THE TRAGIC FATE OF A CHINESE VILLAGE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY ON THE EXAMPLE OF ONE FAMILY IN TO LIVE BY YU HUA

ТРАГИЧНАЯ СУДЬБА КИТАЙСКИЙ ДЕРЕВНИ ВО ВТОРОЙ ПОЛОВИНЕ 20 ВЕКА НА ПРИМЕРЕ ОДНОЙ СЕМЬИ В «ЖИТЬ» ЮЙ ХУА

Букланова Дарья Максимовна

студент, факультет иностранных языков и регионоведения, Московский государственный университет имени М.В. Ломоносова,

РФ, г. Москва

ABSTRACT

Yu Hua describes the life of one family in his work, while revealing the life of a Chinese village in the second half of the 20th century. As the author said in the preface, this is a novel about "a person's resilience to adversity, about a bright view of the world," and after reading it can be concluded that a person "lives to live, and for nothing more." This article aims to analyze how the author depicted the historical events of China in the given period and how they affected peasant families.

АННОТАЦИЯ

Юй Хуа в своём произведении описывает жизнь одной семьи, раскрывая при этом быт китайский деревни во второй половине 20 века. Как было сказано самим автором в предисловии, это роман о «стойкости человека перед невзгодами, о светлом взгляде на мир», после прочтения которого можно сделать вывод, что человек «живет, чтобы жить, и ни для чего более». Цель данной статьи – проанализировать, как автор изобразил исторические события Китая затрагиваемого периода и как они повлияли на крестьянские семьи.

Keywords: Yu Hua, Chinese village, tragedy.

Ключевые слова: Юй Хуа, китайская деревня, трагедия.

Yu Hua's novel "To Live" depicts the fate of a man who lost all the most precious things in his life but at the same time preserved the desire to live. Through the story of the protagonist Fugui, the reader learns about the historical events of the PRC, about the trials faced by common people every day, and in general about the life of the peasantry in China of the 20th century without embellishment.

At the beginning of the book, the author introduces us to a narrator who met an old man named Fugui in the village. Forty years ago, his family went bankrupt through his own fault. In his youth, he was frivolous – more than studying, he was attracted to brothels, festivities, and gambling. All the possessions of his family Fugui lost in games. His father died soon after. Fugui became a peasant, a farmhand, and by the example of his history one can learn about the backbreaking work of peasants, the work of communes, and workdays. The description of the main character's life story was invariably accompanied by historical events that took place in China at that time. The protagonist’s life went downhill in the era of change in this country when the Cultural Revolution, the Civil War, and the formation of the PRC began. In those years, people were taken into the army even from the streets indiscriminately, every family could lose a father, brother or son at any moment. The main character was taken into the army from the street as well. By the end of the war, people were dying of severe cold and famine at the front, Chiang Kai-shek could not save them, and many died under the onslaught of the Red Army. But the main character remained alive and was able to return after the end of the war. Following the results of the land reform, former farmhands received land allocated from the possessions of landlords. Collective farms and workdays appeared, peasant families had to work hard every day to feed themselves, which the author describes: "When a person is tired like a dog, he has no time for bad thoughts. I crawled to bed and immediately fell asleep." Due to the government's missteps in the planning policy, the unsuccessful policy of the Great Leap Forward and natural disasters in 1959, the Great Famine broke out in China, which lasted three years, wrought devastation to families, and killed about 15 million people. This disaster also affected the main character's family: "If Jiazhen had not mixed pumpkin leaves and bark, it would have been enough only for two weeks. Everyone in the village has run out of grain. Some ate tree roots... Of course, you can't feed a family with a sweet potato tuber. But then we were grasping at straws. Then they killed for a bowl of rice." Yu Hua also describes what was happening during the Cultural Revolution: "We walked the streets in droves, fought every day. It also came to murder. The villagers were afraid to go to the city." By the end of the work, all the main character’s relatives were gone. Fugui was left all alone, and in order not to be consumed by loneliness, he bought an ox, which eventually became a friend for him.

Yu Hua's work "To Live" makes one wonder about the meaning of life, the purpose of a person, and the inevitability of fate. For Fugui, the meaning of life was obvious – it consisted in simply living, enjoying a new day, and overcoming difficulties along the way. Fugui lost all his loved ones, went through a lot of grief, but he did not lose the strength and fortitude, humility came to him, and he managed to accept his sad fate.

Thus, in "To Live" Yu Hua described the tragic fate of a peasant family in China and conveyed the hardships of their lives through the prism of historical events that took place in the second half of the 20th century. The reader can imagine millions of such families who were forced to endure the same suffering and grief, the horrors of war, the loss of loved ones, exhausting labor, famine, and severe cold. After reading the book, one can come to the conclusion that it is vital to accept fate as it is, and live just to live, despite all the difficulties.

Reference:

1. Hua, Yu. To Live. Text, 2014.