/lit/ - Literature

I just finished reading The Dark Forest. This (with the preceding Three Body Problem) is my first time reading translated Chinese fiction.

I was really struck by the general pessimism of the whole thing. Most of the perspective characters appear to be psychopaths of some kind, and then it turns out the whole universe is full of psychopath civilizations and only the psychopaths don't get wiped out the moment they reveal their existence, so the only solution to the crisis is to threaten a double suicide with the Trisolarans.

Is this negative outlook a characteristic of the writer (who going by the afterword has been through a hell of a lot of shit in his life) or of Chinese fiction in general (since a lot of Chinese have gone through a whole lot of shit in their lives)?