To Live

To Live

by Yu Hua

A really moving story in this RA Favorite book: To Live by Yu Hua.  A man tells the story of his adventures strolling the countryside to collect popular folk songs.  He runs across an old man, Fugui, ploughing the fields with an ox singing an old folk song about not wanting to marry the emperor’s daughter, which made the narrator laugh.  Fugui was yelling at his ox, calling it various names while the song-collector watched and laughed.  The old man came over and engaged him through a series of curious questions.  Fugui was then asked about the ox’s various names and he proceeds to tell his life story.  The story Fugui tells captures forty years of gluttony, gambling, prostitutes, more gluttony, marriage, loss of family, friends, and then a moment of recognition of what gifts he truly has…. and then more bitter loses that occur after every high moment in his life, culminating in his life on the fields, which he still loves.  In the backdrop of the story are the various government changes and uprising of the Chinese through the civil war and how the leadership changes with a communist government affect the community in which he lives (and his family situation).  But the real essence of the story is forgiveness, love, and living in the moment with your family being always front and center.  A beautifully crafted story that will resonate with me for decades to come.  It is already one that I believe may be what I use to discuss at the end of the year banquet.