Mao's Last Dancer.

Here is the comic strip:

Book Review:

The life story of Li Cunxin starts off with an introduction of his parents’ marriage in Qingdao, 1946, followed by his birth on 26^th January 1961. He has 6 brothers, one who was ‘given’ to a relative who couldn’t conceive. They were born into poverty and suffered hardship throughout their lives, with barely enough food to suffice and satisfy the stomachs of the family of 8.

However, when he attended school at 11 years old, Madame Mao sent advisers to his Commune to select special peasant children to attend the Beijing Dance Academy. Though Cunxin was undergoing through ‘torture’ during the auditions, he persevered, knowing that opportunities like this were rare, and it was also his chance to escape from the well he was trapped in.

Cunxin was finally at Beijing, 11 and lonely. He was so elated and couldn’t believe that he was in Beijing, it seemed surreal. However, he missed his family and was suffering from homesickness already on the first night, and sobbed himself to sleep, clutching his mother’s quilt.

Turns out, Cunxin didn’t do really well in his first year at the Beijing Dance Academy and was in constant fear that Director Wang would tell him to leave and never return. However, everything turned out fine and he returned to his village to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Cunxin’s passion for ballet grew throughout his 7 years at the Beijing Dance Academy and his grades, too, improved significantly. In 1979, he and another classmate were one of the first students to be nominated for the scholarships for Ben Stevenson’s annual summer school at the Houston Ballet Academy in Texas.

It was his first time at the West, and realized that America wasn’t as bad as Mao Zedong had claimed so. He met many more obstacles in his career in Houston, a failed marriage, defection. But all that was overcame, and is now married to Mary McKendry with 3 children, Sophie, Thomas and Bridie.

Mao’s Last Dancer is an inspiring and touching story of how Li Cunxin manages to persist all the way with sheer determination. With motivation and faith, he has become one of the world’s renowned ballet dancers.

‘ “Cunxin, you are privileged. You are lucky. Go forward. Don’t be afraid and don’t look back. There is nothing back there, only your family’s unconditional love and that will always propel you forward.” But now, for the first time, this voice wasn’t my brother’s voice. It wasn’t my dia’s. It wasn’t my niang’s. This voice was my own. ‘

- Li Cunxin

Why Mao's Last Dancer's ending is good:

I think Mao’s Last Dancer’s ending is a good one as it summarized how Cunxin managed to persevere through the numerous obstacles he had to face throughout his schooling life at the Beijing Dance Academy and his career in the west, by his parents’ love.

I admire him for his never-ending determination to identify his errors in dancing and am ready to face up to them without fail, as most people would just give up if they just couldn’t achieve their goals.

And I especially like the sentence “Perhaps the story of my Dia and Niang won’t end here, but will continue to keep hearts warm and hopes alive for many more years to come.”

Throughout the story, I probably admire Cunxin’s Dia and Niang the most, being so noble and giving the best to their children, and always imparting important qualities and knowledge to them. If I were Cunxin, I would definitely want to do my parents proud and repay them by persisting in my goals too. I just hated the fact that Cunxin’s Dia passed away so early, I thought that the story would conclude with a happily-ever-after like ending.

And that is the main reason why I like the ending.