIA spies) as “comrades”; moreover, it seems as if everybody in this room is on the same side. Shi immediately begins to antagonize General Chang, complaining that the police are being kept out of the loop of information. Chang reminds Shi that he was recently suspended from the police force, but he has to admit that Shi’s unscrupulous, crafty      techniques are useful in this “time of war.”

Wang does not understand what kind of war is being referenced, and he begins to question his own sense of reality. General Chang explains that there has been a pattern of attacks on scientists, and he asks Wang to look at a list of prominent physicists. Wang is familiar with the last name, and Shi picks up on this fact. 

An avid landscape photographer, Wang recalls a particularly striking day in the lab. In the midst of all of his machinery, he had seen a beautiful woman. Later, he learned the woman was Yang Dong, a private, brilliant      physicist and the final name on Chang’s list. Since that day, Wang pictured Yang Dong at the center of all his photographs, as her stunning presence seemed to complete all of his work.

To Wang’s horror, Chang reveals that all of the physicists on the list have killed themselves within the last two months; Yang Dong killed herself merely two days ago. Yang Dong’s boyfriend Ding Yi presents Wang with Yang’s suicide note, in which she laments that “physics has never existed, and will never exist.” Ding explains that as physics got more complex, the original theories started to break down. The Frontiers of Science was trying to use physics to figure out the limit of what was knowable. Though many of its members behaved as if the organization were a cult, it was in fact a formal research group.

Wang explains that he was introduced to the Frontiers of Science through Shen Yufei, a Japanese physicist of Chinese descent. Her arguments were fascinating, but while Wang was interested in the debates and theories discussed in the meetings, he ultimately decided that he did not have time. Now, however, General Chang asks him to join the Frontiers, because they need someone on the inside of the organization to understand what is really going on. Wang initially refuses, but Shi mocks him for being weak—and in his anger, Wang rashly agrees to join.

After the meeting ends, General Chang walks Wang to his car. Wang remains baffled by the whole ordeal, and Chang will not offer him any clarity. He only reflects that “the entire history of humankind has been very fortunate […] but if it’s all luck, then it has to end one day. Let me tell you: it’s ended.” Wang gets into a car that the General provides for him, but rather than going home, Wang instructs the driver to drive to Ding Yi’s house.