Wandering Humanity
Reflections After Watching The Wandering Earth
Departing from Earth
During the 2019 Lunar New Year, the big-budget film The Wandering Earth was released simultaneously in major theaters across North America's top cities, drawing overseas Chinese audiences to watch it with joy. Although no one quite knew what kind of experience the film would bring, at that moment, everyone sitting in the theater seemed full of anticipation—as if they could return home through the movie.
The movie began... Wu Jing, playing the father, repeatedly reminded his father-in-law and his child that after he left, they could move into the underground city. Beneath the vast and boundless starry sky, the conversation between father and son was so serene and heartwarming—yet it foreshadowed an irreversible catastrophe.
Because the sun would turn into a red giant in a few decades—engulfing the Earth and all living beings—Earth could no longer rely on the sun’s light and energy to survive. It had to escape. What followed in the film was a landscape of utter devastation: the dark, chaotic underground cities and the somber expressions on people’s faces. Even a teenage middle school student carried a cynical expression, responding to everything around him with indifference. Everything that was once beautiful on Earth’s surface had been destroyed. Glaciers had melted, sea levels had risen, and then, due to extreme cold, everything had frozen again. The once-beautiful mountains and rivers had become unrecognizable. The only landmarks still distinguishable in the film were a few of Shanghai’s iconic buildings—the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Jin Mao Tower, the Financial Center—but only their top portions remained visible, with the rest buried under thick layers of ice.
Grandpa (played by Hong Kong actor Ng Man-tat) and a rescue team member transporting the firestones both perished one after another in the glacial forest. The few survivors, along with the male and female protagonists, continued on their journey to deliver fuel to the massive planetary engine station in Hangzhou. Astonishingly, there were over 10,000 such engines installed across Earth’s tectonic plates, burning ceaselessly day and night. Their fuel was firestones. The stark contrast between ice and fire sends a shiver down the spine—what kind of scene is this? It inevitably brings to mind Mark 9:48: “Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched,” and Revelation 21:8: “the lake which burns with fire and sulfur.”
The journey to transport the firestones faced numerous hardships—personnel casualties, vehicle damages—and what made it even more unpredictable was the news that Hangzhou had already been submerged before they arrived at the station. Did the screenwriter and director intentionally lead the audience into this hellish despair and torment, just as described in Revelation and Luke: “a place where there is no rest day or night,” and “a place full of painful punishment and utter despair”?
Science Fiction vs. Reality
The science fiction elements in the movie have been much discussed and admired by Chinese audiences and critics. However, whether such fantasies have any scientific basis or are merely human imagination remains a question. It should be understood that not all science fiction stories benefit civilization and the welfare of humanity. In 1944, American writer Cleve Cartmill published a short story titled Deadline, which detailed nuclear weapons in a way strikingly similar to the then highly classified Manhattan Project, even drawing the attention of the FBI. With the U.S. military dropping atomic bombs over Hiroshima, people became aware of the deadly power of science fiction concepts, enough to send chills across the entire planet, as fantasy turned into reality.
Science fiction is often limited by the level of understanding about the world. Today, it is widely known that the Earth is round, but ancient people had various guesses and hypotheses, such as "the Earth is flat" or "the Earth is surrounded by a great flood." Ancient Indians even believed the Earth was supported by four giant elephants—an idea that seems laughable now! Consider that after thousands of years of exploration, humanity has only gradually discovered and confirmed the Earth and the entire universe that God had already designed and created. The first chapter of Genesis records God’s magnificent and wonderful act of creation: in six days, God sequentially created the heavens and the earth and light; created water and air, dividing the waters above and below; separated land and sea, and made plants to grow according to their kinds; appointed the sun, moon, and stars as lights in the heavens to govern day and night and to mark seasons, days, and years; created great sea creatures and living birds, each according to its kind; created land animals, livestock, and insects according to their kinds; and finally created man and woman in His own image. God saw all that He had made and declared it very good.
The process of creation, whether in the sequence of events or the selection of what was created, was carefully designed and full of love. Each planet and star in the solar system has its own precise distance and orbit; the Earth revolves around the sun while rotating on its axis; and humans coexist harmoniously with various plants and animals on Earth, all maintaining a perfect dynamic balance. How could these wonders ever be fully comprehended by humans?
In the original novel The Wandering Earth by author Liu Cixin, which shares the same title as the movie, he also described a small ecological environment like this.
To save the Earth, people formed two factions: the Spaceship Faction and the Earth Faction. The Spaceship Faction advocated abandoning the Earth and escaping on spaceships, while the Earth Faction proposed using the Earth itself as a vessel to leave the solar system. The United Government adopted the Earth Faction’s plan, initiating the Earth’s wandering journey. In the novel, a character named A-Dong is a staunch supporter of the Spaceship Faction and designed a small ecological system. However, this small world died. The teacher analyzed that it was because it was too small; such a cycle requires a scale as large as New York or Shanghai to sustain itself.
Dispersed People, Dispersed Hearts
In Isaiah, God says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Humans cannot comprehend God’s intentions; even when they strive to imitate God’s creation by building small worlds, these still cannot survive. Yet the film insists on sending the Earth wandering, step by step into despair. Only by humbling ourselves before God can we gradually discover the beauty of His creation and slowly understand His good purpose. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but humanity runs ever further in the opposite direction.
In the movie, people try to escape the solar system, destroying God's beautiful creation and betraying His good intentions. Such a self-righteous decision not only leads to the death of half the Earth's population but also condemns the survivors to generations of wandering. Rather than bringing hope, this science fiction scenario results in prolonged exile.
The 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey features an extremely realistic storyline, boldly imagining humans landing on the moon. Its precise depiction of weightlessness aboard the spaceship Discovery seemed to serve as popular science education for the successful Apollo 11 moon landing one year later. People have always carried a curious spirit of exploration, eagerly anticipating higher and farther journeys. Landing on the moon is no longer a difficult feat today, which further earns the respect of readers and viewers for science fiction writers and increases their willingness to read and watch such books and films. In 1991, the U.S. Library of Congress recognized 2001: A Space Odyssey as a film "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant," leading to its preservation in the National Film Registry.
However, The Wandering Earth takes the audience on a long 2,500-year exile spanning 100 generations. This escape costs half of Earth's population, and after 2,500 years, will the Earth really be able to safely settle near Proxima Centauri? Is the ecological environment there truly suitable for human habitation? How can one explain this kind of wandering life to children? Sitting in the darkness, as a person living abroad, I almost wanted to cover my face and weep at that moment!
Leaving one’s homeland and beginning an endless wandering is tantamount to pushing humanity into eternal ruin! Is physical survival really that important? If the meaning and purpose of survival is simply to survive, then sacrificing individual living “people” for the sake of the collective concept of “humanity” is utterly absurd. God created the universe, the Earth, mountains, rivers, birds, beasts, plants, and humans so that we might understand His love and enjoy the beauty of creation. If humans try to take God’s place and act arbitrarily, the consequences are unimaginable. As early as 1818, the British novelist Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, profoundly exploring the disastrous results of humans attempting to create life. If people lose their homeland and lack a solid spiritual home, they will become eternal “diasporans.”
Around the 3rd to 2nd century BCE, the Greek Old Testament first mentioned the word “Diaspora” in Deuteronomy chapter 28 (which can be translated into Chinese as “流散”). Moses warned the Israelites that if they did not obey God’s words, they would experience various curses (see Deuteronomy 28:15-61). This curse, which points to death and affects future generations, causes people to permanently lose their homeland; by forsaking God, humanity becomes eternal wanderers—perpetual diasporans.
Seeking a Return
The pursuit of a stable, tangible home has always been a deeply cherished desire of humanity. Even today, with abundant material wealth and rapidly advancing communication technologies that make the world seem like a small village, people have not ceased their quest for a true home. Although more and more individuals leave their native lands to settle in foreign countries and distant places, seeking a place of peace and joy, this yearning remains unchanged. Even in the movie The Wandering Earth, all efforts made by people ultimately aim to find a place to live and thrive once again.
Perhaps behind the longing for a tangible home lies a deeper dream of returning to the eternal homeland?
Having watched the movie, I sincerely pray that no one will be left wandering, and that every living person can find a stable spiritual home for themselves. God’s door is always open to everyone, and through the redemption accomplished by Jesus, isn’t that the path of return He laid out for us even before creation?
Entering God’s kingdom means entering an eternal home; becoming God’s children brings security, hope, and an end to wandering forever.
Author’s Profile：Wen Yang, a Christian. Believing that God created the universe and all things, and inspired humanity to create beautiful literature and cinematic arts, Wen Yang loves literature and film. He hopes to serve God’s kingdom through writing, bringing faith into every corner of life, opening more people’s hearts to God’s kingdom, and helping them become children of God.