To Live, also titled Lifetimes in some English versions,[2] is a 1994 Chinese drama film directed by Zhang Yimou and written by Lu Wei, based on the novel of the same name by Yu Hua.

It was produced by the Shanghai Film Studio and ERA International, starring Ge You and Gong Li, in her seventh collaboration with director Zhang Yimou.

[3] To Live was screened at the 1994 New York Film Festival before eventually receiving a limited release in the United States on November 18, 1994.

His father dies after signing over the family house to Long'er, and wife Jiazhen, leaves him, along with their daughter, Fengxia, and their unborn son, Youqing.

The Chinese Civil War is occurring at the time, and Fugui and Chunsheng are conscripted into the Kuomintang's Republic of China armed forces during a performance.

After the Communist victory, Fugui returns home, only to find out that due to a week-long fever, Fengxia has become mute and partially deaf.

Realizing that Long'er's fate would have been his if not for his "misfortune" years earlier, Fugui is filled with fear and runs into an alleyway before hearing five gunshots.

He runs home to tell Jiazhen what has happened, and they quickly pull out the certificate stating that Fugui served in the communist People's Liberation Army.

The local town chief enlists everyone to donate all scrap iron to the national drive to produce steel and make weaponry for invading Taiwan.

The village chief advises Fugui's family to burn their puppet drama props, which have been deemed as counter-revolutionary.

Erxi, a man crippled by a workplace accident, fixes her parents' roof and paints depictions of Mao Zedong on their walls with his workmates.

Wan Erxi manages to find a doctor to oversee the birth, removing him from confinement, but he is very weak from starvation.

Erxi buys a box full of young chicks for his son, which they decide to keep in the chest formerly used for the shadow puppet props.

When Mantou inquires how long it will take for the chicks to grow up, Fugui's response is a more tempered version of something he said earlier in the film.

He expresses optimism for his grandson's future, and the film ends with his statement, "and life will get better and better" as the whole family sits down to eat.

[10][11] Zhang Yimou originally intended to adapt Mistake at River's Edge, a thriller written by Yu Hua.

Having personally experienced what it was like in such a time and setting, he had a very strong understanding and emotional connection with Chinese culture and society.

Zhang stated in a previous interview that, even after many years, he still remembered the culture shock he experienced when first exposed to the wide variety of films.

Different from other fifth-generation filmmakers such as Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang, Zhang was in a desperate state and cannot trace back things that were lost during the Cultural Revolution.

Furthermore, Zhang Yimou chose Ge You, who is famous for his comedic roles to play the protagonist, Fu Gui.

Ge You actually inspired Zhang to add more humorous elements in the film, therefore it is more reasonable not to kill every character at the end.

The theme of the novel – the ability to bear suffering and the optimistic attitude to the world – is hidden in these little people who are helpless to their own fate, but still live strongly.

Therefore, Zhang decided to alter certain aspects of the story, removing some of the more tragic elements, in order to make it more accessible.

First, it has a critical portrayal of various policies and campaigns of the Communist Government, such as how the protagonists’ tragedies were caused as a result of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

The website's critical consensus states: "To Live (Huo zhe) offers a gut-wrenching overview of Chinese political upheaval through the lens of one family's unforgettable experiences".

[8] The usage of shadow puppetry, which carries a historical and cultural heritage, throughout the movie acts as a parallel to what characters experience in the events that they have to live through.

[3] There is a scene that the local town chief calls on everyone to donate the iron products of the family to make steel.