An extraordinary story, an extraordinary speaker

The Book. The Film. The Man.
Who is Mao’s Last Dancer

Li Cunxin’s journey is simply remarkable. He was born into utter poverty in Mao’s communist China, at a very young age he was selected to train in Madame Mao's Beijing Dance Academy. So began Li's journey. The 7 years of harsh training regime at the Beijing Dance Academy taught him discipline, resilience, determination and perseverance. Li’s astounding drive and relentless hard work made him one of the best dancers in the world.

Li then made a successful career transition from ballet to finance. He is a senior manager at one of the largest stockbroking firms in Australia. Li is a director of the Australian Ballet and the Bionics Institute. He was named 2009 Australian Father of the Year. He has just been appointed the new Artistic Director of the Queensland Ballet.

The inspirational story of Li’s life is recounted in his memoir Mao’s Last Dancer, which quickly rose to No 1 on the Australian Non-Fiction Best-Seller List and won the Book of the Year Award in Australia and receiving the Christopher Award for Literature in the USA. It went on to become an international bestseller. It’s in the 52nd reprint. Mao’s Last Dancer is now a blockbuster film.

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