Those books are interesting in that Liu seems to get away with seriously portraying narratives that would be out of bounds in the "approved" popular culture of the West. Murder by robocar is a minor example, but others include portrayal of the inherent weakness of societies in which men are effeminate and the superiority of leaving strategic decisions to military authorities. (I don't particularly agree with those propositions, but they are certainly present in the books.)

I'm half-way done with the last book in the trilogy and I am finding the assumptions and viewpoints of the world from a Chinese view quite interesting. The one that struck me most was how he presents humanities greatest strength over the technologically superior aliens is the human ability to conceal their true thoughts and the possibility of deception. Quite different from Christianity's high value placed on honesty.

The great stories of paganism and animism were composed by artists, and they all feature trickery and uncertainty. The Christian Bible has some of that (I like Job), but the majority was written by humorless unimaginative prudes. I suppose some of the Chinese philosophers are a little better than St. Paul, but mostly when they're being playful.