A Time to Live, a Time to Die

---

The Time to Live and the Time to Die

This film

is some memories from my youth

particularly impressions

of my father

"My father came from Mei County,

Canton Province"

In 1947

on the 40th day after my birth

He led a ball team to Guangzhou for

the Provincial Games

He was the Educational Secretary

of Mei County

In Guangzhou he met an old classmate

"from Chung-shan University,

Li Kuai"

"At the time, Li Kuai was"

the mayor of Taichung City

He asked if my father

would move to Taiwan

to be his Head Secretary

One year later

my father wrote home saying

"This is a good place.

There's tap water. "

He asked my mother to bring

the family over

In 1949

My father was transferred

to Taipei Educational Bureau

as the Supervisor

We lived in Hsin-chu at the time

Because of the humidity up north

My father suffered from asthma

When I was in the first grade

We moved to Fengshan in the south

for the sake of my father's health

My grandmother was always

wrapping silver papers

She said the paper money was

to be used in heaven

She was already over 80 at the time

My father was very pious

"Every time we had dinners

he wouldn't start to eat

until grandmother came

"But everyday at meal time,"

grandma would be out to looking

for me

Grandmother was especially good

to me

Because when I was little

a fortune teller said

I was to become a great official

"My nickname in Fengshan, "Ah-ha"

came from grandmother's calling of me

Ah-ha-gu! Ah-ha-gu! Ah-ha-gu! Ah-ha-gu!

Ah-ha!

Did you take the $5 in the purse?

I don't know

"You don't know.

If not you, who else?"

Did you take it?

No

You're lying

Tell me

Where is it?

I didn't take it

Liar!

How dare you! Come down here

Your feet are so dirty

Get down!

Where is it?

It's gone

It's gone

I buried it here. Someone took it

Nonsense

Where is it?

I buried it here

and put a brick over it

Still lying?

It's true! I'm not lying

What kind of man will you turn out

to be after growing up

Here. Over here!

Grandma

"Grandma, where are you going?"

Go back

To find Ah-ha-gu

I can't recognize the road

Ah-Hsiao

Nothing

She hasn't paid me yet

Hasn't paid you yet?

Go get it at the house!

Don't read that while you eat

Go over it once before

and another time after dinner

ABC. ABC

Frog with curry

"Lai"is come"

"Chu"is go"

"Wo bu chi"

I don't know

"Yi ke yang chien,"one dollar"

ABC. ABC

Frog with curry

Frog with curry

"Lai" is come"

"Chu" is go"

"Wo bu chi"

I don't know

"Yi ke yang chien," one dollar"

If you were not a good man in your past

life, your son will be your daughter-in-law

What do you know?

Ah-hsiao! Ah-hsiao

Bath time

You go. I'll wash them

Ah-hsiao! It's okay

You'll find a way when you're older

Kids

This is mine

I have more than you do

"Ah-ha, Ah-ha-gu"

Come here

Grandma's going to take you back

to the mainland

I don't want to go

Ah-ha! Ah-ha! Big cock!

Alright. Alright. It's my turn

You're dead

"Ah-ha, save it"

Nice

First class

OK:

Don't bother us if you can't play

Don't let him in

What do you cry for?

Ignore him

"Come on, come. It's my turn"

In an air battle today over

the Matsu Strait

Our courageous Air Force pilots

downed 5 Communist MIG 17's

and damaged two others

This glorious combat will serve

as the greatest gift

to all of our country men

on this Double Tenth National Day

"Despite being outnumbered,

our courageous Air Force

pilots were determined in combat"

Glorifying the spirit

of revolutionary battle

They have won the hearts

of all our countrymen

"In particular,

Colonel Chang Nei-chun"

"In the heat of the combat, to save

a nearby aircraft from enemy fire"

"thinking not of himself, he rammed

his plane into a communist craft"

His patriotic and glorious sacrifice

has once again glorified

the revolutionary spirit

of our forefathers

the spirit of sacrifice and struggle

writing down the most glorious page

in our Air Force history

President Chiang hosted the 47th

National Day Celebration Ceremony

at 10 o'clock this morning

"in the Presidential Building,"

and announced the news

of victory...

Chien-yuan is in Qinman

How come we haven't heard from him

for so long?

I wrote him last month

It's probably the restrictions

in the war zone

Every time I wrote him before

It took at most a week

for his return letter

What are you talking about?

"Chien-yuan, Chiu-ming's son"

"Oh, Chien-yuan!"

It's sad what happened to his dad

I was in Canton attending Chungshan

University. I lived in his place.

"At the time,

he was the brigade captain"

"One day,"

he suddenly contracted malaria

I took a rickshaw to buy him

medicine

The rickshaw boy suddenly stumbled

smashing the rickshaw light

I had an ominous feeling

because he stumbled right

in front of a coffin store

The day Chiu-ming died

his wife had just given birth

to Chien-yuan

She smelled something fishy

in her room

and asked her to mother

if the fish peddler had come

They went to look.

There was no body there

"That night,"

the chickens that the Changs brought

over as a present began crowing

at night

"Grandma said," take it to the

three-road intersection

to cut off its head so

the bad luck would go"

We are going to recover

the mainland!

Liar!

How come I haven't heard the news?

That's what the teacher said!

"I'll shoot you, I'm telling you"

Move away! Stop looking!

There's hot water over there.

Take your bath

"One family, one foot of mouth"

That's a lot of food every day

Your father's salary

is 620 dollars per month

"He keeps 20 for the barber

and his own spending,

Food... the doctor...

Your father is in poor health

"Even if you teach,

you still have to get married"

We have so many children

in the family

"As the eldest,

you have to sacrifice"

The Teachers' Academy is free

"And after graduating,

you can be a teacher"

What do girls need

all that education for?

You just have to be able to cook,

sew, and help the farm work

That will be enough

She's not talking about me

She's talking about Ah-chung

One person attending

Teachers' Academy is enough

But it would be a pity if An-chung

can't go to university

"Ah-chung,

if you want to study more,"

do it yourself

Your father started teaching after

he finished high school

And he wound up going to university

"Before that,"

he went to South Asia to

learn business with uncle Chin

"He studied whenever he had time,"

while others play instead

Uncle Chin knew your dad

wasn't the business type

and told him to go back

to Guangzhou for college

He got accepted

by Chung-shan University

Where's it from?

Auntie An

From South Africa?

What does she say?

Ah-ching-gu stopped

going to school after third grade

The Communists threw him out

of his house

said he had bad background

They're doing some movement called

"Three Red Flags"

They took all of the iron

in our hometown

"Knives, pots, door handles, nails"

even the fire tongs and everything

There's no iron-smelting

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes