"To Live"

"To Live" was very engaging and was really interesting to watch. It was in several ways, very historically accurate of life throughout the 30's-70's. Particularly, it showed how people lived under Mao. First, it showed how Mao's communist army vanquished the nationalists. Subsequently, there were several interesting events that took place in the story. One of my most favorite parts of the story was how Youqin spilled soup on another kids head, and then the father of the kid stated that he was insulting the state and communal canteen. Thus, since Fugui did not want to seem "politically backward" he hit his child. He did not hit him because he was wrong, but he hit him because politics were involved. Fugui also asks his wife of their social class, and they conclude that they are ordinary townspeople. Fugui replied to this by saying, "good, good" as if being rich was a bad thing. Since they China was communist, they supported a "dictatorship of the proletariat" which probably is why Fugui wants to be an ordinary townsman. Moreover, it was interesting how everyone had to contribute with the steel smelting. People's pots were taken from them to create "one or two cannonballs." Additionally, everyone praised Mao as if he were a God. For example, at Fengxia's wedding, they all sang a song to thank Mao. Likewise, Fugui's house was painted with Mao and Chungching gave him a picture of Mao. Thus, in many ways, this "A Life" was very historically accurate concerning society in China during the 50's.