To Live (1994)

Gong Li: Xu Jiazhen

Photos 

Quotes 

• Little Bun : [playing with chickens]  When will they grow up?

  Xu Jiazhen : Very soon.

  Little Bun : And then?

  Xu Fugui : And then... the chickens will turn into geese... and the geese will turn into sheep... and the sheep will turn into oxen.

  Little Bun : And after the oxen?

  Xu Fugui : After oxen...

  Xu Jiazhen : After oxen, Little Bun will grow up.

  Little Bun : I want to ride on an ox's back.

  Xu Jiazhen : You will ride on an ox's back.

  Xu Fugui : Little Bun won't ride on an ox... he'll ride trains and planes... and life will get better and better.

• Xu Fugui : What did you name our son?

  Xu Jiazhen : "Don't Gamble".

• Xu Jiazhen : You never had the chance to eat the dumplings I packed for you. Mommy's made you more... twenty this time. That should be enough. Once you've eaten... you can sleep... a nice, deep sleep. In life, you never had a good night's sleep. So sleep well now. Mommy will come see you every day. Youqing, can you ever forgive me? I shouldn't have let you go to school. I should've kept your dad... from making you go. It's all my fault. If only I'd stopped him. I shouldn't have let you go, Youqing! Oh, my poor darling.

• Xu Fugui : Pack a lunchbox. I'll wake him.

  Xu Jiazhen : He's not going anywhere. He hasn't slept in days. Leave him alone.

  Xu Fugui : The District Chief is coming.

  Xu Jiazhen : So? A kid still has to sleep.

  Xu Fugui : Smelting steel is a duty. We can't be politically backward. Mr. Niu praised us in front of everyone. Youqing has to go. Wake up. You have to go smelt steel. Come on, get up. Your classmates are already on their way. Must not be politically backward. You can sleep later.

• Xu Jiazhen : Fengxia's child won't be mute, will he?

  Xu Fugui : Of course not. She wasn't born that way.

  Xu Jiazhen : Will the baby be crippled?

  Xu Fugui : Erxi's is a work-related injury. It's not hereditary. Anyway, it's bad luck to talk like that.

• Town Chief : What are these eggs for?

  Xu Jiazhen : Fengxia's about to have a baby. It's to thank the matchmaker!

  Town Chief : Fengxia's about to give birth? Time does fly!

  Xu Fugui : Erxi sent word from the hospital. She's in labor. We're on our way there.

  Town Chief : Another working class member on the way!

• Xu Jiazhen : Why's she crying? What's happened?

  Town Chief : I'm no longer head of the township. They say I'm a capitalist. I have to confess my crimes.

  Xu Jiazhen : You! Crimes?

  Xu Fugui : You, a capitalist? Everyone knows you.

  Town Chief : I have faith in the Party. I've always followed Chairman Mao's path.

  Xu Jiazhen : When will they let you return?

  Town Chief : Let's not talk about it. You go to Fengxia. Go now, I'll be okay.

  Xu Fugui : Niu, don't let it get to you. Take care!

  Xu Jiazhen : We'll visit you after she's out of the hospital.

  Town Chief : Send her my very best. She's producing a little revolutionary successor.

• Xu Jiazhen : Fugui... I've said all there is to say. Can't you listen just this once? Quit gambling.

  Xu Fugui : It's like kicking an opium habit, you know. Too fast, and boring, you snap! Could kill you. Can't rush these things.

• Xu Jiazhen : They shot Long'er?

  Xu Fugui : Pumped five bullets into him. He is dead. If I hadn't lost my home to him... that'd have been me. What class do we belong to?

  Xu Jiazhen : Landlords?

  Xu Fugui : Surely not. We lost that status to Long'er. So, what are we?

  Xu Jiazhen : Not landlords. Ordinary townspeople.

  Xu Fugui : Sounds okay to me.

• Xu Fugui : You're the District Chief? It was you who killed my son? I had only one son, Chunsheng! I had only one son! And you killed him! You, behind the goddamn wheel!

  Town Chief : Don't be like that. The District Chief is upset, too.

  Chunsheng : How can I ever make it up? Take this for now. It's money. Tell me what else I can do.

  Xu Jiazhen : No one wants your money. I want my son. Give me back my son. You killed him! Give him back to me! Go away! Remember, you owe us a life. You killed him. Remember that. You killed him. Go away! Now!

  Town Chief : District Chief, let's go. I think you should go, Chief.

  Xu Fugui : Go away!

  Chunsheng : All right. I'm going. I owe you a life. I will remember.

• Town Chief : Fugui, you're back just in time... to attend Long'er's public trial. Come along and get an education.

  Xu Fugui : What did Long'er do?

  Xu Jiazhen : Because of the family home, he's been sentenced a landlord.

  Town Chief : 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.

  Xu Fugui : He burnt it?

  Town Chief : It burnt for days. Your timber was first class!

  Xu Fugui : That wasn't ours. It was counterrevolutionary timber.

  Xu Jiazhen : Counterrevolutionary timber.

  Town Chief : Of course. You're you, he's him.

• Xu Jiazhen : Chunsheng, remember... you still owe us a life! You've got to value yours!

• Xu Fugui : Are you sure we're just townsfolk?

  Xu Jiazhen : Of course. Poor townspeople.

  Xu Fugui : It's good to be poor. Nothing like it.

• Town Chief : We'll take these.

  Xu Jiazhen : If you take all our pots away, how will we cook?

  Town Chief : 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?

  Xu Youqing : Yes, there is!

  Xu Fugui : But that's wood.

  Xu Youqing : There's metal on it. And here are pins.

  Xu Fugui : It can't be worth much.

  Town Chief : 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.

• Xu Fugui : What name do you like?

  Xu Jiazhen : Little Bun.

  Xu Fugui : You just say anything. That's not a name!

  Xu Jiazhen : But it's a tradition. Cat, Dog or Little Bun... are not recorded in the Register of Names. He'd know for sure. He doesn't know those kids exist... so they don't die. That's what the old folks say.

  Xu Fugui : Okay, then Little Bun it is.

  Xu Jiazhen : For now, anyway. Later, his dad can give him a proper name.

• Xu Fugui : If I hadn't given Dr. Wang those buns... everything would've been fine. He could have saved our Fengxia. He's a professor, after all.

  Xu Jiazhen : He always carries on like this.

  Wan Erxi : It's okay.

  Xu Fugui : We shouldn't have given him water. People say, once you drink water... one bun in the stomach turns to seven. Dr. Wang ate seven buns. Seven times seven is 49. It's much too much.

  Xu Jiazhen : Erxi, is it true that Dr. Wang... won't eat buns, only rice now?

  Wan Erxi : Not just buns... anything made from wheat.

  Xu Fugui : Rice costs more than wheat.

  Xu Jiazhen : What a food bill he must have.