List $104.00

Written by Li Cunxin - Performed by Paul English - Unabridged Nonfiction - 13 LIBRARY EDITION COMPACT DISCS - 15 hours, 30 minutes

Publisher, Bolinda Audio (March 2004)

NOTE: LIBRARY EDITIONS are packaged in a sturdy, durable outer vinyl case that stands up to years of repeated use designed for library and rental circulation. Albums are shelvable, space-efficient, with at-a-glance spine titles.

Listen to an MP3 audio clip.

Received the coveted AudioFile Magazine's 'Earphones Award' (October / November 2004) for exceptional narrative voice and style, vocal characterization, appropriateness for audio format and enhancement of the text!

Library Journal - Best Audiobook of 2004

“[A] heartening rags-to-riches story” —Publisher’s Weekly

“The listener’s interest never flags … [Paul English] imbues the narrative with ingenuousness and enthusiasm. The result is an audiobook that is superior to its source.” —AudioFile

This is the true story of how, by the thinnest thread of a chance, one moment in time changed the course of a small boy’s life in ways that are beyond imagination. One day he would dance with some of the greatest ballet companies of the world. One day he would be a friend to a president and first lady, movie stars and the most influential people in America. One day he would become a star: Mao’s last dancer, and the darling of the West. Here is Li Cunxin’s own story, a beautiful, rich account of an inspirational life, told with honesty, dignity and pride.

About the Author: His life reads like a great story. Li Cunxin was born into poverty in Chairman Mao’s China. He seemed destined to stay in his peasant village except for a very luck break. From ballet, to the White House, to the FBI and an Australian beer, Li Cunxin turned stock broker, turned author has now documented his extraordinary life in a book, Mao’s Last Dancer. Li Cunxin was born in 1961, in the New Village, Li Commune, near the city of Qingdao on the coast of north-east China. The sixth of seven sons in a poor rural family, Li's peasant life in Chairman Mao’s communist China changed dramatically when, at the age of eleven, he was chosen by Madame Mao's cultural advisers to become a student at the Beijing Dance Academy. After a summer school in America, for which he was one of only two students chosen, he defected to the West and became a principal dancer for the Housten Ballet. Li went on to become one of the best male dancers in the world. He is now a senior manager in a major stock broking firm and lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife Mary and their three children, Sophie, Tom and Bridie.

About the Narrator: Paul English is an exceptionally talented actor and narrator. He has starred in productions with all major Australian theatre companies, including Shakespeare’s Hamlet, King Lear and Twelfth Night, Stoppard’s Arcadia, and Bovell’s Speaking in Tongues. Television roles include Blue Heelers and Seachange, and his narration of Mao’s Last Dancer won an AudioFile Earphones Award (US) in 2004.