Colliding stones make no noise (Auditory Imagery)
On page 222, Civilization Number 184 ends in the video game Three Body. Liu writes: “But Wang did not hear the noise made by colliding stones. Around him it was completely silent. Because the atmosphere was gone, there was no more sound.” By drawing attention to Wang's auditory experience, Liu immerses the reader in the bizarre experience of dying due to a tri-solar syzygy event. The author provides an image that should have a large auditory component (stones colliding) and then denies the auditory imagery, highlighting the strangeness of Wang's experience.
Code becomes flickering flames (Visual Imagery)
At Red Coast base, Commissar Lei says he hopes one day to call Ye Wenjie his comrade, and she's moved by his (perceived) kindness. Liu writes: “Ye’s eyes were filled with tears. Seen through them, the code on the screen became flickering flames.” In this example of visual imagery, Liu emphasizes Ye's tears by describing how they turn code (something she looks at every day) into flames, a powerful natural force.
The fragrance of the sawdust (Olfactory Imagery)
When Ye Wenjie visits Bai Mulin at the deforestation camp, she "could smell the fragrance of the sawdust on Bai's body. For the first time since the death of her father, she experienced warmth in her heart and allowed herself to relax, momentarily letting down her guard against the world." Liu here uses olfactory imagery as an entry point into Ye's emotional state, as the scent of sawdust allows her to relax—and maybe make a mistake in trusting Bai.
The great force of the pendulum (Haptic Imagery)
Wang observes the pendulum built by Civilization 192 in the video game Three Body. Liu writes: “Wang felt the great force generated by the movement of the pendulum, as though the ground was shaken by its swings.” In this example of haptic imagery, Liu describes the physical experience of the pendulum's force by relating it to an experience like an earthquake, in which the ground shakes. Including "as though" tells us that this ground-shaking doesn't actually happen, but Wang still has a physical experience as if it does, due to the pendulum's movement.
