To Live

To Live is the story of Fugui, an old man whom the unnamed narrator encounters while travelling around the countryside studying the folk songs and tales of the area. As a young man, Fugui came from a relatively wealthy family, but he managed to lose all of his family's property through gambling and carousing. Having brought his family down, he decides to devote himself to being a good husband and father. However, fate intervenes, first in the case of the war between the Communists and the Nationalists, into which he is conscripted. Having survived that, he returns home only to see the upheaval caused by the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Yet, despite all this and the tragedies within his own family, he perseveres. It's a poignant account of one man's life in upheaval, which also has the feel of a Taoist parable about facing hardships.