I was thrilled to hear I would be teaching this - just to have a reason to read it.

Compelling and inspirational stuff, although it dragged slightly toward the end.

Extraordinary lives overcoming adversity are always uplifting, and when personally written by the author in a second language, makes it all more so. At times I was touched by Li Cunxin's personal and at times very public trials, in particular, his mother, his 'beloved niang', who was a silent hero throughout and depicted with dignity and respect.

The only negative was the lack of descriptives, especially of the individuals' physical features throughout the book. Fortunately there were photos for reference, otherwise the characters would have been faceless personalities.

Really enjoyed this. In some places, it reads like a novel. Found it really interesting with a really good insight into China and communism all centred around the story of an individual.
Read as part of book club. Another reminder of why book clubs are great; you read books you wouldn't necessarily pick up on a first glance at the blurb!
Have had a wee slump recently on the reading but think I'm maybe more in a wee non fiction phase!

This book was so honestly written, emotional, factual, filled with heart and soul. It was fascinating to follow such an interesting life in a very matter-of-fact style. I learned so much about China, the world of ballet and it reminded me of how important family, integrity, honor are. I loved it!

I loved this book. Fascinating true story. I found out there was a movie made from the book about 15 years ago that I'd like to see. A little boy leaves his home at age 11 in rural China to be trained as a ballerina in Beijing. Comes to America and I don't want to give anything away.

Interesting story. Worth reading. I don't blame the author for wanting to defect to the west, but I wish he could show some gratitude and appreciation for the education he got at the hands of the Communists. I also wish he could see that some of the reason he had a good life in the U.S. is because he had a skill that commanded a large salary. There are immigrants who are not quite so skilled who come here and don't do nearly as well.

Nunca esqueça a sua origem. Trabalhe duro e construa a sua vida. Não olhe para trás!

This is such a beautifully written memoir. It's not so much the language that is beautiful, but the content and the emotion captured in the words. The author details the hardships of his childhood and the life of his parents and his brothers in Communist China. It's such a stark contrast to the life he ends up living in the West and I so enjoyed reading about all the vast differences he found between the two countries and cultures.

The writing about China during that period was certainly interesting, particularly from the perception of someone who lived through it.

The book has certainly given me a new appreciation of dancers (ballet in particular) and their utter dedication to their art. The author showed great tenacity and determination in perfecting his dancing and the blood, sweat and tears that went with it.

This is an inspiring and touching book which gives you a look into a peasant's life in communist China and that of a ballet dancer. On a more personal level, the author shows a lot of raw emotion (particularly for his family), determination and inner strength. You cannot help but be moved by his story and his passion for his family and dancing. A very "heartfelt" piece of writing.

Li Cunxin narrates his story in a matter-of-fact fashion that comes off as incredibly naive or coolly detached. His childhood narrative is expected since its set in Mao era. Poor people become poorer or just manage to get through the day while the propaganda machine churns faster and makes lives of these peasants volatile.

Li Cunxin provides anecdotes from his childhood that characterizes Mao's philosophy. His young mind tries to find parallels between the folktales he is told as a child and implications of Mao's philosophy on his village. The entire narrative runs along with changes that is taking place in China under Mao's rule and Madam Mao's obsession with art and culture.

He undergoes struggles, as anticipated, and comes off as a better student. He visits America as an exchange student and his life changes from that point onward. He defects to America during his second visit which causes tension and much drama. His marriage to the woman, Elizabeth, doesn't last and eventually he finds love in another dancer.

Li Cunxin works hard, carries the teachings his parents taught him (pride), loves his family, adores his friends and continues to be humble. Its his humility and hard work that takes makes him famous. Even at the peak of his career, his tender heart yearns for his parents and when they visit him (much thanks to G.W.Bush), he becomes a child again.

Li Cunxin is a simple man with simple desires and a simple goal. Maybe that's why things fall into place for him.

Take away from this book: hard work and perseverance for the win!

2.5/5

n  America! I heard everyone there carries guns. If they don't like you they'll just shoot you.n

There was a time when I believed reading autobiographies/memoirs/nonfiction (however 'non' it actually ended up being) of that sort would get me closer to the 'truth,' whatever that was. These days, I know that anywhere between 75%-95% of the works of that sort put out these days are written by those who don't attempt to accurately contextualize themselves in the bigger picture. That alone would be normal, but throw in how well the US publication industry works as status quo propaganda the less white and/or domestic the writer is, and you have the reason why I've been less than impressed by my reading of the autobiographies and co. that I amassed in the last decade or so. This one had its moments of insight, pathos, and even charm, but much as Li was likely only helped as much as he was due to how useful a figure he would be to the US and co. media machine during the latter days of the Red Scare, having this work published in the 21st c. with absolutely no mention of Tiananmen Square allows Neo-Euro publishers to put forth a careful mix of othering and the kind of tact that generates billions for 'Western' companies invested in building the Great Wall of Censorship. So, clearly a work that would have benefitted had I read it all the way back in 2012, but how much would have such a reading benefitted me? Enough to outweigh the unpacking I would have had to do for the next eight years? I have my doubts.

I remember the days of having to do little more than what I was told, a portion of which involved my participation in an intensive sport that I had no control over the choosing of. The sport infrastructure and pedagogical guidance were certainly better equipped, less confusing, and more mindful of my physical limits than were Li's, but I can't say that my awareness of the international scope of the WASP capitalism that I subconsciously imbibed day in and day out was any better than his was regarding Chinese communism. If I had been pulled out of school, rigorously boxed into my respective sport, chosen for an international delegation, and then flown off to China, much as how Li did not see a single percent of the true landscape of the United States, I would not have toured the regions that he was born and bred in in full exposure to the political reality of his nation. Put Li of the '70s and '80s in a the region of, say, Oakland in California, or Detroit in Michigan, or any of the countries that 'disaster capitalism' had designated as feeding grounds for the blessed denizens of the country he chose to defect to out of personal principle (and no small amount of hedonism), and he would have seen a truer representation of Houston in Texas, if one too complicated for him to grasp at the time. I'm not faulting Li for writing what he knew, but I do hope he realized at some point how much his success is due to how useful a political pawn he was for a country that, a year after he defected, all but pardoned the highly publicized white supremacist murder of Vincent Chin. At the very least, I would hope the readers of this work would acknowledge such, but I don't have much faith in the 'reading for pleasure' crowd when it comes to that kind of critical legwork.

It doesn't surprise me that not only is there a young reader's version of this work, it only cuts out around a hundred pages or so of the original material. Other than the references to sex and gun violence, all of this reads not that differently from your standard small European child bildungsroman, albeit with some cultural differences and the lack of such things such as boarding schools and tea time. I imagine they cut out the references of the antiblack violence specific to the US as well, which if left in would have just been too much for the coddled little white kid that that kind of edition is always largely aimed towards. In any case, this was over and done, and it was admittedly nice to have something that wasn't too intensive when reading about disaster capitalism and Nazi philosophy and some truly nasty neoliberal fantasies became too much. Such is the price one pays when one has my kind of reading appetite during Nonfiction November, so my following this work with the next volume in a series of fiction that I have on a yearly schedule will likely prove a needed respite. All in all, this is a work that has its strengths and its weaknesses. I just wouldn't recommend it to anyone old enough to drink.

n  Those normal European countries (with their strong social safety nets, workers' protections, powerful trade unions and socialized health care) emerged as a compromise between Communism and capitalism. Now that there was no need for compromise, all those moderating social policies were under siege in Western Europe, just as they were under siege in Canada, Australia and the U.S.

-Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrinen

This book is written in a simple style, yet is still incredibly inspiring and thought provoking with its glimpses into communism in China and the stark differences with the west.
I loved the little Chinese fables that were included to show where Li got his drive to succeed and strength to grow from.
It's not often a book can bring tears to my eyes, but this managed it on more than one occasion!
You don't have to be a fan of dance or ballet to enjoy this book, although being a ballet fan I may be a little biased in how much I loved this book, but I would recommend this to anybody to read.

Just finished the book because I want to see the movie before it leaves the theater. Li Cunxin has a pretty amazing story to tell about how he grew up dirt poor (that's not an exaggeration -- many Chinese peasants had to resort to eating bark to survive during the Great Leap Forward) and persevered to become an international ballet star. His style is humble and straightforward. He often wonders why he was chosen (the chances were one in a billion) to study at Madame Mao's ballet academy and expresses guilt about his family's continued poverty. He does a good job of explaining how everyone in China was indoctrinated into Mao's red army. I would suggest you read "A Short Note on the Long History of China" in the back before starting the book just to understand the history better.