Mao’s Last Dancer

In the spring of 1974, when Cunxin is 13 years old, the dance academy is invited to hear Chairman Mao speak at Tiananmen Square. Cunxin feels lucky to have been born into Mao’s China, but he also feels unworthy of the honor. He barely sleeps the night before the rally, thanks to his excitement. Thousands of people throng the Square in a carefully organized display of unity and devotion. The crowd’s anticipation reaches fever pitch. Finally, Chairman Mao, Madame Mao, and the rest of the Gang of Four appear on the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Cunxin weeps at being in the presence of Mao, who seems to him like a god.

Soon afterward, the dance academy students visit one of Mao’s model farms, Pingu, on the outskirts of Beijing. The students each take a sapling and two buckets—plus a symbolic pocketful—of dirt as gifts. Cunxin imagines Pingu will be an agrarian paradise. It is not. Small green patches dot the dry, rocky, hills. There are more tourists than fruit trees. A local guide claims that it only looks barren like this in the fallow season, but Cunxin grew up in the countryside and knows poor dirt when he sees it. He doesn’t question Mao’s directive to create such model farms, but he does wonder if Mao ever sees them in action.

Later in Cunxin’s third year at the dance academy, the Communist Youth Party invites him to apply for membership. He feels flattered and lucky because only the most devoted students can join. Soon he stands underneath a red Chinese flag, his Red Book in hand, swearing his love for Chairman Mao and promising to bear all hardships and to place the Party’s needs above his own. Being in the Communist Youth Party gives Cunxin a life a sense of belonging and purpose. He cannot wait to participate in Party affairs, even as the political winds rapidly shift and change.

Things at the academy change, too: Madame Mao’s ministers recruit new teachers, including Zhang Ce, former principal dancer of the Central Ballet, and his student, Zhang Shu. Zhang Shu takes an immediate liking to Cunxin. Soon afterward, Cunxin finds that someone has hidden a foreign ballet manual under his mattress. He finds it inspiring but knows that it’s dangerous because it’s not a Party-approved, Chinese publication. Zhang Shu and several other teachers have been rehabilitated after being accused of rightist views. The school’s new piano teacher is a rehabilitated rightist, too. When these people aren’t on their official duties, they do demeaning, physically demanding chores. One day, Cunxin earns censure from the Young Communists for helping a rehabilitated Russian ballet expert with a heavy cartful of dirt.

In the second half of the year, the Beijing Dance Academy recruits a few musicians, including a violinist named Liu Fengtian. Cunxin quickly befriends him. Under Teacher Xiao’s gentle instructions, Cunxin makes noticeable progress in ballet classes during his third year. And the better he does in ballet, the better he does in other classes, especially acrobatics. Still, this doesn’t stop him from panicking in the middle of a backflip at practice and crashing to the floor, knocking himself unconscious. The academy doctors send him to bed for a day. Then they tell him to get back to his normal routine despite his ongoing symptoms of neck pain. Eventually, the Chongs take him to see a traditional healer. She helps, but Cunxin never fully recovers.

Despite Cunxin’s improvements, Teacher Gao continues to berate him. One day when Cunxin can take it no more, he talks back. Teacher Gao kicks him out of class, telling him never to return. Cunxin rushes to Teacher Xiao and tells him the story. Xiao promises to support Cunxin but wants him to apologize to Gao. Teacher Xiao encourages Cunxin with this story: an imperial guard wanted to become an excellent archer. He begged a master to teach him. Although the master always said no, the guard asked daily, in wind and rain, for a whole year. Finally, the master accepted him. First, he made the guard carry heavy loads until the bow felt light in his hands. Then he made the guard test his eyesight on distant objects until he had perfect vision. And soon the guard became the best archer in the land. 

As soon as the class period ends, Cunxin runs to Teacher Gao’s office, where he apologizes, explains what made him late to class, and politely asks the teacher to stop calling him names. He explains that he knows his form has been poor, but now that he has gotten over his homesickness, he is improving. He promises to work hard and do his best. Teacher Gao accepts his apology and agrees to stop calling him names. Afterward, Cunxin feels as light and free as a bird. This is the first time in his life he’s truly faced—and worked through—a problem on his own. He feels like he can do almost anything, even face the terrifying mid-year exams.

After apologizing to Teacher Gao, Cunxin skips his afternoon nap and practices split jumps in one of the studios. It takes him hours of frustrating and painful work, but eventually, he teaches himself to perform the move perfectly. In the exam that afternoon, Teacher Gao looks on in disbelief as Cunxin easily completes a move that was so challenging for him just days before. Cunxin’s good performance in the exams boosts his confidence. With every boost, his dancing skills improve, thus bolstering his confidence even more.  He earns a “good” in ballet and an “above average” in Beijing Opera Movement. It’s good, but not enough, and he sets his sights on becoming one of the academy’s top students.

The autumn of Cunxin’s third year at the academy is marked by massive dust storms brought about by short-sighted Party policy. The students must wear face masks when they go outside. On his way home for the Chinese New Year holiday, he stops to visit Cunsang on his naval ship. Cunsang confesses that he’s grown tired of service. He longs to go home and marry his girlfriend. His superiors recommend that he apply for Party membership because it will make him eligible for promotions and benefits. But it will also mean he has to stay for more than the standard four years of service, so he’s decided not to do this.

At the end of the Chinese New Year holiday, Teacher Xiao pays a surprise visit to Cunxin’s family. He refuses to let Niang make him a special meal, choking down the family’s standard fare of dried yams and sorghum soup instead. Cunxin finds the situation funny, but he doesn’t dare laugh. Afterward, he shows Teacher Xiao around the village. Xiao encourages Cunxin to honor his family with hard work and effort. He says Cunxin has the physical capability—and the inner resilience—to become an excellent dancer. He reminds Cunxin about the archer in the story and encourages him to make his family proud by becoming the greatest dancer possible. Cunxin takes these words to heart, returning to the fable of the archer whenever he encounters difficulties and challenges.