> Liu Cixin himself was quoted that he couldn't start the narrative as straight up science fiction because this genre is essentially unknowm in China. So he decided to build up to the actual science fiction part of the story in a deliberate, slow pace.

Apparently the order of the story is different between the Chinese and English versions.

https://www.wired.com/2016/10/wired-book-club-ken-liu-interv...

The article explains the reasoning as being sensitive to the culture part of it and not the sci-fi portion.