China To Live is a China–Hong Kong co-production — one of only a handful of such cross-border film titles indexed here.
Synopsis
活着
Fugui and Jiazhen endure tumultuous events in China as their personal fortunes move from wealthy landownership to peasantry. Addicted to gambling, Fugui loses everything. In the years that follow he is pressed into both the nationalist and communist armies, while Jiazhen is forced into menial work.
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #85 of 946 China films indexed here (91st percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +1.3 points above the China average of 6.7/10.
Among China Drama productions specifically: #51 of 547 (top 9%).
China × Hong Kong Co-Production
Other China×Hong Kong titles
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with To Live. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Shanghai Film Studio
Drama + Romance in China
85 China titles in our catalog blend the Drama and Romance genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding To Live itself).
The 1993–1995 China Window
Among 16 China films we catalog from this window, To Live places #2 — near the top of its class.
The 1990s China Landscape
1994 was the decade’s peak output year for China — 8 titles released, including To Live. Bars below show how the 1990s stacked up year by year (41 total).
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 7 other China films in 1994.
The 48th China title from China we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1935).
Our China catalog contains 946 titles in total (747 films).
Audience Engagement
268 audience reviews — more than 87% of China films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 75th percentile among China films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on To Live, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- chinese civil war · 2
- shadow puppet · 2
- gambling debt · 1
- 1960s · 20
- child abuse · 15
- 1950s · 15
- epic · 10
- cultural revolution · 10
- communist · 9
- china · 127
- 1940s · 35
- gambling · 31
Production Details
| Primary Country | China |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | China, Hong Kong |
| Original Language | Chinese |
| Spoken Languages | Mandarin, Kazakh |
| Production Companies | Shanghai Film Studio, Era International Ltd |
| Runtime | 2h 13m |
| Release Date | May 26, 1994 |
| IMDb | tt0110081 |