To Live
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| To Live | |
| Author | Yu Hua |
|---|---|
| Country | China |
| Language | Chinese |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Media type | print (hardback & paperback) |
This article is about the book. For the film, see To Live (film).
To Live (simplified Chinese: 活着, traditional Chinese: 活著) is a 1993 novel by Chinese novelist Yu Hua. It describes the struggles endured by the son of a wealthy land-owner after the Revolution fundamentally alters the nature of Chinese society. The contrast between his pre-revolutionary status as a selfish fool who (literally) travels on the shoulders of the downtrodden and his post-revolutionary status as a persecuted peasant are stark.
The novel includes interesting first-hand descriptions of some of the less successful aspects of Collectivist policy, such as communal agriculture and the attempt to build a village-based steel industry.
