Author: Li Cunxin
Non-fiction, autobiography. 2003. Fusion Press. 368 pages.
Through dance, a poor Chinese peasant child found a new life in America—the frog had escaped the well and could see the expanse of the sky. Mao’s Last Dancer is his story.
If you enjoy reading autobiographies, or perhaps if you like the subject of ‘life under communism’, you will probably enjoy this book.
Li Cunxin grew up in a remote commune village in Qingdao, China. His life was one of daily hardships—there was never enough food for Li and his six brothers. Then, when he was eleven, Li was chosen to train as a ballet dancer at Madam Mao’s Beijing Dance Academy. He had to under go seven years of gruelling training, face shouting teachers, endure painful injuries, put up with teasing, overcome homesickness, and finally, himself. Dancing his way to a scholarship to America, Li began to have doubts about communism after his first taste of freedom and was later defected.
The novel ends with the author leaving China with his wife to start a new life in the West. The book includes a postscript written in Melbourne, acknowledgements, the author’s family tree and pictures of the author.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Mao’s Last Dancer. I didn’t expect an autobiography to be such a compelling read. It was truly an honest recount of how a peasant boy rose to stardom in the West.
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