WORDS Michele M Gierck
PHOTOS courtesy of Li Cunxin
Autobiographies can be powerful when they allow us to inhabit the world of another
In Mao's Last Dancer, we travel with the autho Li Cunxin on a remarkable journey. It begins at the remote peasant village in China where he was born and grew up. We learn about culture, family and belonging, about poverty, pride and dignity.
What becomes apparent from the first few pages, is that this autobiography is written from the heart.
I meet Li in the Melbourne stock-broking office where he now works – worlds away from where and how his life began. He speaks of the personal values that are central to his life: love for his family, the importance of pride and dignity, and not letting his family down.
He is a man with a gentle presence who talks about his wife and his mother glowingly. And although he is now bringing up his own children in a different culture from the one he was raised in, Li is hopeful of imbuing them with many of the values he learnt through his own extraordinary life journey.
I ask what it's like to be living in Australia now with his wife and children, after coming from such difficult beginnings where hunger and starvation were common place. He replies: 'Our children live in very lucky and privileged times, and we as parents try to provide opportunities and open doors. I often tell my kids, "Please don't take it for granted. Try to treasure it."'
But Li has never forgotten the determination and persistence that it took for him to travel from a remote Chinese village to become a world-class ballet dancer, and eventually to settle in Australia.
At the tender age of 11, Li was recruited, because of his physique and flexibility, to study under Madam Mao's Dance Academy in Beijing in the heady days of Mao's communist regime.
Everything in Beijing seemed foreign to the young peasant boy: the train station, the bus with an automatic closing door, the way some of his classmates spoke, hot water in pipes, flushing toilets, eating meat nearly every day.
His classes were gruelling— physically and mentally. Yet he knew he could not let his family down. Some nights he cried himself to sleep, wrapping himself in the quilt his mother made.
But Li was not a boy to wallow. He soon realised the opportunity he had to become one of the best ballet dancers in China. He would not let this opportunity pass. A couple of his teachers drew out his talent and encouraged him to believe in himself. We experience his fears, his perseverance and determination, his developing passion for ballet, and the escalation of his dreams.
An opportunity to visit the USA for a summer school, followed by a one-year stay with the Houston Ballet, only encouraged more dreams. He began to realise however, that having tasted freedom in the West, he was unable to return to his restrictive life in China.
When he fell in love with a dancer from the USA and married her, he defected. What follows is a stellar career: success dancing in the USA, Europe and around the world. Yet during this time his marriage collapsed, and he later endured a back injury.
Then, he met ballet dancer Mary McKendry—an Australian. They married in 1987, returned to Australia to dance with the Australian Ballet, and now have three children.
Li writes that when he first met Mary, the only religion he had known was Mao's Communism, while his wife was a 'devoted Catholic'.
'Are you comfortable now with the Catholic religion?' I ask. 'Very much so,' he replies.
He explains that when their first child Sophie was diagnosed as profoundly deaf, Mary immediately ended her career. 'Mary made an incredible sacrifice of her career to give Sophie the gift of speech.'
And now with the help of a cochlear implant, Sophie studies in regular school and is learning ballet, tap, jazz and the piano, he says with fatherly pride.
Li said he wrote his autobiography hoping it would inspire others to become what they hardly dared believe was possible.
Mao's Last Dancer was released in Australia in early 2004 and continues to appear on the best-seller list. In May this year a Young Readers' Edition was also published. It is a condensed version, with background information on China, and a timeline.
Li is thrilled with the response to the book, particularly from young people.
'The younger generation tend to feel that if I, with my humble background, could achieve things in life, then there's no excuse why they shouldn't achieve their big dreams.'
This book reminds us that a little inspiration can go a long way.
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