Name: Le Quang Nhan – Department of East Asian Studies – Delhi University

Subject: Chinese Politics and Government

Film Review: To Live

The film named “To Live” was directed by Zhang Yimou. The story takes place in China during
the mid-20th century and follows the life of a couple named Fugui and Jiazhen, as they navigate
through the tumultuous political climate of the time.

Under one-party rule, family life is tightly controlled and controlled. To reduce the mental burden
on family members, ideological re-education is applied to raise people's awareness and thinking
about politics and society to liberate people.

The main character, named Fugui was born into a wealthy landowning family but has a habit of
gambling passionately. However, his life changed radically when his gambling career failed and
led to mounting debt. After his father died, his wife and children also left, and the family home
had to be sold. He lost all his possessions and decided to start from scratch by selling needles on
the street to make a living. After meeting his wife and children and newborn son, Fugui continued
to try to earn money as a shadow puppeteer by borrowing it from Long’er, who took Fugui's house,
and he realized that have to be responsible for supporting his family.

In 1949, at the outbreak of civil war, Fugui and his close friend were taken to work as sidekicks
for the Nationalists on the battlefield. Later, they chose to participate in the liberation of the
communist people and Fugui became an entertaining puppeteer in the Communist Army. After
reunification, he obtained a certificate of participation in the liberation army as a performer for the
communist army. Although the duty paper was torn, it was still hung on the wall of the house, to
show compliance with state regulations.

Long’er's home (formerly Fugui's home) was expropriated by the communist regime. However,
Long’er countered this by burning down his house, which was considered reactionary anti-
vandalism and he was later executed by death. Fugui has realized that if it were his home, the
results would be similar. Therefore, the Fugui family accepted their new position in society easily
and obeyed the ideology of the authorities, with fear and gratitude. Fugui and his wife have
accepted their current life and see it as a good thing.

When the civil war ended and he was allowed to return to see his family, Fugui participated in the
Great Leap Forward revolution and was involved in collecting metals for metallurgy and iron
production. His young son, with his innocence, also want donations of his puppet ball suit because
it was made of metal. This embodies an ideology in which he was educated from childhood,
according to the ideology of the state government. Fortunately, Fugui argued that during the civil
war, entertainment was still necessary to remain productive, so the shadow puppet was retained by
the authorities.

Misfortune struck, and Fugui's son died in an accident caused by his close friend (Direct Chief,
who offered the idea of paying the debt with money - a symbolic image of the state at that time),
which was a debt of life and meant that the state was responsible.
In 1960, the Cultural Revolution demanded the elimination of old culture and traditional arts,
including shadow puppetry. If they do not comply with the authorities demands, they will be
considered reactionary. Also around this period, pictures, books, music and wedding festivals were
all about Mao and respected him because the revolution resisted the reactionaries.

Another misfortune befell that the daughter died in childbirth, due to the inexperience,
incompetence of the doctors of the Red Guard and the dismissal of experienced doctors. Those
who were alleged political prisoners, belonging to the high intelligentsia had reactionary plots.

In the past, Fugui taught his son that when we grow up, our family will go through different stages,
from the little chicken to the goose, the sheep, the cow and finally to becoming communist full of
dumplings and meat every day. The Communists painted a picture of a common kitchen for society
at that time.

However, later in teaching his grandchildren, Fugui pointed out that as we mature, our family will
go through stages from the little chicken to the goose, the sheep, the cow and finally to maturity,
with a loss of faith in communism.

Film Review: Coming Home.

The ten-year Cultural Revolution in China is referenced in the movie Coming Home (1966-1976).
Mao shut down a lot of schools and colleges at the start of the Cultural Revolution and organised
the youth to become Red Guards. Older Chinese intellectuals and party members who still adhered
to conventional and bourgeois principles were ridiculed and assaulted. Everything that did not
adhere to Mao's ideology was destroyed.

The film Coming Home tells a story about a political prisoner, Lu Yanshi, in the era of the Cultural
Revolution, who returns home to his family. Lu makes two trips home to visit his family
throughout the film. The first is when he attempts to leave jail while still a prisoner, but Lu is
unable to locate his wife since his daughter refused to meet him and alerted the party to Lu's
detention. The second occurs when the Cultural Revolution is ended and he is formally let go. Due
to the fact that his family is no longer together, returning home neither time has been able to make
him happy as he had hoped. Due to a memory condition, Feng Wanyu, his wife, is unable to
remember Lu, and his daughter, who used to dance, has stopped and moved out of the house that
reports Lu Yanshi's location. After he is released and truly free to meet his family, Lu still cannot
bring back the happiness he used to have.

The manner that the Lu Yanshi family home is shown in the film, with its orderly layout, room for
a piano and for Dandan to practise ballet, as well as an inside bathroom and kitchen, suggests that
the main character is not an average person and has a respectable position in society. In the film,
Lu Yanshi is implied to be a lecturer named jiaoshou who speaks French, plays the piano, and
enjoys dancing. The Lu Yanshi's crime that led to his arrest is neither mentioned or seen in the
movie.It can be implied that his profession as a lecturer, his ability to speak French, his house
condition, and his interest in the arts very likely becomes the main factors for him to be accused
as a right-wing intellectual that has to be arrested. Similar to Lu, Feng is also an educator, but since
she works in a middle school, she is addressed as Laoshi (teacher). Dandan, the daughter of Lu
and Feng, is an excellent dancer, but she eventually leaves the dancing world and changes her
profession into a factory worker. Her change of profession happened due to her father’s political
prisoner status which leads to her failure to take the leading role, although she has excellent
dancing skills.

The family's wellbeing suffered because of the circumstances during the Cultural Revolution.
Children and parents despise one another. Because the father is perceived as the party's opponent
and the mother would rather back the father, the children despise their parents. The mother had the
daughter leave the house because she had reported the father to the party and had torn out all of
the photographs of the father. It is clear from these circumstances that the Lu Yanshi family's
hardships are the result of the party's charge of the intellectuals during the Cultural Revolution
being "rightists." The Lu Yanshi family is still unable to live peacefully as previously, despite the
cultural revolution having ended.