Mao's Last Dancer
by Li Cunxin | Biographies & Memoirs | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0670073482 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0670073482 Global Overview for this book
2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by 
crimson-tide
from Balingup, Western Australia Australia on Monday, November 12, 2018
crimson-tide from Balingup, Western Australia Australia on Monday, November 12, 2018
This is my story. Here is my recollection of those years growing up in Mao's China. It is my family's history. It is my journey, from my earliest memories, through discovering dance, to my life in the West. History may record things differently, others may too, but the stories here remain as true to me now as they ever were. It is a remembrance that contains the treasures from my heart. So wrote Li Cunxin in the first edition of his now phenomenally bestselling memoir. Just as his journey from bitter poverty to international stardom is a dream come true, so too has the telling of his life story taken him to places he never could have imagined.
At the age of eleven, Li Cunxin was one of the privileged few selected to serve in Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution by studying at the Beijing Dance Academy. Having known bitter poverty in his rural China home, ballet would be his family's best chance for a better future. From one hardship to another, Cunxin demonstrated perseverance and an appetite for success that led him to be chosen as one of the first two people to leave Mao's China and go to American to dance on a special cultural exchange. But life in the U.S. was nothing like his communist indoctrination had led him to believe. Ultimately, he defected to the west in a dramatic media storm, and went on to dance with the Houston Ballet for sixteen years.
This inspiring story of passion, resilience, and a family's love captures the harsh reality of life in Mao's communist China and the exciting world of professional dance. This compelling memoir includes photos documenting Li's extraordinary life.
At the age of eleven, Li Cunxin was one of the privileged few selected to serve in Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution by studying at the Beijing Dance Academy. Having known bitter poverty in his rural China home, ballet would be his family's best chance for a better future. From one hardship to another, Cunxin demonstrated perseverance and an appetite for success that led him to be chosen as one of the first two people to leave Mao's China and go to American to dance on a special cultural exchange. But life in the U.S. was nothing like his communist indoctrination had led him to believe. Ultimately, he defected to the west in a dramatic media storm, and went on to dance with the Houston Ballet for sixteen years.
This inspiring story of passion, resilience, and a family's love captures the harsh reality of life in Mao's communist China and the exciting world of professional dance. This compelling memoir includes photos documenting Li's extraordinary life.
Journal Entry 2 by crimson-tide at Balingup, Western Australia Australia on Monday, November 12, 2018
crimson-tide at Balingup, Western Australia Australia on Monday, November 12, 2018
Released 5 yrs ago (11/13/2018 UTC) at Balingup, Western Australia Australia
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Another given to me by my sister following her clear out. I've spied this on a wishlist, so it's off to a new home.
Received a few days ago. Thanks for sending this! I hope to read it sometime after I've finished Martin Luther, by Eric Metaxas
A friend saw this on our bookshelf and said she has been wanting to read it for a long time. Bingo! It's travelling again.
I am currently reading The Incredulity of Father Brown, by G. K. Chesterton
I am currently reading The Incredulity of Father Brown, by G. K. Chesterton
Lent to a friend. I am currently reading Dark Emu, by Bruce Pascoe
This one came back again. I hope to read it sometime after I finish The Silmarillion, by J. R. R. Tolkien
Lent to a friend. I'm now reading Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
Lent to a friend.
