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Bai Mulin
Lei Zhichang is the Political Commissar at Red Coast Base. He is a good scientist but an even better politician, and he embraces communist ideology and political symbolism in every aspect of his work. Though he initially leads the search for alien life, when Ye Wenjie actually gets a message from the Trisolarans, Lei forbids her from responding. To ensure that her secret is safe, Ye takes advantage of Lei’s willingness to do dangerous tasks and kills him while he is out fixing a wire.
Commissar Lei Quotes in The Three-Body Problem
The The Three-Body Problem quotes below are all either spoken by Commissar Lei or refer to Commissar Lei . 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 22 Quotes
“You want to aim a super powerful radio beam at the red sun. Have you thought about the political symbolism of such an experiment?”
Yang and Ye were both utterly stunned, but they did not think Lei’s objection ridiculous. Just the opposite: they were horrified that they themselves had not thought of it. During those years, finding political symbolism in everything had reached absurd levels. The research reports you turned in had to be carefully reviewed by Lei so that even technical terms related to the sun could be repeatedly revised to remove political risk. Terms like “sunspots” were forbidden.
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Commissar Lei Character Timeline in The Three-Body Problem
The timeline below shows where the character Commissar Lei appears in The Three-Body Problem. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3. Red Coast I
...her about a particular paper she wrote in college. The two men introduce themselves as Lei Zhicheng, who is the Political Commissar at Red Coast Base, and Yang Weining, who is...
(full context)
...base, meaning they can have no connections to the outside world. Ye drifts off to Lei and Yang debating some mysterious project.
(full context)
...finally gets off the helicopter, Ye realizes where she is: on top of Radar Peak. Lei explains to her that despite the severity of her crime, she has been given “the...
(full context)
Chapter 12. Red Coast II
...politically suspect because of his past in academia—often took out his frustration on Ye. Commissar Lei, on the other hand, started to be kinder to Ye. One day, he finally explained...
(full context)
...around a giant radio receiver that could pick up very faint or distant signals. Commissar Lei explained to Ye that the purpose of the Monitoring Department was to be “the eyes...
(full context)
Nevertheless, Lei continued to talk to Ye about what was happening at the base. He told her...
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...of sedition for writing Bai’s letter. Now, though, the officers were not angry. Instead, Commissar Lei explained that Yang Weining had long been petitioning to reveal the truth behind Red Coast...
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Chapter 14. Red Coast IV
...was removed, and the base took on other, unrelated projects under the leadership of Commissar Lei. It was during this time that Ye married Yang Weining. Eventually, though, an accident on...
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Chapter 22. Red Coast V
...including getting scientific files from the US that would normally be banned and appeasing Commissar Lei, who feared that Ye’s work was veering too far from theory. Worst of all, Lei...
(full context)
Chapter 25. The Deaths of Lei Zhicheng and Yang Weining
...which happened on October 21, 1979; she explains that she was motivated to kill Commissar Lei and her husband Yang Weining upon realizing that Lei, too, had gotten the message from...
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Though Lei had read the aliens’ message—and had discovered Ye’s attempt to keep the message secret—he did...
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...Radar Peak. The base technician reported the error to his superiors. As Ye had predicted, Lei, wanting to prove himself a good comrade, volunteered to take a look at the part...
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Just before Lei could check the dangling wire for defects, Yang showed up and offered to help him....
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Chapter 35. The Ruins
...walks to the edge of the cliff, remembering when she killed her husband—Yang Weining—and Commissar Lei in this very spot. As she stares out at the surrounding countryside, the sun begins...
(full context)
