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Chinese sci-fi fans were ecstatic when they learned that the Hugo Awards, one of the most prestigious science-fiction awards in the world, went to a Chinese novel for the first time.

“The Three-Body Problem,” written by Chinese sci-fi novelist Liu Cixin, beat out four other finalists and was announced the winner of the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel in Seattle on Saturday. Ken Liu, the book’s translator, accepted the award on Liu’s behalf.

As one of the key international awards for the genre, the Hugo Awards have been recognizing the best science fiction or fantasy works published in English since 1953.

“The Three-Body Problem” is also the first Chinese sci-fi novel that has been translated to English. Ever since it was first serialized in a Chinese sci-fi magazine in 2006, it has captivated millions of Chinese for its magnificent space philosophy, and was unanimously hailed by sci-fi fans as “China’s best sci-fi novel.”

In 2014, the English version of the trilogy’s first book was published in the U.S.

The second book, “The Dark Forest,” is planned to hit stores this summer, and the finale, “Death’s End,” will be out in January 2016, according to the trilogy’s publisher Tor Books.

Earlier this year, “The Three-Body Problem” was nominated for the Nebula Awards, but didn’t go further than that. The loss made winning the Hugo Award more precious in the eyes of many fans.

On Sina Weibo, a Chinese social networking site, many netizens lauded Liu and his books.

“Eliminate human tyranny! The world belongs to Trisolaris!” said a user named Haoyunjierenboqie by quoting a famous sentence from the book. (Trisolaris is an alien planet in the book, which literally means “Three-Body” in Chinese.)

“Well, after all it’s the winner predicted by George R.R. Martin,” commented a user named Wuwuyayawenwen, referring to the 2015 Hugo Awards predictions that the “Game of Thrones” author made on his blog a week ago.

“There’s nothing happier than having your favorite novel being acknowledged by the world. Congratulations!” said a Weibo user named Jiacunzhang_lang.