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As a reporter in Inner Mongolia, Bai Mulin and Ye Wenjie meet when they are both working for the Chinese Production and Construction Corps. Having been authorized by the government to read Rachel Carson’s environmentalist book Silent Spring, Bai becomes motivated to write to communist leadership in protest of mass deforestation. But when his plan backfires, he frames Ye, setting in motion the events that eventually lead her to wind up at Red Coast Base. In addition to being one more person who betrays Ye’s trust, Bai is notable for his fairly regular life; though his betrayal had an incredible impact on history, Bai himself is hardly memorable.
Bai Mulin Quotes in The Three-Body Problem
The The Three-Body Problem quotes below are all either spoken by Bai Mulin or refer to Bai Mulin . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 2 Quotes
Without intending to, Bai became a key historical figure. But he never learned of this fact. Historians recorded the rest of his uneventful life with disappointment. He continued to work at great production news until 1975, when the Inner Mongolia Production and Construction Corps was disbanded. He was then sent to a city in Northeast China to work for the science association until the beginning of the eighties. Then he left the country for Canada, where he taught at a Chinese school in Ottawa until 1991, when he died from lung cancer. For the rest of his life, he never mentioned Ye Wenjie, and we do not know if he ever felt remorse or repented for his actions.
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In a moment of panic, Bai Mulin betrays Ye Wenjie to the communist authorities, putting her in danger to save himself—and setting off the chain of events that eventually leads to the Trisolaran invasion of earth. But while Bai’s decision to betray Ye has great consequences, Bai himself lives an “uneventful” life, “disappoint[ing]” in its ordinariness. Having acted out of weakness, Bai never finds any great strength or succeeds in any great accomplishments; instead, he lives out his days in middle management, shifting between countries and political regimes without ever taking a side or leaving a real mark on those Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui digni
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Bai Mulin Character Timeline in The Three-Body Problem
The timeline below shows where the character Bai Mulin appears in The Three-Body Problem. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2. Silent Spring
Ye Wenjie is stopped in her thoughts by Bai Mulin, a reporter for the Corps newspaper. Mulin points to the rings on the trees,...
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After finishing the book, Ye returns it to Bai at his home near Radar Peak. Though Radar Peak is ostensibly a military base, it...
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Bai shows Ye the letter he plans to write to the Chinese leaders in Beijing. Ye...
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...with Director Zhang, who runs the Division Political Department of Inner Mongolia. Zhang shows Ye Bai’s letter to the government, and he accuses Ye of writing it herself; he then explains...
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Though Bai had not initially intended to frame Ye (only doing so when he realized he was...
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...if Ye signs the document, she will be let off the hook for supposedly writing Bai’s letter. However, if Ye does not sign, she will be prosecuted as an active counter-revolutionary...
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...was killed two years ago in a conflict between Red Guard factions. Ye then pictures Bai Mulin, Cheng, and her mother Shao Lin waving the flag—and then she blacks out.
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