does it contain western storytelling traditions? or are some story elements simply common to both western and chinese traditions? or are there even chinese elements that have found their way into western traditions?

i am not familiar with historic chinese writing so i can't tell. but maybe you can share some insights.

greetings, eMBee.

I have no special expertise beyond having read 100k+ pages of Euro/American scifi for fun :)

Liu Cixin himself cites western influences like Clarke. Some elements feel exotic to me though, which I assume come from the cultural difference. I quite enjoy that, much like I appreciated Wuxia movies as teenager: no deeper that western action flix, but goofy instead of cool, and tropes unknown to me feel less trope-y.

Anyway, I'm happy about the fact that these days it's easy to read and watch stuff from around the globe.

> Liu Cixin himself cites western influences like Clarke

i was not aware of that, that makes sense.

if you are interested to read more chinese science-fiction, check out clarkesworld magazine. since a few years, every issue contains one chinese story translated to english. there is quite a variety of stories there.

greetings, eMBee.