To Live characters

Appears from the start

An elderly farmer whom the traveling narrator meets in the countryside. As he rests beside his old ox, he recounts the reversals that carried him from the privileged son of a landowning family to a solitary peasant. His manner is direct and unsentimental, and he treats endurance itself as the central fact of his life.

Appears from the start

Fugui's devoted wife, born to a prosperous rice merchant's family. During Fugui's reckless youth she is pregnant with their second child and repeatedly asks him to return home. Quiet but strong-willed, she continues to protect the household even after his behavior strips it of security.

Appears from the start

Fugui and Jiazhen's young daughter. She belongs to the family whose future is placed at risk by her father's gambling, and she later shares their abrupt fall from comfort into village poverty.

Appears from the start

Fugui's father, an aging landowner acutely conscious of the Xu family's status. He is furious and humiliated by his son's gambling and by the loss of property accumulated over generations.

Appears from the start

A shrewd gambler who plays against Fugui at the town's gambling house. Patiently exploiting the younger man's pride and compulsion, he becomes the principal winner as Fugui wagers away his family's estate.

First appears in chapter 2

Fugui and Jiazhen's son, born after the family's loss of wealth. Lively, stubborn, and capable of both mischief and tenderness, he grows up amid rural hardship and becomes especially attached to the family's sheep.

First appears in chapter 4

A young man forced into Nationalist service who becomes Fugui's closest companion in the army. The two endure cold, hunger, bombardment, and the collapse of their unit together, each concentrating on the hope of returning home alive.

First appears in chapter 4

A veteran soldier stranded with Fugui and Chunsheng during the civil war. Older and more experienced than the other two, he understands the army's disintegration and tries to guide their efforts to survive it.

First appears in chapter 8

A crooked-necked delivery worker who is introduced to Fengxia as a prospective husband. Awkward in appearance but considerate and practical, he treats her with open affection and approaches marriage as a chance to build a warm home with her.

First appears in chapter 9

Fengxia and Erxi's infant son. His family calls him Kugen, a name associated with the hardships surrounding his birth, and Fugui quickly becomes an important caregiver in his young life.

Appears from the start

A traveling collector of rural songs who meets Fugui and listens to his history. His brief encounter with the old farmer frames the novel, turning a chance conversation in the fields into a record of one family's life across decades of upheaval.