Li Cunxin Mao's Last Dancer

Decent Essays
The book “Mao’s Last Dancer” is a warm-hearted and memorable autobiography written by Li Cunxin who is from Communist China.
Li Cunxin lived under extreme poverty in a small home along with his family, aunts, uncles and grandparents. One day during his normal school day, the ballet committee came to Li’s school to select students to come to Beijing for dancing classes. Li was overjoyed about this opportunity about going to Beijing. His family was also pleased as well as down hearted about his move to Beijing.
At Beijing, Li stayed at the Ballet Academy in Beijing with his selected students. Li’s life in the Ballet Academy didn’t start as far as expected. He didn’t sleep as well as he could at nights and he didn’t incorporate the moves in his

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    “Son of the Revolution” is an autobiography written by Liang Heng. Heng shares his firsthand account of growing up in a very telling era in China. Not only does Heng take us through the milestone events of Mao’s Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, but also through the Hundred Flowers Campaign, the Anti-Rightist Campaign as well as the Socialist Education Campaign. Heng provides a look into these historical pillars in Chinese history in a way that the Golf and Overfield texts could only dream of. It’s a truly breathtaking account of events that are still being felt throughout the nation today.…

    • 1438 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Answer the prompt in a rhetorical analysis essay below. Identify the critical event in the memoir you have chosen to analyze and evaluate. Write the title and author here: Da Chen How does the memoirist craft language to illustrate the significance of a life-changing-event? China’s Son, written by Da Chen, is a fascinating memoir about his own childhood.…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mao’s superb political wisdom, superior military thinking, and operational command made a great contribution towards the Chinese Red Army to achieve victory in the Long March. This statement, with supporting evidences presented in this essay will show that because of Mao’s great leadership during the Long March, helped the Chinese Red Army to survive. First, Mao led the successful Zunyi Meeting. Due to the wrong command by the previous leaders of the army (Li De and Bo GU), the relations between the Party and the central Red Army’s survival was at risk.…

    • 1504 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Red Scarf Girl Sparknotes

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When classmates write letters about their teachers, she couldn’t find negative comments to the teachers. “To fulfill my responsibility as a revolutionary, I listed all my teachers. One by one, I considered them carefully. Unfortunately, none of them seemed to hate the Party or oppose Chairman Mao. I could not write a da-zi-bao about any of them.”…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    ACTIVITY 3 QUESTION 1 Theme – Cultural Customs One of the themes that was explored in the book Mao's Last Dancer was the theme of their cultural customs. Because of their culture, women had to leave their family forever when getting married and forget the past (At half way point one of the carriers will shout ‘flip your mirror!’ and she should forget the past and look forward to the future). Another theme is that the family is usually very sad when the daughter is getting married and happy at the same time because their daughter now has enough food and will be taken care of. One example is ‘She lowers the vail over her face and leaves, feeling nothing but pain.’…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Li still left his birth place even though he was told that America was “the poorest nation in the world and China… the richest.” He sacrificed his knowledge to live in a country where he thought there was no wealth. Even though that he knew that America was a place of deception where “behind their smiling faces will be a hidden agenda,” he still left so he could develop incomparable ballet skills. This exemplified his burning desire to become the best no matter…

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mao and Dynastic History Outline Mao Zedong (Mao) was a Chinese Marxist military and political leader. He led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to established People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Mao is still a controversial figure today about what he did. Although Mao did not proclaimed himself emperor, the supreme power he controlled and the worship he received by people were even more than a feudal emperor. Mao’s rise to power and the nature of his rule marks a significant break with the traditional dynastic form of government in Chinese feudal society.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ping saw the red plastic wrap indicated it was Mao’s work, and she got curious about the situation, so she went to see what was happening. Wang Ping found out that the little red book did not have anything to do with Mao Zedong. Her neighbor was reading The Little Mermaid fairy tale, Ping was very surprised by this, because this particular fairy tale was the one who lit her passion for books. It is very sad, how Ping, her neighbor, as well other kids were not able to read something that they enjoyed, and they had to follow Zedong’s orders. During this time period, books were considered as “poisonous weeds.”…

    • 976 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Immigrant Child Essay

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Identity of An Immigrant’s Child As people transition from childhood to adulthood, their self identity is gained through their careers, achievements, religion etc. Although, it’s not so easy to just simply find your identity. It is said that most teenagers go through an identity crisis on their journey to find their identity. This is true.…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chairman Mao Song Analysis

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Creative Component: The Life and Legacy of Chairman Mao Track Listing with descriptions 1. Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes: In many ways, the song Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes can be representative of one of Mao’s greatest accomplishments: the Long March. The mood of the song is upbeat compared to the grueling Long March. However, the lyrics and title provide many similarities to the March. The first two lines of the song are, “I 'm gonna fight 'em off A seven nation army couldn 't hold me back.…

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mao's Last Dancer Quotes

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Mao’s Last Dancer offers multiple insights into the thoughts, actions and emotions of Li Cunxin. Mao’s last dancer is an autobiography which allows readers to experience struggles of Li Cunxin. Throughout, he offers profound insights into his life through various descriptions of thoughts, actions and emotional responses to key moments. Li Cunxin’s thoughts are clearly depicted throughout his autobiography.…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    [America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is where people from all over the world come for a fresh start and a better opportunity than they had in their country.] Jing-mei’s mother decides to come to America from China to get away from all the things she had lost including her mother, father, home, husband and twin baby girls. When she came to San Francisco in 1949, she knew that things were going to get better. She decided that her daughter, Jing-mei, is going to be a prodigy.…

    • 1276 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Family Ties- “A Pair of Tickets” There are so many different cultures around the world which makes up the very core of who we are as individuals. From the way we speak, dress, our religion and to the food we eat are just a few examples. At times, we can lose our sense of heritage of who we are from the relationships with have with our parents. A disagreement or being embarrassed by our parents can cause someone to totally disconnect themselves from one’s own heritage.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Goddess Film Analysis

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages

    While classical Hollywood biopics often featured “self-made individuals” who undergo trials “that set the extraordinary individual off from his or her peers”, “contemporary bio-pics from Hong Kong portray the great and the good trying, but failing, to take hold of a situation that is beyond their control” - reflecting the general mood within the political context of that era (Stringer, 1997). Centre Stage, by focusing on Ruan Lingyu, draws a parallel between “1930s Shanghai and 1990s Hong Kong”, both of which are “clearly contrasted as modern, cosmopolitan cities that suffer invasion by an occupying force (the Japanese and Communists, respectively)” (Stringer, 1997). The “absence of the lost films” that Ruan originally performed in also “provides a space within which” Kwan’s idealized imagination of Shanghai with a “Hong Kong subjectivity can be inserted” (Stringer, 1997). This sense of identification with and nostalgia for the selectively constructed Shanghai is especially evident in the film with how “the “1930s” is filmed in color while the “1990s” is in black and white, suggesting that the past is more colorful and desirable”…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    By proposing the question of “when is this ever going to end” Xu Sanguan displays his hopelessness. As rights and freedoms were taken away, the people of China were too weak physically and mentally to fight back. The author uses sugar as a representation of the past because Xu Sanguan’s children no longer remember the sweet joys of life before the Revolution. The youth of China have been conditioned into Mao’s communal thought of being concerned for the present and future of China. The tragedy that has overtaken their lives has made them forget the pleasures and freedoms they had in the past.…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays