[citation needed] The novella was first published in English by Head of Zeus in 2017, as an eponymous collection of Liu's science fiction short stories.
Four centuries prior to the events of the story, astrophysicists discover that a rapid acceleration in the conversion of hydrogen to helium will cause the Sun to go supernova, destroying the Earth and the Solar System.
In response, humanity establishes a global government known as the Coalition, which embarks on an ambitious project to move the Earth to the Proxima Centauri planetary system, which lies 4.3 light years away.
At an early age, the protagonist's grandfather is severely scalded after being burnt by rain that has been superheated by the Earth engines' plasma beams.
While in primary school, the protagonist and his class takes part in a cruise ship tour to educate children about the Coalition's plan to move the Earth.
Since the Earth is no longer orbiting the Sun, the increasingly harsh environmental conditions leads to humanity's' migration into various underground cities.
While the protagonist undergoes his secondary education in City FII2, his father serves as a Space Fleet astronaut whose work causes him to spend significant time away from his family.
The protagonist watches as the Takers are sentenced to be stripped of the nuclear batteries inside their suits and to be left to freeze to death on Earth's surface.
The novella subsequently won the 2000 China Galaxy Science Fiction Award of the Year and was later published as an e-book by Beijing Guomi Digital Technology on 17 June, 2013.
[2][3] The novella was first published in English by Head of Zeus in 2017 as a collected volume of several of Cixin Liu's translated short stories entitled The Wandering Earth.
Other stories in this volume include "Mountain", "Sun of China", "For the Benefit of Mankind", "Curse 5.0", "The Micro-Era", "Devourer", "Taking Care of God", "With Her Eyes", and "Cannonball".
[8] Pornokitsch reviewer Jared Shurin observed the writing style of the novella, commenting on its exploration of themes related to the needs of the collective over the individual and the scale of apocalyptic disaster.
[2] Jaymee Goh of Strange Horizons observed that the Wandering Earth and other short stories in the anthology of the same name had somewhat universal themes.
[5] Polish science fiction critic Wojciech Orliński argued that The Wandering Earth represents Liu's endorsement of concepts of world government, consequentialism as well as tacit approval of "China's surveillance and control society".