To Live (Chinese: 活着; pinyin: Huózhe, Lifetimes in some English versions) is a Chinese film directed by Zhang Yimou in 1994, starring Ge You, Gong Li, and produced by the Shanghai Film Studio and ERA International. It is based on the novel of the same name by Yu Hua. Having achieved international success with his previous films (Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern), director Zhang Yimou's To Live came with high expectations. It is the first Chinese film that had its foreign distribution rights pre-sold.

The film was banned in mainland China by the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television due to its critical portrayal of various policies and campaigns of the Communist government. Zhang Yimou was also banned from filmmaking for two years.

To Live was screened at the 1994 New York Film Festival before eventually receiving a limited release in the United States on November 18, 1994.

Zhang Yimou originally intended to adapt "Mistake at River's Edge," a thriller written by Yu Hua. Yu gave Zhang a set of all of the works that had been published at that point so Zhang could understand his works. Zhang said that he began reading To Live, one of the works, and was unable to stop reading it. Zhang met Yu to discuss the script for "Mistake at River's Edge," but they kept bringing up To Live. The two decided to have To Live adapted instead.

To Live (simplified Chinese: 活着, traditional Chinese: 活著 Huózhe) is a 1993 novel by Chinese novelist Yu Hua. It describes the struggles endured by the son of a wealthy land-owner after the Revolution fundamentally alters the nature of Chinese society. The contrast between his pre-revolutionary status as a selfish fool who (literally) travels on the shoulders of the downtrodden and his post-revolutionary status as a persecuted peasant are stark.

It was originally published in the Shanghai literary journal Harvest.

Xu Fugui is a son of a local rich man and compulsive gambler. After losing his entire family fortune, his father dies with grief and indignation. The Chinese civil war is occurring at the time, and Fugui is forced to join the army. By the time he finally returns home two years later, he finds his mother has died of a stroke, and his daughter has become mute and lost most of her hearing from a fever. Years later, Fugui's only son dies after a blood transfusion. The daughter finally grows up and finds a husband. They are a happy couple until she dies from dystocia. Soon after that, Fugui's wife dies of osteoporosis, and his son in law dies in a construction accident. Eventually, even Fugui’s last relative, his grandson Kugen (renamed Mantou in the 1994 movie adaptation), chokes to death while eating beans. In the end, Fugui buys an old ox to accompany him. It seems that in the world absolutely nothing is left for him, but he does not give up, he believes there is still hope, that just like they say, things would get better.

Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (January 2, 1884 – March 25, 1951) was an American author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films. Although the short-lived Lincoln Motion Picture Company produced some films, he is regarded as the first major African-American feature filmmaker, the most successful African-American filmmaker of the first half of the twentieth century and the most prominent producer of race films. He produced both silent films and "talkies" after the industry changed to incorporate speaking actors.

Micheaux was born on a farm in Metropolis, Illinois on January 2, 1884 He was the fifth child born to Calvin S. Michaux and Belle Michaux, who had a total of thirteen. In his later years, Micheaux added the “e” to his last name. Calvin Michaux was originally from Kentucky, and his father had been a slave. The family appeared to have been associated with French colonists because of its surname, possibly French Huguenots who had settled in Virginia in 1700, and whose descendants took slaves west migrated into Kentucky.

Ien Chi (Born June 1, 1991) is a Korean American filmmaker. He is the director of the short film "Tick Tock" which won the Best Picture and Best Director awards at Campus MovieFest 2011 - the world's largest student film festival. It is currently the most viewed and highest rated film of Campus MovieFest of all time. The film went viral and collectively has approximately 1.7 million views online and has been featured on Gizmodo and The Guardian among other places. He is the winner of the 2010 Emory Arts Competition and of several film festivals. In 2010, his film "Wake" won Best Drama at the Emory division Campus MovieFest festival and screened at the Southern Regional Grand Finale. His 2009 film "Crippled" won the Trinity Grammar School International Film Competition and competed in the Korean American Film Festival New York alongside an Academy Award winning short documentary "The Last Mermaids." He is also the winner of the George Lindsey UNA Film Festival Young Filmmaker Golden Lion Award, George Lindsey UNA Film Festival Best Story Jury Honor, and Crossroads Film Festival Adam Forth Youth Filmmaking Award.

Saoirse Una Ronan (Irish pronunciation: [ˈsˠiːɾˠʃə]; roughly SEER-shə; born 12 April 1994) is an Irish film actress. She began her career as a child and came to international prominence in 2007 after co-starring in the film Atonement, which gained her nominations for a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Ronan has since appeared in several Hollywood films, including the children's Christmas story The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (2007), with Tom Berenger and Joely Richardson, the romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007), the film adaptation of the science fantasy Young Adult novel City of Ember (2008), Death Defying Acts (2008), the war drama film The Way Back (2010) and Hanna (2011). She was awarded a Saturn Award and a second BAFTA Award nomination for her portrayal in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones (2009).

Born in New York City, Ronan is the only child of Irish parents Paul and Monica Ronan – the former an actor – who were living in New York at the time. Her family is Catholic. She was raised in County Carlow, Ireland, having moved there when she was three years old. She is currently home schooled and lives in County Carlow. As a baby, she sometimes accompanied her father on the set when he was working on such films as The Devil's Own and Veronica Guerin (film).