Original subtitles

Produced by Hsu Hsin-Chih

Presented by Lin Deng-Fei

Line Producer: Hsu Kuo-Liang

Associate Producer: Chao Chi-Pin

Executive Line Producers: Chang Hua-Kun, Yue Wan-Li

Written by Chu Tien-Wen, Hou Hsiao-Hsien

CIVIL SERVANT QUARTERS KAOSHIUNG COUNTY

This film is based on recollections of my youth.

Especially about my father.

My father came from Meixian, Guangdong.

In 1947, when I was just 40 days old,

he took a team to Guangzhou to play in the provincial games.

At the time he was Education Secretary of Meixian.

In Guangzhou he ran into Li Kuai, a classmate at Zhongshan University.

Li was then the mayor of Taichung.

He invited my father to Taiwan to be his chief secretary.

A year later my father wrote home, saying,

"It's nice here, it has tap water."

He asked my mother to bring us over.

1949, he became a school inspector at the Taipei Educational Bureau.

We lived in Hsinchu at the time.

It's humid up north, my father developed asthma.

When I was in Grade 1,

we moved south to Fengshan for the sake of my father's health.

My grandmother was always making "silver money".

She said she'd use it in hell.

She was already over 80.

My father was a good son.

He wouldn't start supper without my grandmother.

But at supper time she'd be out looking for me.

I was her favourite.

The fortune-teller said...

I'd become a big official.

My nickname in Fengshan is "Aha",

that's how it sounded when she called out for me.

Hsiao!

Hsiao!

Hsiao!

Hsiao!

Hsiao!

Hsiao!

Hsiao!

Hsiao!

Hsiao!

It's my turn.

No!

Bad luck always.

No good.

It's my turn.

Hurry.

Faster.

Where's my bead?

Hsiao.

Did you take the 5 dollars in my purse?

I don't know.

Don't know? Must be you!

- Did you? - No.

No?

Be honest!

- Where did you hide it? - I didn't!

Liar!

Get down!

Your feet's dirty!

Down!

Where?

It's gone.

Gone?

I hid it here. Someone took it.

Liar!

You said here! Now where is it?

I hid it here and put a brick on the spot.

Still lying!

It's true! I'm not lying.

What'll you be when you grow up?

Here!

Grandma.

Where have you been?

Go home!

I was looking for Hsiao.

I lost my way.

- Hsiao. - It's okay.

Excuse me, the fare...

It's not paid?

Come with me.

MULTIPLICATION TABLE

Chu, don't do it now.

Do it before and after supper.

- ABC. - ABC.

- Frogs in curry. - Frogs in curry.

- Come is "come". - Come is "come".

- Go is "go". - Go is "go".

- I don't know. - I don't know.

- One foreign money, "one dollar". - One foreign money, "one dollar".

- ABC. - ABC.

- Frogs in curry. - Frogs in curry.

- Come is "come". - Come is "come".

- Go is "go". - Go is "go".

- I don't know. - I don't know.

- One foreign money, "one dollar". - One foreign money, "one dollar".

Goddamn! A son doing his mother's work!

He's just a kid!

Hsiao. Hsiao!

Go take your bath.

Just go. I'll do it.

Hsiao, forget it.

Wait until you grow up.

Kids!

3 catties, 2 taels.

It's mine.

I have more than you.

Popsicles!

Popsicles!

Hsiao. Hsiao.

Come.

I'm taking you to mainland.

No.

Aha! Aha! Big cock!

Aha! Aha! Big cock!

Hsiao!

Okay, it's my turn.

My turn.

- Dead. - Dead too.

Aha! Rescue it!

Yes!

Yes, yes.

You're the best.

Enough! Go home!

- Don't join us if you can't play. - Don't let him.

What are you crying for? You're crying?

- Don't play with him. - What are you looking at?

Just ignore him.

My turn.

Once more. My turn.

In an air battle today over the Matsu Straits,

our courageous Air Force pilots...

shot down 5 communist MIG 17s...

and damaged two others.

This is the greatest gift for our National Day.

Our courageous Air Force pilots were outnumbered,

yet they persisted in our revolutionary spirit.

They have won the hearts of all our countrymen.

In particular, Colonel Chang Nai-Chun,

to save a nearby plane from enemy fire,

he crashed his plane with an enemy plane.

His patriotic and glorious sacrifice has once again...

glorified the revolutionary spirit,

the spirit of sacrifice, and struggle of our forefathers.

This is a most glorious page in our Air Force history.

President Jiang announced the victory of the air battle...

during the National Day ceremony at 10 AM today.

Chien-Yuan is in Kinmen.

Why no letter from him?

I wrote him last month. Kinmen became a restricted zone, I guess.

Every time I wrote him,

I got his reply in a week, at most.

Who?

Chien-Yuan, son of Chiu-Ming.

Oh, Chien-Yuan!

His father's death was very unfortunate.

I was at Zhongshan University in Guangzhou.

I stayed at his place.

He was a brigade captain then.

One day,

he suddenly got malaria.

I took a rickshaw to buy him medicine.

The rickshaw boy suddenly stumbled,

smashing the rickshaw lights.

I had a bad premonition because...

he stumbled right in front of a coffin shop.

The day Chiu-Ming died,

his wife, who just gave birth to Chien-Yuan,

smelled a stench in her home.

She asked her mother if the fish seller came.

They went to look. There was nobody.

Earlier the Changs gave her a rooster as a gift for her childbirth.

Grandma told her to chop off its head at the crossroads,

to chase off their bad luck.

VICTORY ON NATIONAL DAY AIR FORCE SHOT DOWN MIGs

We're fighting back to mainland!

Liar! How come I haven't heard?

Teacher said so!

I shoot you!

Go away! Don't look!

Water's ready. Take your bath.

So many mouths to feed.

That's a lot of food every day.

Your father's salary is 620 dollars.

He keeps 20 for himself. Get a haircut or other things.

600 for the family.

Food... Doctor for all of you...

Your father is in poor health.

Even if you become a teacher, you'll get married shortly afterwards.

We have so many children.

As the eldest, you have to sacrifice.

Teacher's Academy is free.

And then, a teaching job is there for you.

What do girls need all that education for?

Learn how to cook. Learn how to sew.

Learn how to farm. Three things. That's all you need.

She's not talking about me. She's talking about Chung!

One person going to the Teacher's Academy is enough.

It'd be a pity if he can't go to university.

Chung! If you want to study,

do it on your own.

Your father started teaching after high school.

He still got a university degree.

Before that, he went to Southeast Asia...

to learn business from Uncle Hsun.

He read in his spare time,

while others had fun.

Uncle Hsun knew your father was no good in business.

He told him to go to Guangzhou to take the exams.

He got into Zhongshan University.

Who's it from?

Aunt An.

From Southeast Asia?

What does she say?

Qing stopped going to school after Grade 3.

The communists kicked him out,

said he had bad background.

The mainland is doing "Three Red Flags". In our hometown too.

All things with iron.

Knives,

pots, door latches, nails...

even stokers, are confiscated. To make steel.

They ended up as useless metal.

If only we had brought him with us...

Did Hsiao make it?

Don't know yet. He went to school to find out.

Sorry!

It's okay. It's okay.

You can try again next year.

What's up?

She failed.

So she's crying?

How do you know if you passed or not?

- The teacher just came. - What's up?

She didn't make it.

There's no tick on your desk.

Mother, I passed!

Really?

Fengshan Middle School.

There's a chalk tick on my desk.

The teacher said that means you passed.

That's great!

Go tell your father.

Dad, I passed.

I got into Fengshan Middle School.

There's a tick on my desk. That means I passed.

What? A tick?

His teacher made a chalk tick...

on the desks of those who passed.

Good.

Study hard!

Yes!

Chu, what happened to Hsiao?

He got into Fengshan Middle school.

Hsiao! Hsiao!

- You made it? - Yes!

For you.

You're so good.

Chung, when would you know your results?

End of the month.

Hsiao is just witty and lucky.

He's always been lucky.

When we were in Hsinchu,

I went to Taipei for the exam of First Girls' High.

By train, on my own.

Hsiao insisted to go with me.

On the train, they used to sell those...

red bean popsicles, wrapped in paper. They were good!

Hsiao nagged me to buy him one.

So I had to spend 50 cents.

And he didn't share it with me.

I felt shy to ask.

Mother asked me to look for Chen at Taipei Station.

He's in the military police.

When he saw me,

he said, "What a brave girl!

"Travelling that far for an exam, on her own."

He took me on his bike to Dad's office.

The next day, Dad took me to take that exam.

I bumped into my Hsinchu teacher at the school gate.

The one you said was so nice!

Then I returned to Hsinchu to wait.

Dad came back from Taipei. I went outside to wait for him.

He kept smiling when he saw me, but didn't say anything.

So I asked him,

"Did I pass?"

He said,

"Yes, you passed!"

Then he got cheeky, and told me...

this girl and that girl didn't make it.

Later he told me I was the forty-first.

I scored 100 in math!

What a pity!

I couldn't study there.

I wish I could!

I'll take you back to the mainland, yes?

Come on!

We'll take the big road, before long,

we'll pass a dike, then we'll get to Meikong Bridge.

A while later, we'll reach our village, Wanxia.

Why do we go to the mainland?

Oh boy. I'll take you to our ancestral shrine and pay respects.

Old lady, where is Meikong Bridge?

Meikong Bridge.

What's she saying? What does she want?

I can't understand her.

- What? - You don't know?

Meikong Bridge of Meixian.

Meikong Bridge?

A bridge?

What bridge?

You don't know?

- You understand her? - No.

If you can't, how can I?

- Grandma, guavas! - Go pick some.

You try.

Too high.

Try again.

Huilan, is it a power shortage?

- Yes! - Get some candles.

Mother!

Mother! Mother!

Dad... Dad...

Mother, hurry!

What happened?

Fen-Ming! Fen-Ming!

- What happened? - I don't know.

Mother, here's the doctor.

Doctor!

Sorry. Nothing I can do.

Fen-Ming!

Chung, bring the boys over to hold father's hand.

Once, somebody died.

During the wake,

a cat got in,

and jumped over the body.

Then the body sat up.

So, during a wake,

don't let a cat get in.

Once a captain told us something similar.

During the war with the Japanese...

Yes?

During the war,

many people died.

Someone in his battalion died.

A cat jumped over the body, and the body sat up.

- No one was watching the body? - Then it started chasing people.

- Chasing people? - And hugged them.

Someone knew what to do. He gave it something to hug.

After that, it laid back down.

I wonder why.

Someone said it must be some kind of electricity on cats.

- Energy of the dead. - Could be.

Real strange.

Lots of strange things.

Chu, take your bath.

I did already.

Hsiao, you go.

Fen-Ming!

Okay.

Fen-Ming!

Get some money from him.

I'll try.

- And? - He's playing dumb.

Says he's a hawker, doesn't make much.

Come on, his business is good!

- What to do? - Let's corner him.

- Yes, corner him! - Right!

When he leaves, we corner him.

Okay?

Here's the plan. Shui and Monkey, go there.

Over there, okay?

- Lao-Gu, crossroads. - Okay!

- Do you have this kind? - Not selling anymore.

- Show me this one. - I'm leaving.

- Show me. - No.

Shui, what the hell? Can't even stop a motorcycle?

Fat and useless.

Let's go!

Let's go!

Thank you.

Thank you!

He fell off the roof.

One of his legs got shorter.

Don't know what to do, we almost sent him to a bone healer.

Lucky I didn't, then I ran into you.

Or he would have suffered.

His brother is back.

Hsiao.

Come.

- This is Mr. Liu. - How are you?

Huilan, Mr. Liu is leaving.

Goodbye.

- Take care. - Goodbye.

Wash your hands first.

Even if you don't like him, don't behave like that.

I wrote Fang-Mei and we agreed to ignore him.

The Bible says,

unmarried men have the right to go after women.

Mother, someone's here.

Mr. Liu.

Grandma.

I found her under the big tree.

She's lost. So I brought her home.

The rickshaw fare's been paid.

Thank you. Thank you.

Guavas!

- Cheating? - Fifth Class.

He stuck the notes here.

So nicely done!

It takes much time and effort.

Why didn't you use the time to study history and geography?

You're a clever boy. Why do such thing?

He thinks he's smart.

Let go! Let me see!

Nothing!

Think you're big?

Why did you hit him?

- I heard you're from Cheshan. - So what?

Fuck!

Talk back?

Fight back?

- Was it him? - Right.

Think you're big? Think you can beat him?

Where's the other one?

What are you doing?

You! Huang Ching-Shui!

What are you doing?

Hello, teacher.

- Grandma. - Oh welcome.

- What are you doing? - I'm counting my silver money.

Counting silver money?

What for?

To use in hell.

To use in hell?

Come, we're taking pictures!

- I'm so old. - It's okay, it'd be nice.

Come on!

Put it down. Let's take a picture.

Okay.

Hsiao! Come and take pictures.

Thanks.

"A demerit for your son He Hsiao-Yen, Grade 12, for fighting outside of school."

Grandma is here.

Hsiao, come and take pictures!

Grandma, look that way.

Get a chair.

One more.

FENGSHAN SOLDIERS' CLUB

They gazed at the coffin of Vice President Chen. FENGSHAN SOLDIERS' CLUB

Then President Jiang and the First Lady brought condolences to the two sons.

Now they went into the lounge...

to console the bereaved widow, Mrs. Chen-Tan Hsiang...

Nice.

You hit too hard.

Sorry. Sorry.

Are you blind? I'll show you.

Okay, one more chance.

Put them down! Put them down!

Punks! You know what day is it?

- Put them down! - Hey!

Now! Put them down!

Come here.

Get out!

Get out!

Stand here! Attention! Stand at attention!

Listen!

The late Vice President improved our farmers' lives by his land reforms.

Two Land Reform Museums would be built in his memory.

Today is the funeral of Vice President Chen!

Taipei's museum: Intersection of Chungcheng and Dunhua Roads.

Taichung's Museum:

Intersection of Minchuan and Chunghua Roads.

At the museums, documents of the land reforms will be displayed.

- You punk! Chase him! - Chase him!

Stop! Come back!

Punks! Damn! Come back! Punks!

Come back!

Fuck you!

Fuck!

- Where? - Here!

Your brother should be expelled.

But this is his last year.

So we gave him two demerits, as a last chance.

He's still young, right?

We want to give him a chance.

But his class master, Mr. Tao, doesn't want him in his class.

So we decided to put him in another class.

All right then. Please take care of him.

Can't go on, can't go on, can't go on living

Life without you is darkness

Please hurry back

Where can you be?

The one I love

Can't go on, can't go on, can't go on living

Life without you is darkness

My mother brought this jade from Southeast Asia.

My father bought this ring in Shanghai...

for my seventeenth birthday.

Your Chun-Ying is so thin.

Don't let him stay up late. Health is the most important.

Everything else is unreal.

When I married your father,

I didn't know his health was poor.

We were married for 20 years,

and I nursed him for 20 years.

Hsiao, stop it.

Like a scrap buyer, awful!

Long ago...

there was this co-worker at school.

We got along very well,

but I didn't dare to tell my parents.

How stupid!

Did Dad know?

Your father was a very serious man.

Once he was home, he'd start reading.

Without a sound.

After we got married,

he even told me to study English,

and ask him if I didn't understand.

When we got married,

my father was out of work.

Your father's family was poor.

So we had a travel wedding.

We didn't even buy a bed. That's how strapped we were.

When we were in Meixian, we slept in Grandma's bed.

I got bitten by bugs at night.

In the morning, I killed the bugs with hot water.

I told your father,

and he was very upset.

He said, "We're not as rich as your family".

You're my first child.

We didn't let Grandma know.

I went back home to give birth to my second child, Chin.

Your grandma was very unhappy.

"You keep having girls!"

She refused to wash the diapers.

2 days after I gave birth,

I went to the pond to wash the diapers.

My tears kept rolling out.

Someone told me to...

adopt a baby boy.

That was Qing.

Qing and Chin shared my milk.

Later, my milk ran out.

I let Qing have it and made Chin stop.

When I stopped breast-feeding her,

she would plead,

"Mama, milk milk."

I hid in the mosquito curtain, and kept silent.

One day,

Grandma took Chin to the ancestral shrine.

There she ate...

some dirty food offerings.

At night she vomited and kept having diarrhoea.

I wanted to take her to Meixian, but it was so far.

So I bought some medicine at the drugstore.

It stopped the diarrhoea.

But by midnight, her stomach got hard.

The next day,

she died.

Hsiao.

Hsiao!

Hsiao.

Buy some soy sauce.

Hsiao.

See this thing on my tongue?

Looks like a tiny piece of flesh.

Mother, what's wrong?

You aren't sleeping?

I got up to go to the toilet.

Go back to sleep.

I'm writing a letter to your sister.

I went to the hospital today,

the doctor said I need a biopsy.

Could be...

throat cancer.

There's nobody to cook at home.

Grandma slips away if no one's watching her.

Chung teaches in Shiaokang, he can't come back.

I can't leave all this behind.

Hsiao can do them! Cooking, laundry...

Even the sewing machine!

He just has to prepare the lunch boxes the night before.

Ask our neighbour Aunt Wang to look after Grandma.

Right. I have no classes on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

I can come home.

The hospitals in Taipei are better.

Lots of doctors.

Hsiao, the fire is ready!

The bathroom smells like milk!

Ask Chu. He drinks milk all day, his shit becomes milk.

Milk again.

Summons for your physical exam. The Neighbourhood Head brought it.

Why do you have milk all day?

What's wrong with that? It's very nutritious.

Protein, iron, minerals.

And I don't draw maps anymore.

"Draw maps"?

Draw maps,

that means wet dreams!

- Does this old lady live here? - Yes.

Grandma's back!

Grandma.

- How much is it? - 100.

- 100? - 100!

- So much! - It isn't!

I took her since this morning! 100 isn't much!

I could go to Kaohsiung for less!

She told me to go here and there. Even to the mainland!

- 100 is too much! - It isn't!

I just take what's fair. I won't overcharge you.

- 100 isn't much. - It is.

- 100! - Too much.

- Give it to me! - 100? - 100.

- 100? - Yes! - How about 10?

- No, I want 100! - You want 10?

No! What are you doing?

- Go! - Go in!

- I don't want to... - Go!

See a movie instead.

What? You wanted to come, now a movie? What the hell!

Go! Get in!

We're here already.

Go.

Young guys.

- Come. - Pretty boys.

- Young men. - Come.

Come in!

- How was it? - Nothing!

- Nothing? - Nothing.

- Monkey and others? - Still inside.

How was it?

Nothing.

How was it? You won't tell me?

Nothing is nothing.

You were in there for a long time. How was it?

Red packet! Let me see!

5 dollars?

- Fuck! - Don't laugh.

- What's so funny? - He got a red packet!

Red packet? Show me.

5 dollars!

Red packet! You were a virgin!

Wu Shu-Mei! Aha lost his cherry!

Aha.

- What? - I tell you,

I took my girl to the movies.

Someone cut in line. Know who they are?

Cat and his guys. I told them not to cut in.

They pushed me. Pushed me!

I told them I'm Aha's friend.

They didn't apologise, and they hit me!

Cat, come here.

Why did you hit him?

Fuck!

Did you tell them whose brother you are when he hit you?

I'll grab him, then you start hitting. Get it?

Aha, come here.

Fuck you!

Aha, come here.

Aha, come here!

Why did you beat Cat up?

My friend said he knew you and me, Cat beat him up anyway.

How can I face my friends?

You've got to tell me first!

Sorry. He asked for it.

- Now what am I to do? - It's up to you.

Forget it, it's nothing!

Fuck off!

Be careful!

Don't let me see you again!

Be careful!

You aren't happy, are you?

Mi.

Grandma, time to eat.

Come!

Fuck!

Get him!

Fuck!

- You pass? - Yes.

Open up! Hurry!

What happened?

Hurry!

What's going on?

Hsimen punks are coming.

- Get your samurai sword. - Go!

Quick!

Stop!

- Chu, anyone came for me? - No.

Mi.

Mi!

Get up!

Hsiao.

Hsiao!

You forgot our lunch boxes?

Here's 10.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother, sit down and take a rest.

Put down the bags.

Put the suitcase by the cabinet.

Hsiao, start a fire and boil water.

Mother wants a bath.

Shui. Shui!

- Anything happened last night? - No, but Hsien-Bao got arrested.

- Then? - His father went to the precinct.

Isn't back yet.

Where are you going?

My mother's back. I'm getting groceries.

- Did they go to Pig's? - Don't know.

I heard they arrested many people in Hsimen last night.

Hsiao.

- Take this in. - Okay.

I put this here.

Chung wrote me a letter.

Said you spent a lot.

Have you been gambling?

No.

No?

Don't become a gambler.

How's Mother?

They were going to cut off her whole tongue.

Mother said no.

You can't speak without a tongue.

Then?

They just gave her Cobalt 60.

Wasn't much use.

You have no school right now?

Pre-exam holidays.

You're about to graduate. What's your plan?

Military Academy. I can get in without exams.

Chung, you wrote that you were going to take a physical.

When will you be drafted?

The results of the physical are here. I weigh 39 kilos.

That's Class C.

No army this year?

I may be rechecked next year.

They say you have to be rechecked three times.

And your transfer to Tsao-Kung Elementary School?

Nobody there wants a swap.

Since his birth,

Chung's health has been poor.

He was born premature.

I had a teaching job.

After work, I had to cook and get water.

It was different when I had Hsiao.

We had more money then,

and there's milk to buy.

When your father went to Guangzhou,

he carried Hsiao to the doorway,

and said his face was so round.

Just like your grandfather.

Fuck you! Fuck!

Hsiao! Get some napkins!

Mother.

Aha! Aha!

Hurry! Chun got hacked.

Outside the theatre. Hsimen punks. Hurry!

- The theatre? - Hurry! The theatre!

I can't today. My mother's ill. How can I go?

Give me your samurai sword. Hurry!

Sleep with the Lord

FOR OUR DEPARTED MOTHER

What bliss FOR OUR DEPARTED MOTHER

What bliss

What comfort

No more tears, no more burdens

Enter into freedom, luminous joy

Rest in the bosom of Lord Jesus

To our Lord, forever

Sleep with the Lord

What bliss

What comfort

No more tears, no more burdens

Enter into freedom, luminous joy

Rest in the bosom of Lord Jesus

To our Lord, forever

Huang Chia-Ho gave 35 dollars.

Wu Yi-Han gave 40 dollars.

30.

Uncle Huo!

Haven't seen him for long, and he gave 60.

Chung!

This jewellery is for you when you get married.

What's this?

A trust fund. Mother was to get the final sum.

But Mrs. Yeh borrowed Mother's share.

This is the IOU.

- You mean Mrs. Yeh in Beimen Village? - She took it without asking.

Father's autobiography.

Dad planned to stay in Taiwan for only 3 or 4 years.

So he bought bamboo furniture.

It's cheaper, he could just throw it away when he left.

Later Mother wanted a sewing machine.

It took a long time to persuade Dad.

Dad had tuberculosis.

So he used his own bowl and chopsticks.

He kept his distance.

Avoiding us when he coughed,

because he was afraid he'd infect us.

It's here.

Mrs. Yeh.

Mrs. Yeh!

Mrs. Yeh.

Mrs. Yeh!

Who is it?

Who?

Aren't you Hsiao-Yen? Have a seat!

Have a seat. Have some tea.

Have some tea!

Is there anything?

Grandma, time to eat.

Chung. I went to Mrs. Yeh's today.

Their house is even worse than ours. Let's forget about that trust money.

Wait until you get into university.

That summer, I really took the university exams.

I didn't go to Military Academy.

All because of what she said.

Chung wrote me a letter from Shiaokang.

He said he had written to Mrs. Yeh, telling her to forget about the money.

Mrs. Yeh wrote him back. She said she was grateful,

but she'd pay us back when she got her pension.

A year later, Grandma passed away.

I failed the exams.

Wu Shu-Mei's family moved to Kaohsiung.

The month before she died, she kept lying on the floor, without getting up.

Couldn't control her bodily functions.

There were only me and my younger brothers at home.

We called a doctor, but he said she was too old.

Until one day, we found ants crawling on her hands,

then we knew she'd been dead for quite a while.

Mi.

Mi!

Water and towel. Hurry!

Hurry!

We asked an undertaker to clean up.

When they turned her body around,

they found the side was decomposing.

The undertaker gave us a fierce glance.

"Bad children!"

I guess that's what he's saying deep inside.

To this day,

I often think about Grandma's road back to mainland.

Maybe I was the only one who ever went with her.

I remember that afternoon, we picked a lot of guavas.

THE TIME TO LIVE AND THE TIME TO DIE Directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien