To Live (Alive, ¿¿), one of the writer Yu Hua's (¿¿) masterpieces (¿¿¿), narrates the sufferings of Xu Fugui (¿¿¿) in the context of an era that witnessed the civil war (¿¿), Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns (¿¿¿¿¿¿), the Great Leap Forward (¿¿¿), the Cultural Revolution (¿¿¿¿¿) and several other social changes. Xu Fugui and his family continued to suffer through to the end. In fact, all relative left him successively, leaving only the old man and an old cow to live together. As such, "To Live" tells the story of a person's life. This is a life testimony of an old man who has experienced the vicissitudes and sufferings of the world. It is a drama that interprets the sufferings of life. The novel's narrator "I" gained a leisurely career when he, at a young age, went to the countryside to discover folk songs. In that just arrived summer season, "I" met the old man named Fugui, and listened to him talk about his bumpy life experiences. Yu Hua won the French Order of Arts and Literature (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿) award for this novel in March 2004.

The book has 10 chapters in the following order:Chapter 1: Destroyed Family Property (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿)Chapter 2: Father's death, Mother's Illness (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿)Chapter 3: Arrested into the City (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿)Chapter 4: Two Years in the Army (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿)Chapter 5: Going Home (¿¿¿¿¿¿)Chapter 6: Land Reforms (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿)Chapter 7: Fengxia was Sold (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿)Chapter 8: Chronic Illness (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ )Chapter 9: Youqing's Death (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿)Chapter 10: Fengxia's Family is Gone (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿)
The current book volume, China's Great Contemporary Literature 1, is a Level 5 Chinese reading practice book. It would introduce you to the famous Chinese novel To Live (¿¿). The new volume in China's Great Contemporary Literature (¿¿¿¿¿¿, ¿¿¿) includes both the Chinese text (simplified characters) and pinyin Romanization. With over 1000 unique Chinese characters, the volume would be suitable for the beginners, lower intermediate and advanced level Chinese language learners (HSK 1-6). Overall, the reading series offers you a variety of elementary level books (Level 1/2/3/4/5/6) to understand China as well as practice Chinese reading fast.