Teacher's Guide To To Live

TO LIVE: LESSON PLAN

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TEACHER’S GUIDE TO To Live

(Available online at http://www.aems.uiuc.edu/HTML/ToLive/Contents.html)

By Kelly Long, Assistant Professor of History, Colorado State University

To Live, a film directed by Zhang Yimou, provides an overview of key events in twentieth-century

China, moving from the 1940s to the 1970s. American high school students will enjoy contemplating

the effect of historical events on the intimate life of a single family.

Connections to National Standards for World History

To Live opens the study of twentieth-century Chinese history in a creative and personal way. The film

and this guide relate to the National Standards for World History (Los Angeles, CA: National Center

for History in the Schools, UCLA, 1996) in ways that include:

Era 8, “The 20th Century”

• Standard 3B, rivalry between the Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Party in

the context of political fragmentation, economic transformation, and Japanese and

European imperialism;

• Standard 5A, Chinese Communist Party, 1936-1949 and civil war, Maoism after 1949

and how it changed China, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution;

• Standard 6A, population growth in China Analyzing the internal causes of Civil Strive in

China; analyzing the goals and policies of the Nationalist and Communists in China;

evaluating the effect of the Communist takeover in China in 1949.

Objectives

Knowledge

• Analyze various events and movements in China’s history from the 1940s to the 1970s;

• Analyze the goals and policies of the Chinese Communist Party and its impact of China’s

modernization;

• Assess China’s involvement with internal groups and other nations during this era;

examine the social and personal costs of historic movements;

• “Understand how international power relations took shape in the context of the Cold

War and how colonial empires broke up.” (National Standards page 270).

Attitude

• Gain an appreciation of the experiences of people in other cultures;

• Understand the influence of major historic events on the lives of common people.

Skills

TO LIVE: LESSON PLAN

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• Use primary source material;

• Annotate, synthesize, and apply understanding through developing characters and

responses to key questions

• Compare secondary source interpretations with ones own readings of primary sources;

• Reinforce skills of cooperation, active listening, shared decision-making, and delegation

of duties;

• Assess the accomplishments and costs of Communist rule up to the Great Leap Forward

of 1958. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]. (National Standards 270).

Materials

• Film To Live

• VCR

• Handout #1: Rebellion and Revolution

• Handout #2: Overview of the film director and film characters

• Handout #3: Synopsis of the film with highlighted terms

• Handout #4: Film Reviewer’s Form, one copy per student Teacher’s Form

• Activity #1: Assess the key themes and symbols of the film. Activity #2: Art and the Art

of Propaganda

• Activity #3: Create a timeline and symbols

• Activity #4: Create character monologues or diaries Activity #5: Performance: Create a

shadow puppet show, opera, or political campaign

Suggested Time

3 or 4 class periods

In the film To Live, a man and his family experience the effects of historical events on their own

lives while living in China from the 1940s until the late 1970s. Students have the opportunity to

contemplate historical events not as they affect the elite and high-level political or diplomatic

players, but rather as they influence the lives of ordinary in a community in China. Students

should be reminded not to generalize the events in the film as representative of all Chinese lives

during this era in China’s history. The events are artistic representations and reflections upon

significant events during this period. The title resonates with entendre: it is at once a key theme

of the film, the struggle in which the characters are caught, and the essential motivating force of

the characters.

Procedures

Before Viewing the Film

1. Tell the students that the film they will be viewing is set during a tumultuous period in

China’s twentieth century history, spanning the years from the late 1940s to the 1970s.

The film brings to light many significant events during this period. Nevertheless, it is a

work of fiction, not history. It creates generalizations about the era in its depiction of the

lives of common people. Distribute Handout #1, Revolutions and Rebellions, which

provides a historical context for the film. Allow students to review the material in small

groups and to consider the questions at the beginning of the handout.

TO LIVE: LESSON PLAN

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2. Ask the students to consider the issue of artistic license and representation in this film.

Inform the students that many of Zhang Yimou’s films have been censored within China.

After viewing, students will be asked to discuss ideas that they believe might have been

unacceptable to authorities in China during the 1990s. Give the student’s handout #2,

about the director and the characters.

3. Give the students Handout #3, the synopsis of the film with highlighted central events or

themes.

4. Give the students Handout #4, the film reviewer’s form. Assign groups to be responsible

for one section of the form. As they view the film, students should record information

for their section.

Viewing the Film

To Live is subtitled in English. It may be necessary to allow students to change seats in order to

see the subtitles. It is advisable to use at least two days to view the film. Review the students’

responsibilities with regard to their assignment as film reviewers before showing the film.

A good place to stop the film might be after the scene in which the son is killed: alife has been

lost, and a promise has been made. In what ways do these events relate directly to the title of the

film, To Live? What statement do your think the film writer might be trying to make about the

events in China up to this point?

After Viewing the Film

1. Provide time for students to analyze the information they have recorded on their

Reviewer’s Form. Ask students to share their responses in a discussion structured to offer

critical review of the film

2. Ask students what they learned from the film.

3. Other suggested activities: Distribute the activity sheets #1, #2, #3 to small groups of

students. Give the groups at least 30 minutes to work on their activity.

4. Have each group present their project or findings to the class.

Assessment

For Activity #1: How well have students determined and interpreted key themes and symbols in

the film? How well did their group work together? Was their presentation effective?

For Activity #2: Did students effectively understand key points of the campaign and did their

symbol or artistic device work to communicate these aims to others? Did students analyze the

visual medium and come to understand the message being communicated?

For Activity #3: Did the students grasp the key historic events touched upon in the film? Have

they rendered a chronologically correct timeline, and are the symbols used appropriate to the

event?

For Activity #4: Did students create an effective and true-to-character monologue or diary entry

for Fengxia?

For Activity #5: Does the students’ short script reflect an understanding of the key events or

themes with which the director of To Live was concerned?

TO LIVE: LESSON PLAN

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General Assessment criteria for all groups

Students will write a self-assessment of their part in the group project:

• Did you demonstrate understanding of the texts and assigned readings?

• Did all group members contribute to the group process?

• Was the project well organized?

• Were all members of the group prepared to respond to the duties assigned them?

• What grade would you assign yourself? The group?

The teacher will use similar criteria to evaluate the presentations.

Follow-up Activities

Have students research in more detail one of the historic events. (7-12)

Have students research the lives of key figures during this period. (7-12)

Have students create a diary based on one of the characters. Record everyday life events from that

character’s perspective. (7-12)

Have students compare the events in China during this era to those in the United States, The Soviet

Union, Japan, or India. (10-12)

Have students read other works of literature or view other Chinese films that treat similar themes.

(10-12)

Allow students to select among short stories that depict events during the Cultural Revolution. In a

presentation, students might offer a traditional book review, or offer comparisons between their

selected work of literature and themes in the film To Live.

Handout #1: Essay: Rebellions and Revolutions

This brief historical overview traces key events in China’s mid-nineteenth- and twentieth century

history, and provides a picture of the historical background against which the story of To Live is set.

Although the story of the film opens in the 1940s, it is important to explain how China arrived at a

critical juncture during that decade, and so a brief overview of key events in the mid-nineteenth

century is offered as well. In the following essay, key terms or concepts are highlighted in bold font.

Many of these terms are mentioned directly, or form the background context, for events in the film.

Consider these questions as you read the following handouts:

• What influence did the establishment of Treaty Ports have on the internal politics and

development of China?

• In what ways did China’s traditional culture change as it interacted with the West? What was

the effect of the Sino-Japanese War on China?

• What impulses and frustrations did native participants in the “Boxer Rebellion” reveal in their

actions?

• Was the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 determined decades earlier or was it the result of

a spontaneous accident?

• Why did the Guomindang (GMD) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) battle one another

although all were Chinese?

• Why do you think the Communists won on the mainland?

• What was the symbolic and nationalistic importance of the Great Leap Forward?

• What were the positive and negative effects of that national campaign?