To Live
by Yu Hua
To Live by Chinese novelist Yu Hua is a beautiful book that traces 20th-century Chinese history through the life of Fugui, the son of a wealthy landowner, and his family. It’s a real tearjerker of a book, which really brings alive what people went through as China went from civil war, to Communist-ruled country, through the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. If you enjoy the book, it was also also turned into a brilliant movie in 1994 by Chinese director Zhang Yimou.
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