Alive

Based on the novel of the same name by Yu Hua. Fugui (Ge You), a wealthy young man, is addicted to gambling. His wife Jiazhen (Gong Li) leaves him with her daughter Fengxia after repeated persuasion to no avail. That night, Fugui loses all his family property and becomes angry with his father. He is forced to sell his mother's jewelry and rent a shabby house to survive. A year later, Jiazhen returned home with Fengxia holding her newborn son Youqing in her arms. Fugui changed his past and began to live a peaceful life by performing shadow puppets. But the good times did not last long. During the civil war, Fugui was arrested by the Kuomintang and worked as a laborer. After many twists and turns, he finally returned to his hometown to reunite with his family. Fengxia became mute due to illness. In the subsequent Great Leap Forward Movement and Cultural Revolution, although he received some small blessings, adversity always followed him like a shadow.