To Live Page #2

I'm not one to lent money.

I'll lend you something else. More practical.

I never had to beg

when I ran the puppet troupe.

Earn your money yourself.

Put together a troupe.

They are fabulous.

My heart is full of sorrow

It's that hateful bandit, Jiang

I'm lucky to be alive

Me and my lover want more time

To frolic on our great big bed

Come out!

Come on! Get a move on!

1949:
Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Army

is losing the civil war.

The Communists under Mao Zedong

are poised to take over China.

So we're fighting the Communists.

Might never go home again.

What are you looking at?

Thinking of escaping?

The Nationalists will shoot you.

Besides...

troops for both sides are everywhere.

If you don't fight the Reds, you fight the KMT.

But who will look after my wife,

my kids, my old mother?

Forget it. Try to save your own skin.

As for me...

if I weren't looking for my brother,

I wouldn't be wearing this uniform.

Chunsheng, you really are mad.

I'd die happy if I could drive.

As for me...

I want to live. There's nothing like family.

One, two, three. One, two, three.

This case is in the way!

Whose is it? Get rid of it!

Sir, it's mine.

I've got my things in it. Let me keep it.

Get it out of my sight then.

It's just a bunch of puppets.

Get rid of them! This is war!

They're not mine. It's how I make my living.

What a bloodbath.

What's that sound?

The wounded.

They're freezing.

No one's looking after them?

No one's left.

Must be tens of thousands

of us trapped here.

Way to go, Chunsheng!

Take this.

- Where'd you get them?

- Off the corpses.

Which corpses?

The wounded who froze to death.

Put it on. We must survive.

Lao Quan, have a drink.

It really is booze!

Was it from some dead officer?

Chunsheng and I are lucky

to meet someone as nice as you.

You've looked after us.

We must help each other.

Besides, we're from the same town.

Lao Quan, the place is deserted.

I'm still dizzy from drinking!

What happened? No one's left?

They've all run off.

How could that be?

The Reds must be on the attack.

What?

- Shouldn't we run, too?

- Where to?

Home!

Home?

Wait right here.

Run now...

and you'll be shot.

Better to wait and become a POW.

The Reds send POWs home.

So, no running?

That's right.

You want to go home, don't run.

They won't shoot us?

Not as long as you've got your hands up.

How?

This will do the trick?

Don't reach for your waist!

Do that and you're dead.

The Reds treat POWs well.

I've been one before.

Just put those hands up.

- The attack hasn't started.

- Let's put them down.

Chunsheng!

Dying like this,

their families won't even know.

Fugui...

we've got to make it back alive.

And live a good life.

Lao Quan! They're shooting!

Where did you find this coat?

- On one of the wounded.

- It's a killing field.

The coat's from my brother's unit.

- What are you doing?

- They're shooting!

What's your brother look like?

Just like me.

Lao Quan!

The enemy's secret weapon

wounded me

I gather my troops

and we run for our lives

Fengxia!

It's your daddy.

What are you doing?

Where's mommy?

I'm home.

Home.

Mother died without knowing where I was.

The day...

we sang for the Liberation Army.

Suppose I was singing for her, too.

She never shut her eyes...

kept them fixed on the door,

so sure you'd be back.

You should have written.

Written?

I never thought I'd make it back alive.

I thought of you...

all the time and worried...

how you were getting by.

The new government

paid for mother's burial...

and gave me this job, delivering water.

I'm up before dawn.

Everyone wants water.

The more I deliver, the more I earn.

It's been hard on the kids.

They never get...

a good night's sleep.

How come Fengxia can't talk?

She was fine when I left.

She can't even say "Daddy."

In fact, she was lucky.

For a week, she ran a high fever.

No one thought she'd pull through.

When the fever came down...

she'd lost her voice.

You're here.

Fugui's back.

This is our town leader, Mr. Niu.

So you're our leading cadre.

- I heard you got back this morning.

- I'm back.

I have come to see if you need anything.

Look at this.

He has served in the Liberation Army?

You participated in the revolution.

I just dragged a cannon and sang opera.

That's taking part.

You were with Chunsheng.

Why isn't he back?

He joined the army as a driver.

He went south with them.

We won't see him for a while.

Fugui, you're back just in time...

to attend Long'er's public trial.

Come along and get an education.

What did Long'er do?

Because of the family home,

he's been sentenced a landlord.

But it's not just that.

The government wanted part of the house.

He refused, beat up a cadre...

and then set fire to the place.

Classic counterrevolutionary sabotage.

He burn it?

It burnt for days.

Your timber was first class!

That wasn't ours.

It was counterrevolutionary timber.

Counterrevolutionary timber.

Of course. You're you, he's him.

Execute the revolutionary despot, Long'er!

To the execution ground!

We will crush the counterrevolution!

Crush the counterrevolution!

Down with the counterrevolutionaries!

Long live the Communist Party!

Long live the People's Government!

Long live Chairman Mao!

Down with the counterrevolutionaries!

Build a new China!

What's wrong?

Why are your pants wet?

Five bullets. Five.

They shoot him.

They shot Long'er?

Pumped five bullets into him.

He is dead.

In I hadn't lost my home to him...

that'd have been me.

What class do we belong to?

Landlords?

Surely not. We lost that status to Long'er.

So, what are we?

Not landlords.

Ordinary townspeople.

Sounds okey to me.

And I took part in the revolution.

- What are you looking for?

- That certificate.

- In the wash?

- No, here it is.

Better dry it out fast.

Have to keep it safe.

Are you sure we're just townsfolk?

Of course.

Poor townspeople.

It's good to be poor. Nothing like it.

Get a frame for it tomorrow.

I'll hang it on the wall.

Good idea!

The 1950s

1958:
Mao Zedong launches

the "Great Leap Forward."

Steel production is now targeted

at 10.7 million tonnes per year.

Every household donates its iron utensils.

Take a break.

Tired?

Fugui!

Our family's turn to donate iron.

It's ready.

It's all here?

Keep these.

To deliver water to the steelworks.

Everyone will be thirsty.

We'll take these.

If you take all our pots away,

how will we cook?

We're racing towards Communism,

and you worry about food?

We are setting up communal kitchens.

When you're hungry...

just come to the canteen.

There'll be meat, fish.

Nothing else to contribute?

Yes, there is!

But that's wood.

There's metal on it.

And here are pins.

It can't be worth much.

We are less politically aware than your son.

It's enough for two bullets.

We are just two bullets short

of liberating Taiwan.

So let's get that metal.

The workers deserve entertaining, don't they?

You know, I sang for the Liberation Army...

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