Mao's Last Dancer

Book Description

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.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent read that is written with great talent........2007-10-09

I just finished this book today and it seemed like moments!

Taking us from the traditional and superstitious marriage of his mother and father, the unimaginable poverty and oppression of China under Mao's communist rule, the one in a billion break to be a participant of Mrs. Mao's dance school, the extreme discipline of that school, defection to America, rejection by his country, and finally to the reuniting with his family; Li tells his life story in a colorful, sometimes humorous way that will make us appreciate the great riches and freedoms we take for granted.

Descriptive, thought provoking, and extremely impacting, "Mao's Last Dancer" most certainly will not be a disappointment.

Great historical memoir.......2007-05-12

I am really enjoying this book, only have a few pages left. The glimpse into third world China from an entirely new perspective, those of the eyes of a young boy during Mao's regime who overcomes incredible odds as a dancer, is
inspiring. A little slow but well written and thoroughly enjoyable.

A great story.......2007-03-05

I found that the first part of the book seemed endlessly depressing, the poverty and constant lack of food and near starvation was so overwhelming. But it was such an eye opener and I learnt much about a subject that I knew little about and it made me want to learn more.

I thought that his personal presistence, drive and ambition was truly inspiring and an insight into the hard work and what it takes to be amoung the best in world, which I am sure is true in any sphere.

His experience of living in the west and his decision to defect seemed in someways quite selfish but so understandable, but as an artist he had an overwhelming desire to be free to express himself which I think was as much to do with his decision as the desire to live a 'western' way of life. He was after all left almost friendless and without his family, I don't think he would have necessarily defected had he not wanted to dance and be the best in the world.

After the early part of the book and the hardship he and his family had suffered it was a lovely feel-good warm ending and he well deserves all his success.

It is not a greatly written book, but it is a really great story and a good read.

Life across different worlds.......2007-02-26

Li Cunxin has had a somewhat different life. He was almost doomed to obscurity like the vast majority of people in this world, living the life of a poor peasant in rural China, but for a stroke of luck when his teacher suggested him as a potential ballet student. This changed his life from one type of hardship to another with markedly different challenges, but one which left him lonely, confused about the dogma he had so wholeheartedly embraced and geographically isolated from his family.

It is interesting to read as the young man goes from blind adoration of Chairman Mao and all the things that come with Communism, to a dawning awakening that the West is not the den of inequity that he has been led to believe. But is is the latter half of the book that has led me to offer 4 stars instead of 5 - I felt it was a little rushed, especially his well publicised defection, and efforts to settle in the west and raise a family. I guess we in the West are more interested in his early struggling years, but the challenges he faced as an adult are nonetheless fascinating.

There is no doubt that this is a sincere and amazing story. It is written with a wry humour that makes the tales of wrenching poverty readable (I have no desire to ever taste dried yams!), and gives us an interesting insight into how difficult life was in China under Communism. Mr Li seems a happy and settled man now with a lovely family - I would say he has had a fair fight to get there.

Eric Langager in his review says it best........2006-12-12

This book is difficult because a very lucky boy suffered much to become a wonderful ballet dancer. He earned all his success with work. But then he defected to the west, harming his mentors in America and China, endangering his family and friends with the possibility of political reprisals. As a defector and highly skilled dancer, he immediately entered the American world of privilege. Barbara and George Bush personally involve themselves with his life, pulling strings to help him get what he wants. He is a pet of the famous and rich everywhere. He lives a life that many Americans can only imagine. Again, he earns this by working very, very hard at his dancing.

So it is hard to feel bad at seeing a rare instance of a person who works hard win the rewards that she/he deserves. It happens all too rarely. But as reviewer Eric Langager states, it brought up mixed feelings, too. As an artist, I can understand that Cunxin wanted to make the choice that allowed him to grow in his art. But he dwells little on the price that others paid.

Mao's Last Dancer: Young Reader's Edition

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Mao's Last Dancer: Young Reader's Edition
Li Cunxin
Manufacturer: Bolinda Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1740938208

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Heartwarming and breathtaking!
Very emotional book.
Absolutely amazing memoir with wonderful writing
An amazing story!
An inside look through a young man's eyes in China under Mao

Mao's Last Dancer
Li Cunxin
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 039915096X
Release Date: 2004-03-25

Book 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.

Customer Reviews:

Heartwarming and breathtaking!.......2006-07-20

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin is the memoir of a famous Chinese international ballet dancer (now retired) who struggled from poverty to reach soaring heights. I was enraptured from page one, when Li describes a traditional Chinese wedding that seems like it is irrelevant to his story but is in fact the wedding of his dear niang and dia (mother and father), whose love for him leaps in bounds.

Li grows up in the Li Commune in the Qingdao (or Tsingtao, named after the Chinese beer) province in China. He has many brothers, and his niang and dia struggle everyday to make ends meet. Chairman Mao is at the height of his power, and so all his teachers indoctrinate Li and other children about Mao's Red Book and the Communist ideals. At age 11, Li is chosen to attend Madame Mao's Dance Academy in Beijing, where it is a totally different world from the fields that he lived in. There, he suffers intense homesickness and torn hamstrings as he and his classmates go through rigorous dance training.

Li meets many friends and teachers that influence and support him, especially Teacher Xiao and his words of inspiration about a mango. Li eventually gets to go to America to dance with the Houston Ballet under Ben Stevenson, and that trip of freedom changes his life forever as he realizes that for years, Chairman Mao manipulated all of China with his communist ideals and twisted portraits of capitalist America. In America, he meets even more people that shape his tumultous life as he finds international success in the dnace world and his true love.

From his parents' wedding to his own, I was never bored for a single moment. His journey from a poor peasant to international success is amazing because the reader never knows what is coming up next! Li inserts a lot of anecdotes and Chinese stories/fables that his dia or someone else told him. His emotional outbursts will evoke the reader's own emotions as he struggles through excruciating pain, humiliation, homesickness, his feelings of love, and his confusion about capitalism and communism. I cheered him on when he has his first taste of freedom in America. Also, the reader reads about the importance of a cohesive family. When there is nothing, one will always have family to love and support, and his large loving family is the biggest supporter Li has.

Li's poignant memoir is one of the best in its field. It is easy to read and enjoyable. It is not short (445 pages) but the pages will go by in the blink of an eye because this story of a remarkable Chinese dancer is so fascinating and awe-inspiring. Highly recommended!

Very emotional book........2006-07-15

I have a deep interest in Chinese history & am always on the look out for good books written on the subject.

This particular book is a very heart-warming book indeed. After having read so many positive reviews about it, I decided I had to buy it. It was one of those books where you just have to read it from start to end. The story itself is quite incredible & told from the heart. The endurance, strength & courage of Li Cunxin in the backlight of the decline of Mao's power & the ascent of Deng Xiaoping really makes this a must read for anyone interested in Chinese history!

Richard

Absolutely amazing memoir with wonderful writing.......2006-06-19

I've read many, many memoirs about life in modern China, however, I've never read one with such a dramatic tale to tell, and I've read very few books in general as well written as this one. This is a true rags to riches story---starting out in a commune as poor as it could be and ending up world famous.

It was very interesting to read a book set during the Cultural Revolution from the perspective of someone from the class that was suppposed to be the one being glorified at that time---the peasants. It's amazing to see Cunxin's progression from true devotion to Mao to realization of how much he was lied to and manipulated.

This is also a love story, the story of the love between Cunxin's parents---an arranged marriage which became a true love match, and the pride and happiness despite their very tough lives they had in their seven sons. It is obvious the author cares so very much for his whole extended family. The speech his usually quiet father gave at a family wedding is one of the most touching passages I've ever read.

I hope Li Cunxin writes more. I would love to hear more about his life in Australia with his wife and children, and to hear about their journey with their deaf daughter. He is obviously a gifted writer as well as a gifted dancer. Highly recommended to all.

An amazing story!.......2005-08-25

I must join in on the praise for this wonderful memoir. Li Cunxin's account of his early life in China was so vivid that I literally shed tears for him. Later,I found myself cheering his brilliant successes in the ballet world. I could not put this book down, as I felt compelled to find out what was happening to Li Cunxin. The pages of pictures contained in the book added much to the telling of this story. You must read it.

An inside look through a young man's eyes in China under Mao.......2005-03-10

Since we adopted our daughter from China I am trying to read anything about her birth country. I really enjoyed this book and I'm not even a huge ballet follower. After reading this I hope one day I might have the chance to see him dance and appreciate all of his hard work and his humble beginings.

This book takes you back to when China was under Mao's rule and how the people of China spent their day to day lives trying to survive, and the wonderful oppertunity Cuxin Li had for a better life all because of a teacher pointing him out. I really enjoyed this book!

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Mao's Last Dancer
Li Cunxin
Manufacturer: PUFFIN (PENG)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0141320869

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Mao's Last Dancer: Library Edition
Li Cunxin
Manufacturer: Bolinda Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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ASIN: 1740932943

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Mao's Last Dancer (Unabridged)
Li Cunxin
Manufacturer: audible.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Download
ASIN: B000BX9KHA

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MAO'S LAST DANCER..
Li: Cunxin
Manufacturer: Pan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000W2XNQ4

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Maos Last Dancer
Li Cunxin
Manufacturer: PENGUIN PUTNAM @ MASS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N708JS

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Maos Last Dancer CD

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 1740947886

Amazon.com

Recipe for a perfect village murder mystery: Start with one pristine British hamlet, stir in the murder of the local police chief, add a shrewd local member of the clergy and a detective from Scotland Yard; season with a dash of clandestine romance. In her latest, Deborah Crombie cooks up the perfect example of the genre. In this offering the hamlet is called Holmbury St. Mary, the murder victim was a widely-hated bully and the vicar is a woman. A delicious concoction.

Customer Reviews:

No One Mourns a Division Commander........2007-05-29

Deborah Crombie's "Mourn Not Your Dead," is the fourth entry in the fascinating English police procedural. Old love, new love, young loves, forbidden loves, and twisted loves bounce against each other as Sergent Glenna James and Supt. Duncan Kincaid struggle to find their way through a quagmire of reluctant suspects and witnesses.
Their search uncovers threads reaching into higher ranks of Scotland Yard but who killed Divisional Commander Alastair Gilbert and why remains out of reach until the last pages of the well plotted story. Each new addition to this series is a fresh presentation, alive with vivid details and complex characters.
Nash Black, author of "Qualifying Laps" and "Taxes, Stumbling Blocks & Pitfalls for Authors 2007."

An Exercise in Slow Motion and Many Detours.......2004-08-27

I chanced upon this book not knowing that Ms Crombie has built a following in the three preceding police novels featuring the Kinkaid/Gemma (un)relationship. With an untrained eye I followed this psychological drama which reflects the faults and virtues of the investigators in inverse order. If Gemma is right, Kincaid will grudgingly admit it and Kinkaid can seldom be right in Gemma's temperamental judgment. Their difficulties seem to be resolved, for the time being at least by successful mountain climbing.

Quite apart from this thread, the investigation of the murder of a former colleague proceeds very slowly and has to pass many a false clue and eventually leads to a complicated solution. Much as I admire the description of Metro police procedures, I find fault with the plausibility of the motives of the killer. Psychology, so ably applied to the Kinkaid/Gemma relationship and in respect of some of many suspects, fails Ms Crombie in this regard. But read for yourself, perhaps you can sympathise more with her dilemma.

Good Story.......2004-08-11

The stories about Kincaid and Jones are getting better. This one brings a believable resolution to the relationship problems between the detective and his sargeant. The pacing is irregular but overall a good book.

I higly recommend this to any fan of the Scotland Yard genre.

An Excellent Book in this series........2003-12-09

At first I wasn't enjoying Gemma and Duncan Kincaid, but the series has been getting better with each entry, and this book is the best so far. My biggest complaint in the previous entries was that Duncan Kincaid seemed to be a "lame duck". In this book we find a stronger, more rounded Kincaid, and it certainly makes the book better. This is a stylish mystery done in the British procedural style. We have Duncan and Gemma investigating the brutal murder of a high-ranking police officer. The murder places them in the middle of a small English Village (Surrey). Village politics are apparent here, but there is also danger and psychological undercurrents, and before Duncan and Jemma can solve the case they are placed right in the middle of this, and at imminent danger to themselves. This is a solid police procedural.

excellent mystery in excellent series.......2003-06-19

If you like well-plotted, well-written police procedurals served up with a healthy dollop of character-driven writing, pick up this and all the other books is this engaging series. You'll find yourself equally interested in the solving the crime and in the personal relationship between crime-fighting partners Gemma James and Duncan Kinkaid.

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Mourn Not Your Dead
Deborah Crombie
Manufacturer: Berkley Pub Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000TTP6OM

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Mourn Not Your Dead
Deborah Crombie
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEUPUC

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Step Right Up and See The Greatest Show Off Earth!

City of Baraboo

City of Baraboo
Barry B. Longyear
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Elephant Song

Circus World

ASIN: 0425055388

Book Description

The Last Show on Earth finds its survival by taking to the stars and playing the worlds of the near galaxy, becoming the greatest show off Earth.

"What Barry has done . . . is to take a magnificent way of life, which today seems on the verge of extinction, and fling it bodily into the future, toward immortality."

—Spider Robinson

Customer Reviews:

Step Right Up and See The Greatest Show Off Earth!.......2004-08-04

Barry B. Longyear with his Circus World Trilogy has done more to preserve the history of the circus than any writer since Chappie Fox - and if you know anything about circus lore at all, you'll realize what high praise that is.

The basic premise: O'Hara's Greater Shows, Terra's last circus under canvas or otherwise, is in the cart (circus slang for 'in deep trouble'). They are a subsidiary of the Arnheim & Boon Conglomerated Enterprises (hereafter A&BCE), a soulless omnicorp that does not understand what they have; all they can see is a dismal return on their investment. The Governor (slang for the owner of the circus), John J. O'Hara, learns A&BCE plans to disband the show. He goes to A&BCE's Board of Directors with a novel proposal: He will take O'Hara's Greater Shows off their hands and off Earth, and assume its debts. Despite the howling objections of Arnheim, the Chairman of the Board, the Board goes for the deal. O'Hara then takes his circus to Ahngar, a world that appreciates showmanship, and in short order makes enough money to pay A&BCE completely off.

The Governor returns to Earth with the money and an idea: That A&BCE build him a circus starship so he can take O'Hara's onto the star road. A&BCE accepts the contract, and the future looks rosy.

However, Arnheim and his Board of Directors have a scheme of their own. While the circus starship City of Baraboo is being built (she was named by O'Hara for the birthplace and former winter quarters of the five Ringling Brothers and their famous circus) A&BCE secretly contracts with the Nuumian Empire, an ambitious alien government in the Ninth Quadrant, to sell the City of Baraboo to them. As she is built on the lines of a Terran regimental assault carrier complete with detachable landing shuttles, she would be a valuable addition to the Nuumian fleet. How O'Hara, his kinkers, joeys, spangle prats, canvasmen, windjammers and roustabouts manage to hijack their starship - and get to keep her - makes up the first story of the novel, which is a series of connected stories.

The rest of the novel is told in the main through the eyes of a First of May (circus first-time employee), "Warts" Tho, a Pendiian, who signs on with the show its second year in space to keep the route book, the daily log of the circus's travels and stands. Through Warts, Longyear leads the reader through many aspects of circus life, providing us with an insider's view of the circus. We meet the Advance Team responsible for advertising, flying a baby starship with four landing shuttles named for the old Ringling Brothers advance cars of centuries before; and watch them duke it out with other shows that have taken to space and planets far away. We get a look at the artistes (they used to be called freaks) and life on the Midway as opposed to the Big Top. We get to see, on two different planets, what happens when circus justice intersects planetery justice. We find out about circus nicknames - the story of how Stretch Dirak got his is priceless. We get to see the Governor help out his friend/patron, the King of Ahngar, by ridding Ahngar of a plague of gamblers, and without contaminating his show with them as so many dishonest shows of the 19th Century were tainted. We learn why every traveling show carries a fellow known as "The Patch," and how important The Patch is to helping th show to run smoothly. (It's worth mentioning that Robbie Robertson got the job of The Patch almost exactly right in the movie, Carny.) And finally,we see the circus having to cope with a catastrophe unlike anything that other chronicler of circus life, Cecil B. DeMille, could ever have imagined.

As Spider Robinson said, Longyear projected the circus into the future and thus gave it immortality. He makes us see just what the circus meant to the pre-television, nay, pre-motion pictures, world. And he gives those of us that love the Big Top and the daring performers hope that this art form will survive and even thrive in the future.

Of the three books featuring the Old One, as O'Hara's Greater Shows is known in that time's entertainment industry, this one is probably the best. Elephant Song because of its very nature is melancholy and the only one of the trio written as a novel; and while I am fond of the third book, Circus World, in my opinion only two of its stories meet the standard set by City of Baraboo.

By all means read all three of the Circus World novels. However, I think that as I do, you will as it were come again with the young 'uns and the old folks, back to City of Baraboo.

City of Baraboo.......2000-05-14

I highly recommend reading "The City of Baraboo". It is the story of a circus that takes the star road. Never before has an author researched and captured the soul of the circus like this before. It makes me cry because the circus has died. All the big circuses have long since surrendered their souls to the devil of the almighty buck. Sacrificing the high art and the heart of the circus for no better reason then to make money. Longyear has captured the soul of the circus and brought it back to life.

Longyear has given us a funny and dramatic look into what a circus on the star road would have to face. All the troubles and all the fun a company of fools would have to deal with. For S/F fans, cicus fans and for the child inside of everyone don't miss this book. Write to the publisher and demand a reprinting. It's worth any effort one has to go through to read this book.

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City of Baraboo

Manufacturer: Macdonald
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0356097870

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City of Baraboo

Manufacturer: Berkley Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HT5GTY

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3 PBs by Barry B. Longyear, Circus World: Circus World, City of Baraboo, Elephant Song (Circus World)
Barry B. Longyear
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UAUE4M

Product Description

Paperbacks

A city, a county, and a bank: A series of articles tracing the history of the Baraboo National Bank

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A city, a county, and a bank: A series of articles tracing the history of the Baraboo National Bank
Robert C Dewel
Manufacturer: R.C. Dewel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Banks & Banking | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006OZAO6

Book Description

This informative and very practical book is intended to help parents and teachers equip children with dyspraxia, or developmental coordination disorder, with the strategies that will enable them to live as normal a life as possible with this hidden handicap. Examining the developmental path of the child through the early years at home, at nursery school, grade school, high school, and into adulthood, it offers special tips on how to encourage children with dyspraxia to improve their social skills and develop a strong self-esteem. Included is information about the causes and symptoms of dyspraxia, characteristics of the condition, diagnostic procedures, and a glossary of terms.

Customer Reviews:

Useful practical guidance and support.......2006-11-17

This book was extremely helpful. It was the first I've seen that addressed the issues faced by adults with dyspraxia, not just children, though it has much helpful advice for children and parents as well. Written by the mother (who's also a doctor) of a dyspraxic son, it's filled with practical, common-sense solutions, right down to hygiene hints, clothing suggestions, daily menus, and shopping lists. I wish America were as up-to-date with this disorder as the British are, but I'm grateful that there's somebody out there to help with this frustrating, often embarrassing, and little-known issue.

dyspraxia, the hidden handicap.......2005-08-03

The book was okay, it did give me information, I would have preferred it was more professionally written. Because this is a relatively new diagnosis, it seems little professional literature is available, so until that happens, this little book does help.

Your "clumsy" distractible child's hidden issues:How to Help.......2000-09-05

If your "ADHD" child is "uncoordinated", "clumsy", "distractible", learn how these features differ from ADHD qualities. The dyspraxic child may have fine and gross motor issues, visual or auditory perceptual difficulties, poor body awareness or propioception. A British pediatrician with a dyspraxic son outlines the educational and social challenges facing children with this "hidden handicap" and offers parents and teachers practical suggestions for home and school support.

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