In the pilot episode of 3 Body Problem, set nonlinearly in 1960s China and present-day London, the series explores the background of the story. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Ye Wenjie witnesses her father being publicly killed by the Red Guards for his research on Western science, and, subsequently, Wenjie is herself subjected to labor work. But, when she is found in possession of an English book, she is imprisoned only to be recruited by Commander Lei who runs Red Coast, a secret project in an observatory at Inner Mongolia. Given her research in astrophysics, they believe Wenjie’s work to be crucial to the research they plan to be doing in the observatory. Initially, it seems like Red Coast was a weaponization program until she finds out the motive of the program is to communicate with extraterrestrial life.

In 2024 London, Wenjie’s daughter, Vera Ye is the head of...