Mao's Last Dancer
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From a desperately poor village in northeast China, at age eleven, Li Cunxin was chosen by Madame Mao's cultural delegates to be taken from his rural home and brought to Beijing, where he would study ballet. In 1979, the young dancer arrived in Texas as part of a cultural exchange, only to fall in love with America-and with an American woman. Two years later, through a series of events worthy of the most exciting cloak-and-dagger fiction, he defected to the United States, where he quickly became known as one of the greatest ballet dancers in the world. This is his story, told in his own inimitable voice. 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. (Apr. 5) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
A Wedding: Qingdao, 1946 xiPart 1 My Childhood1 Home 32 My Niang and Dia 203 A Commune Childhood 374 The Seven of Us 555 Na-na 706 Chairman Mao's Classroom 817 Leaving Home 104Part 2 Beijing8 Feather in a Whirlwind 1239 The Caged Bird 14010 That First Lonely Year 15411 The Pen 16812 My Own Voice 18013 Teacher Xiao's Words 20114 Turning Points 22015 The Mango 23616 Change 24517 On the Way to the West 25518 The Filthy Capitalist America 26619 Good-bye, China 282Part 3 The West20 Return to the Land of Freedom 30321 Elizabeth 31422 Defection 32523 My New Life 33924 A Millet Dream Come True 35125 No More Nightmares 36526 Russia 37927 Mary 39228 Going Home 40829 Back in My Village 41630 Another Wedding: Qingdao, 1988 431Afterword to the Original Edition 439Part 4 My Story Continues31 Keeping Hearts Warm 44732 "Nothing Is Impossible" 45933 Paper Wishes 474The Li Family Tree 493Acknowledgments 495Discussion Guide 497Photographic Credits 499
