To Live (活着)

Join us on September 9 as we discuss To Live (活着), which follows one Chinese family's tragic journey during Mao's rule, from the Chinese Civil War through the Great Leap Forward and past the Cultural Revolution.

After being banned for its critical portrayal of the Chinese Communist Party, the 1993 novel has since gained international acclaim; many critics have praised it as a cornerstone of modern Chinese literature.

The 1994 movie, also titled To Live, has garnered much international praise as well. But, its director, Zhang Yimou, was at first banned from making movies in mainland China for five years.

To learn more about the novel, please visit this link on Wikipedia. (Most of us are apt to use a 2003 translation by Michael Berry.)

For a review of the movie, see https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-14-ca-8647-story.html. You can stream the film for free at https://archive.org/details/to-live-1994.

Abby K. will moderate our session.

It's a great novel; hope you can join us.