To Live

SECTIONS 1-3

Reading Check

1. Fugui’s “lesson” of an ox’s purpose (Section 1)

2. “Whoring and gambling are just like a pair of arms or legs: inseparable.” (Section 2)

3. The ancestors (Section 2)

4. “[M]y father […] wanted me to know that money does not come easily.” (Section 2)

5. It begins and ends with Fugui’s father defecating at the manure vat. (Section 2)

Short Answer

1. The narrator’s job is to wander from village to village “to collect popular folk songs.” During this time, he learns greatly about the village, with his lackadaisical and somewhat flirtatious manner. (Section 1)

2. Fugui’s first story is about how his father would prefer to defecate outside with the animals, as opposed to inside the house. As time passed, it would be more difficult to pass his stool, and people could hear him grunting from the vat of manure. (Section 2)

3. Mr. Shen and Long Er are both patrons of the House of Qing, Fugui’s favorite gambling location. Fugui describes their game as “amazing.” Prior to their game, no one had ever seen Mr. Shen lose, and Long Er became the winner, as both were cheating. (Section 2)

4. Seven months pregnant, Jiazhen locates Fugui at the House of Qing while gambling and begs him to come home. Fugui is embarrassed and feels emasculated in front of the other men, so begins to beat his wife in front of the patrons. She resists, insisting he comes home, until Fugui pays two men to drag her out, and she walks home alone. (Section 2)

5. After losing a rigged game to Long Er, Fugui is forced to settle his debts with the House of Qing by selling his family’s property. His family is devastated by the news, and his father gives him the amount in copper coins to bring to the house. Long Er decides to buy Fugui’s property, forcing his family to move from their house to “a small thatched hut” on the property. Shortly after, Fugui’s father dies in a fall from the manure vat, and Fugui’s father-in-law comes to retrieve his daughter Jiazhen in a mock wedding carriage. (Section 2)

SECTIONS 4-5

Reading Check

1. Because “he only wanted people to notice his gold teeth” (Section 4)

2. “[A] clump of wet mud” (Section 4)

3. Changgen, because he was forced to become a beggar (Section 4)

4. Because he “had been all over, having drifted through seven different units” (Section 4)

5. The wood from coffins (Section 4)

6. They feed them. (Section 4)

Short Answer

1. Fugui asks to rent “five mu of good, fertile land” from his new landlord Long Er. Long Er acquiesces, and Fugui, his mother, and his daughter help plant the fields. Although the work is hard, he is determined to bring wealth to his family again. (Section 4)

2. Prior to their fall from wealth, Fugui did not treat his wife well and was not happy; however, after they become impoverished and his wife returns with their six-month old son, they find happiness in the difficult labor of the fields. (Section 4)

3. After his mother begins to fall ill, Fugui rushes into town to find a doctor. He is accidentally conscripted to the Nationalist army, and although he tries to desert the troops, he becomes less motivated as they move farther from home. (Section 4)

4. Fugui recalls the difficult conditions that he and his fellow soldiers are forced to face, including a surplus of bullets, lack of clear instructions, and a dwindling food supply. When planes begin to drop flatbread, many soldiers risk their lives in the battlefield for food; however, Fugui, Old Quang, and Chunsheng develop a plan to steal shoes and use rubber for cooking rice, allowing them to stay safely inside the caves. (Section 4)

5. Shortly after Fugui returns to his village, the land reforms begin, ultimately resulting in Long Er losing all his property and being executed. Fugui reflects on “how close [he] had come to being in Long Er’s shoes” as he used to be a land owner prior to losing his family’s fortune. (Section 4)

SECTIONS 6-7

Reading Check

1. Because she was “deaf and mute” (Section 6)

2. Because “[h]is bottom was all black-and-blue from [Fugui’s] hitting him that morning” (Section 6)

3. “[T]o find an ideal spot with perfect fengshui to smelt iron” (Section 6)

4. Taking care of the lambs (Section 6)

5. “Don’t say the wrong thing, don’t sleep in the wrong bed, don’t enter the wrong house and don’t rub the wrong pocket.” (Section 7)

Short Answer

1. When Fengxia reaches puberty, Fugui decides to send her away to another family so they can save money to put Youqing through school. After Fengxia’s departure, Youqing becomes emotional and insists he does not want to go to school but would rather have his sister stay as company. (Section 6)

2. The people’s commune is established, resulting in a collectivization where the villagers must give their land and livestock to the town. As a result, a central dining hall is established, and people are forced to give various belongings for the good of the town at a moment’s notice; however, after some time, the communal dining is not sustainable, and the villagers are forced to cook for themselves again. (Section 6)

3. The village begins to keep track of people’s abilities to work with a “work point” system: The more points you have, the greater your ability to work. Based on their physical ability, Fugui is given ten points and Fengxia seven points; since Jiazhen’s diagnosis of “soft bone disease,” she only receives four points. (Section 6)

4. Youqing stops speaking to his father after Fugui slaps and reprimands him publicly at school for not paying attention in class. After Youqing stops speaking to Fugui for one month, Fugui hopes to win his son’s favor again by buying a lamb. (Section 6)

5. Youqing is the only blood-type match for his school’s principal. The doctor extracts too much blood from him, and this ultimately leads to his death. Fugui is shocked to hear of his sudden passing and becomes violent at the hospital; however, he realizes that the husband of the principal is his old friend Chunsheng, and he leaves by telling Chunsheng that he owes him a life. He buries Youqing’s body privately, without informing his wife and daughter about Youqing’s death. (Section 6)

SECTIONS 8-9

Reading Check

1. A coffin for the funeral (Section 8)

2. Packs of cigarettes (Section 8)

3. “[C]apitalist roader” (Section 8)

4. “Peaceful” (Section 9)

Short Answer

1. Liberation Liu is Chunsheng’s new name. Feeling responsible for Youqing’s death, Chunsheng tries to give Fugui money; however, Jiazhen screams at him to leave, refusing his gift. (Section 8)

2. Wan Erxi is a wealthy man with a crooked head who is interested in marrying Fengxia. At the first meeting, Fugui believes that Erxi does not like Fengxia; however, he returns soon after with material to repair Fugui’s home, as well as gifts for Fengxia, asking when he can have the opportunity to marry Fugui’s daughter. (Section 8)

3. Fugui notes that while Fengxia is mocked and not treated well in the village, she is well-liked and respected by her husband as well as her neighbors in her new home in the city. (Section 8)

4. Erxi and Fengxia announce that they are pregnant, a moment which is received with great joy by everyone in the family. Fengxia begins to hemorrhage blood during the birth, and although Erxi insists on saving Fengxia, the doctors are only able to save the baby boy. They carry her body home through the snow to bury her near the family home. (Section 8)

SECTIONS 10-11

Reading Check

1. Fengxia (Section 10)

2. A sickle (Section 10)

3. He chokes to death on beans. (Section 10)

Short Answer

1. After Jiazhen’s death, Fugui spends time with his son-in-law Erxi and his grandson Kugen, splitting time between the village family house and the town. A few years later, the family unit changes once again, when Erxi is killed in an accident. (Section 10)

2. Prior to Kugen’s death, Fugui promises to buy an ox, and so after his death when he finally has the money, he decides to buy an old ox that is about to be slaughtered. He decides to name it Fugui because he thinks it resembles him. (Section 10).

3. As Fugui walks away, he sings, “In my younger days I wandered amuck, at middle age I wanted to stash everything in a trunk, and now that I’m old I’ve become a monk.” Ultimately, this trajectory parallels his life. (Section 11)