To Live

To Live (Chinese: 活着; pinyin: Huózhe), also known as Lifetimes, is a 1994 Chinese drama directed by Zhang Yimou and adapted from Yu Hua's 1993 novel of the same name. The film spans the 1940s–1970s, tracing the Xu family's survival through the Chinese Civil War, Great Leap Forward, and Cultural Revolution. It won numerous prestigious international awards, and despite domestic censorship, is widely respected for its portrayal of ordinary resilience under political duress. The film looks back on four generations of the Xu family: Xu Fugui, played by Ge You; his father, a wealthy landowner; his wife, Jiazhen, played by Gong Li; their daughter, Fengxia, and son, Youqing; and finally their grandson, Little Bun. The action goes from the Chinese Civil War in the late 1940s to