Yu hua's major works

To Live (1992)

Xu Fugui, the son of a rich landlord, was a compulsive gambler. After he gambled away his family's fortune, his father died. During the Chinese civil war (1945-49), he was forced to join the army. By the time he returned home two years later, he found his mother dead, and his daughter mute and mostly deaf from a fever. Years later, his only son died after a blood transfusion. It seemed that he had nothing to live for, but he did not give up, he believed there was still hope and things would get better.

Chronicle of a Blood Merchant (1995)

The story spans from the early years of New China until the end of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). Xu Sanguan, a cart pusher in a silk mill, was a low earner, yet a responsible young man who struggled to improve the life of his wife and three sons by selling his blood. However hard he tried, life confronted him with great anguish. But he came through all of the suffering and found strength from the blood ties of his family.

Brothers (2005)

Brothers was written in two volumes. In the first volume, the madness of the "cultural revolution" destroyed the families of the two stepbrothers. They stuck together and swore to spare no efforts to maintain their brotherhood. However, in the second volume, as time went by, one of the brothers became extremely wealthy, while the other stuck to his principles and lived his life for the woman he loved. Finally, the brothers became estranged from each other.