Mao's Last Dancer (Hardcover)

by Li Cunxin (Author) "My parents, as newlyweds, lived with my father's six brothers, their wives, his two sisters and their children, a total of over twenty people crammed..." (more)
Key Phrases: dried yams, bai fang, ballet department, Teacher Xiao, Chairman Mao, Madame Mao (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This is the heartening rags-to-riches story of Li, who achieved prominence on the international ballet stage. Born in 1961, just before the Cultural Revolution, Li was raised in extreme rural poverty and witnessed Communist brutality, yet he imbibed a reverence for Mao and his programs. In a twist of fate worthy of a fairy tale (or a ballet), Li, at age 11, was selected by delegates from Madame Mao's arts programs to join the Beijing Dance Academy. In 1979, through the largesse of choreographer and artistic director Ben Stevenson, he was selected to spend a summer with the Houston Ballet—the first official exchange of artists between China and America since 1949. Li's visit, with its taste of freedom, made an enormous impression on his perceptions of both ballet and of politics, and once back in China, Li lobbied persistently and shrewdly to be allowed to return to America. Miraculously, he prevailed in getting permission for a one-year return. In an April 1981 spectacle that received national media attention, Li defected in a showdown at the Chinese consulate in Houston. He married fellow dancer Mary McKendry and gained international renown as a principal dancer with the Houston Ballet and later with the Australian Ballet; eventually, he retired from dance to work in finance. Despite Li's tendency toward the cloying and sentimental, his story will appeal to an audience beyond Sinophiles and ballet aficionados—it provides a fascinating glimpse of the history of Chinese-U.S. relations and the dissolution of the Communist ideal in the life of one fortunate individual. 8 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW.
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Product Description
An extraordinary memoir of a peasant boy raised in rural Maoist China who was plucked from his village to study ballet and went on to become one of the greatest dancers of his generation.

In 1961, three years of Mao's Great Leap Forward-along with three years of poor harvests-had left a rural China suffering terribly from disease and deprivation. Li Cunxin, his parents' sixth son, lived in a small house with twenty of his relatives and, along with the rest of his family, subsisted for years on the verge of starvation. But when he was eleven years old, Madame Mao decided to revive the Peking Dance Academy, and sent her men into the countryside searching for children to attend.

Chosen on the basis of his physique alone, Li Cunxin was taken from his family and sent to the city for rigorous training. What follows is the story of how a small, terrified, lonely boy became one of the greatest ballet dancers in the world. One part Falling Leaves, one part Billy Eliot, Mao's Last Dancer is an unforgettable memoir of hope and courage.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (March 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039915096X
• ISBN-13: 978-0399150968
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #570,420 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb account of a glorious life, May 20, 2004

By	Bob Armstrong (Katy, TX USA) - See all my reviews

When my wife and I moved to Texas in the early 1980's, the Houston Ballet's performances were a refreshing antidote to the Southwest's unrelenting commercialism and fixation with football and barbecue. Under Ben Stevenson's lively direction, this troupe of superb athletes pushed the bounds of gravity with grace and verve. Among the foremost in their number was a supple young oriental dancer who was obviously feeling his way toward familiarity with American culture, but always showed uncommon spirit, sensitivity, and vitality in his approach to movement. This was Li Cunxin (pronounced Shwin-Sin). He became our favorite male dancer, and his photos are on our walls today.

This marvelous autobiography by Mr. Li opened our eyes to the unimaginable gulf he had to leap in order to appear before us. When he was plucked from among millions of other peasant children to attend Beijing Dance Academy, the train ride to Beijing was his first. His meals at the Academy were the first time he'd ever had enough to eat. His untrained tendons and muscles were ruptured repeatedly by the contortions he was forced into. Beijing's approval for him to leave China on scholarship to Houston Ballet Academy was China's first such concession to an artist in almost forty years. The first time he ever felt air-conditioning was on the plane to America. His first automobile ride was from the Houston airport to Ben Stevenson's house. And so on - the simple dance outfit purchased for him upon his arrival cost the equivalent of two years of his father's salary in China.

The book contains hundreds of poignant reminders of the risks Mr. Li took in breaking the bounds of his peasant heritage and infuriating both the Chinese government and his American friends when he defected. His indomitable will to survive and succeed is an inspiration to all those who have seemingly impossible aspirations. He tells the old fable of a frog trapped deep in a well, yearning to jump out and see the world beyond but knowing it will never happen. Mr. Li made it out of his well, and became a prince among dancers. His triumphant return to China to perform Romeo and Juliet, with his wife Mary McKendry dancing as Juliet, his entire family in the audience, and half a billion Chinese watching on television, is a spine-tingling culmination to his career.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heartwarming story, July 16, 2004

By A Customer

Whilst this wasn't a great work of literature, the story was tender and embracing. I couldn't put it down and even on closing the book I was still left with the emotion of Li's life story.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An amazing political story., July 5, 2004

By A Customer

It begins in 1961 .. not back in the 20's or 30's, when it would have been easier to believe such poverty was possible. Right there in the 60's, when our generation here in America was protesting and ignorantly embracing Communism! Really made me realize that it was a spoiled, selfish generation, that had no idea what oppression and lack of freedom was really like. This book removes the rose-colored glasses of what it is like to live under a totalitarian government.