Yang Jinwen
Names: Yang JinwenLao Yang
First appears in Book 2: The Dark Forest, chapter 2 (Year 3, Crisis Era)
Appearances
What you know
Book 2: The Dark Forest
- Ch 2Retired middle school teacher who once followed world affairs but, feeling powerless against the crisis, has stopped caring.
- Ch 2Yang Jinwen argues that escape places should go to the elite descendants, not whoever can pay, and warns China's high savings rate is a danger.
- Ch 2Yang Jinwen, drunk, scorns the idea that the right to escape can be bought, insisting escapees should be the cream of civilization.
- Ch 2Yang Jinwen shows Zhang Yuanchao the newspaper and explains that escape would cause world chaos because some would be left behind.
- Ch 5Yang Jinwen, whose son works on the space elevator project, became the wealthiest of the three old neighbors and plans a cosmic burial for his remains.
- Ch 6Yang Jinwen died at ninety-two; his remains were launched out of the Solar System at third cosmic velocity, costing all his savings.
Connections
- friend ofZhang Yuanchaoneighbors
- friend ofMiao Fuquan
Key moments
- Book 2 · Ch 2Three old men discuss bank panic and Escapism
Miao, Zhang and Yang discuss frozen accounts and a news report on Escapism and the failed socialized technology movement; Miao reveals the escape fund and says he will pay for his descendants.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Dinner quarrel over buying escape
Yang Jinwen, Miao Fuquan and Zhang Yuanchao argue about whether escape berths can be bought; Zhang slams the table and storms out, followed by Yang.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Escapism outlawed
The UN passes Resolution 117 making Escapism illegal. Zhang Yuanchao learns that his 400,000 yuan escape fund purchase was a scam.
- Book 2 · Ch 5Rationing and cosmic burial talk
Rationing returns, and three old men watch the Tianti III test while discussing burial plans to avoid an alien-occupied Earth.
- Book 2 · Ch 6Passing of the Golden Age generation
Over the following decades, key figures retire, die or enter hibernation, and the Golden Age generation vanishes from living memory.