Sega is still a young man when he marries a rich woman. They have two sons and a daughter. Life gets more difficult when Sega loses his job and spends all day gambling. His wife flees to a monastery but is brought back by a monk. By the time that their eldest son Wen-Jian moves to Taipei to study, Sega has eventually found work as a miner. is set against the background of the decline of gold-mining in Taiwan. When the mines flourished in the thirties, many people moved to these areas in Northern Taiwan, that were know for a while as 'little Hong Kong'. When the veins of gold were exhausted, many moved out again just as fast, to the towns or the coal-mining areas. The gold-mining area went into decline and ghost towns were left.
- Director
- Wu Nien-jen
- Country of production
- Taiwan
- Year
- 1994
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 1995
- Length
- 167'
- Medium
- 35mm
- International title
- A Borrowed Life
- Language
- Mandarin
- Producers
- Long Shong International Co. Ltd Wang Ying Hsiang, Chang-Shu A&V Production, Hou Hsiao-hsien
- Sales
- Long Shong International Co. Ltd Wang Ying Hsiang
- Local Distributor
- Cinemien