Questions & Grammar and Usage Practice and Application to Zhang Yimou's To Live

QUESTIONS
1. Why do yo think that the name of the movie is To Live?

They had lots of conflict during their life such as parents breaking up, Fugui coming back from war, parents getting back together, childrens dying before parents...and so To Live they had go through all these situations.

2. How does the main character, Fugui, represent life in China during this time period?

He works as a puppet show background musick/voice. He went to the war do defend China.

3. How specifically does Fugui's wife, Jiaz, adapt to the changing times?

They broke up in the beginning but their relationship got together again after war, and she became strong and had confident to fight back her husband.

4. In what ways did the loss of his house and fortunes, ironically, becomes the best thing that ever happened to Fugui and his family?

Loss of the son really hurt. But the daughter, when she died she left them a life, her son, so that made them cheer up alittle. The daughters husband stayed in contact with her Fugui and his wife and helped each other with life.

5. What do you think of Mr. Niu and what do you suppose happened to him near the end?

From what I saw on movie, his wife crying in the room by her self, I think Mr. Niu and his wife devorced after. Maybe they took all their money because he got moved down a place.

6. How do the two children become victimes of the political climate? Give specific examples.

The son was sleeping during school and then this car crashed into the school wall which fell on him. The daughter, when she just had a birth, she had a problem but the hospital only had nurse student who didn't know what to do and all the old doctors were locked at this other place because they were revolutionary.

7. The communist Revolution is widely seen to have been succesful in raising living conditions for millions of Chinese peasants. Give some positive example from the movie of improvements in living conditions and good results from the change in political system.

The people had the public kitchens and tables where everyone can eat. Public water where Fugui's wife work at, they give water to everyone like when they watch the puppet shows.


8. What is the final positive outcome for this one family? Explain

Marrying Wan Erxi. Having one soldier in the house protects all the family from military suspicions so no one would get kicked out of this their home. Second is the grand son that daughter left for them. That might have been the reason to have all the family members stay together.

9. To Live was banned in China, and the director, Zhang Yimou, and the leading actress Gong Li were barred from filmmaking for two years. What specifically do you think that the Chinese government objected to? Give at least two or three examples.

It gave the details of the revolution at the time. How Mao's decision was wrong. In the hospital they didn't have any doctors that had been educated, only those nurse students. Mao's decision of banning the educated people ended up causing some problems. Another example is when they arrested/killed the guy that beaten Fugui up before. They just took the top score guy and killed him.

10. Write your own movie review for this film. ( your rating, how many stars, on a scale of 1 to 5? Who would enjoy it?) A 5 to 10 sentence response would suffice. Be sure to refer to a remarkable scene to capture your reader's interest in the movie.

I would give 4/5 stars to this movie. Overall this movie showed some family developments and the revolutions, which teached us alot of what was happening during this time. It had so many emotional moments that some tears came out of my eyes (just a little) like when the son died, the daughter one was...little scary. The part I didn't get was the relationship with those gambling people, and why this man tried to kill Fugui in the beginning. Other than that, it was an awesome movie. I think people that likes Asian histories would enjoy watchin this movie, like revolutions.

GRAMMAR AND USAGE PRACTICE AND APPLICATION TO ZHANG YIMOU'S TO LIVE
1. Participle
Tears were dropping from his eyes when his wife and his kid left him alone.
2. Absolute
All those crowded people stared at Fugui's blame on Youqing.
3. Adjectives
You can see it covered with blanket, underneath it was Youqing, bloody and sorrowful.
4.Action
After the grand son's birth, the daughter breathes so weirdly and blood dropps from everywhere, nurse students rushes through the hospital but never gets a proper docter.
5. Appositive
Youqing and Fugui's wife's vineger spice pot, not only for cooking, better for a weapon.
6. Methods for Painting Characters
2. "Youqing! wake up! Youqing! You need to go to school!"
6. The daughter had really good attitude towards everyone, who I bet wanted to fight back the guys that teased her but she stayed just like her and was even able to get a husband even with out a voice.