The novel follows the experiences of a first-person protagonist, Chen, whose family was killed by ball lightning while he was in high school. Both traumatized and inspired by that experience, he makes the investigation of ball lightning his life's work, first getting his PhD in the subject, then exploring the phenomenon through both applied and theoretical research. During his research, military technology researcher Lin Yun recruits him into a weapons development team.
With the help of a theoretical physicist, Ding Yi, they discover that ball lightning is not formed by lightning conditions, but rather when lightning encounters "macro-electrons" hypercharging the electrons until they express their energy. They learn how to capture these macro-electrons and turn them into a weapon that can destroy targeted types of matter; wood, stone, or even microprocessors. After building the weapon and forming a specialized military unit to use the device, they successfully deploy the weapon against anti-technology eco-terrorists who try to blow up a nuclear plant, but also kill a group of schoolchildren that had been held hostage. Chen was distressed that his research had been used to kill people. Disillusioned, Chen leaves the military research group. Ding Yi explains to Chen that those killed by macro-electrons, including his parents, exist in a quantum state that can occasionally influence the world when not observed.
Using a technology developed over the course of his ball lightning research, Chen develops a strategy for tracking tornado formation. American scientists combine that technology with missiles to suppress tornado formation in the American Midwest. When war breaks out, the U.S. uses a similar application of Chen's technology to form tornadoes as a weapon to destroy naval vessels.[note 1]
Living daily life in wartime China, Chen is surprised to one day find that all the microprocessors in the city have been incinerated. Ding Yi finds Chen and recounts that he and Lin's research group had progressed beyond macro-electrons to find macro-nuclei as well, creating the possibility of "macro-fusion," which would combine the power of conventional nuclear weapons with the matter-selectivity of ball lightning. The Chinese military, fearing the consequences of such technology, shut down the research, but Lin Yun disobeys orders and starts the planned macro-fusion trial, at the cost of her and her followers' lives. The reaction destroyed microprocessors across a vast swathe of China, and as the world recognizes the power of any future macro-fusion events to wipe out advanced weaponry across a theater of war, an armistice is signed.
The remains of Lin Yun, despite their probabilistic nature, have enough decoherence to sustain a heartfelt conversation with her father. They later deliver an invisible rose to Chen. A photograph in Ding Yi's apartment indicates that Lin Yun's quantum state can even lend temporary visibility to the child victims of the nuclear plant. At the end of the novel, an American ball lightning researcher visits Chen and they discuss his latest research. The Americans had found that in several trials, ball lightning behaved as though an observer was present, despite the experiment being held deep in a mineshaft with no human observers.[note 2]
Characters
Dr Chen (陈博士)
His given name isn't mentioned in the text. A doctor in atmospheric sciences, the entire book is told from his first-person perspective. Explores the mysteries of ball lightning and participates in the development of macroatomic weapons.
Lin Yun (林云)
Daughter of General Lin Feng, Major in rank, graduated from the National University of Defense Technology, fanatical about weapons development due to her early childhood experience.
It is precisely this complex experience that gives Lin Yun a contradictory temperament. She is willing to achieve her goals by any means necessary, even if it means disregarding moral considerations, yet also sometimes possesses a child-like innocence. Her father (General Lin Feng) commented on this, noting: "Such experiences (the sacrifice of Lin Yun's mother) can have opposite effects on different children: it might cause her to detest war and everything associated with it for life, or they might lead her to focus on, or even become enthusiastic about, these things. Unfortunately, my daughter falls into the latter category."
A professor from Chen's university. He once attempted to investigate the mysteries of ball lightning until it cost him his wife, Zheng Min. Reluctantly, he helps Chen in his own pursuit of ball lightning.
Ding Yi (丁仪)
The greatest physicist in China, he discovers what ball lightning consists of. He goes on to appear in Liu Cixin's subsequent Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy (also known as The Three-Body Problem).
Zhao Yu
A classmate of Chen's, notable for his lackadaisical personality.
Dai Lin (戴琳)
Dr. Chen's college classmate, the two married after college.
Appreciation
Theme
Although the protagonist of Ball Lightning is a contemporary human, not a "pre-human," "post-human," or "new species," according to Zhan Mingxin, "science fiction is an important way to understand the postmodern era, serving as a key genre for expressing utopian ideas following historical novels." Readers can explore the novel's utopian expression of singularity. In essence, the author uses expansive imagination to project into a vast future. While some elements in the text may become reality, others may remain purely imaginative. Nonetheless, this contemplation of the "future" is closely tied to the concept of "utopia," as Mr. Wang Feng suggests, with science fiction depicting a metaphorical relationship between reality and the future, embodying both "positive utopia (good)" and "negative utopia (evil)."
From this perspective, Ball Lightning reveals deep reflections on "weapons—technology," where the author envisions a utopia where humans control and use technology ethically. Instead of preaching, the narrative effectively uses literary imagery to reflect on the ethics of technology: the development of "macro fusion" in the research of ball lightning reverts one-third of the country back to an agricultural era, illustrating the destructiveness of advanced weapons in warfare. More profoundly, the fate of the female protagonist, Lin Yun, underscores the author's stance on technological ethics: Lin Yun's mother dies from a new biological weapon in the Vietnam War, deeply traumatizing Lin Yun, who, following her father's military career, becomes a cold, obsessed weapon fanatic. Her zeal in developing new weapons and "macro nuclear fusion" around "ball lightning" drives her to a near-madness, culminating in her own "quantum" ending after initiating "macro fusion." Lin Yun's "suicide" serves as a parable-like conclusion, seemingly her only destiny, as she must pay the price for her own madness. Whether this appeal for ethical contemplation of technology will manifest remains uncertain, especially since the shadow of "nuclear war" from the Cold War era has only recently dissipated.
Artistic features
On one hand, "ball lightning" forms the basis of the narrative in the text. The story begins on a stormy night when a capricious ball of lightning bursts into "my"(Chen's) home, striking my parents and instantly reducing them to ashes. After experiencing the pain and disorientation of being separated from my parents by death, I decide to pursue scientific research on ball lightning. On the other hand, "ball lightning" also drives the narrative. "Ball Lightning" adopts a straightforward "linear" narrative mode of "identifying a problem—encountering difficulties—solving the problem," which forms the main logic of the story. This structure is threaded by each new discovery and explanation related to ball lightning. As research on ball lightning deepens, its secrets are gradually unveiled until its physical properties are fully understood. The author abruptly concludes the narrative with the beautiful image of a "quantum rose."[2]
Adaptation
There were plans to release a film based on the book.[3]
A TV series directed by Dai Mo was filmed in 2022 and will be released on the iQIYI platform in 2024.[4]
Reception to the book
Ball Lightning has been regarded as the book with the most complete story line and closest to real life in Liu's science fiction universe.[5]
Critics have called the book, "an important—and timely—meditation on science, weapons development, and the ways in which people confront trauma."[6]
Creation background
One summer night in 1981, Liu Cixin first saw "ball lightning" during a thunderstorm at the south end of Zhonghua Road in Handan City. This natural phenomenon not only shocked his visual senses but also ignited his enthusiasm for exploring the unknown world, which became the inspiration for the book Ball Lightning.[7]
Due to a misdiagnosis, the author thought he was suffering from liver cancer at the time he was writing the novel, but instead of making a statement, he did his best to finish writing the novel before he believed he was going to die. As such, the novel is a personal outpouring and reflection of Liu's feelings.[8]
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