The Time to Live and the Time to Die (also known as A Time to Live, A Time to Die; Chinese: 童年往事; pinyin: Tóngnián wǎngshì, lit. "Incidents from a Childhood Past") is a 1985 film directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien. This film is inspired by screenwriter-turned-director Hou's own coming-of-age story. This film is the second part of Hou's coming-of-age trilogy, preceded by A Summer at Grandpa's (1984) and followed by Dust in the Wind (1986). Spanning the years 1947-1965, the film follows the maturation of Ah-ha (Ah-hsiao) as he and his family (parents, grandmother, older sister, three brothers) cope with the shock of leaving their homeland (the grandmother keeps talking about returning to the mainland to visit the ancestors). Having been only a child during the move, Ah-ha quickly acclimatize himself to the new country, often putting him at odds with his more traditional family; he joins a street gang and has to choose between that life and taking the college entrance exam....