November book & discussion questionsTitle: Mao's last dancer
Author: Li Cunxin
Image from: Angus & Robertson
Discussion questions:
1. Can you pronounce the author’s name?
- Most of us: No. Li’s mother called him by a different name. Nat looked it up and it’s pronounced 'Lee Schwin Sing.' His nickname was to do with his place in the family (the order), i.e. 6th son.
2. How would you describe the author’s relationship with his family and his life in China?
- Very close to his family, especially his mother. Do you think he was spoilt? No. Nat thought he was a bit spoilt. He was close to his grandmother. He was given an opportunity and yet he was not the least bit interested in ballet and was sent away to school. Felt sorry for him having to go away and seeing his parents only once a year. It was an opportunity of a lifetime because he would not have got where he was if he did otherwise. In a way yes, because he was the second to youngest, and because she nearly killed him (remember that burn) so she appreciated him more because of that, maybe he wasn’t spoilt but he was a bit special and indulged. Was the mother putting one of the brothers outside in the snow to die? All the time he praises his mother. Even when he went back to China he visited his family in order of their birth. They didn’t seem to have a lot of food. It sounded awful. Ate a lot of something like yams. Is a bit like kumara. (Tosca: I tried yams while on holiday in New Orleans earlier this year and blech! Yuck).
3. Li’s account of his first visit to the west is a saga of culture shock. How different is his life from that as a young communist in China?
- He was taught that everything outside of China was bad. Life was quite simplistic. The way the book was written he makes himself to be a hypocrite and so Nat didn’t find him likeable. It could have been seen as a means of basic survival, his behaviour, but to Nat it seemed like hypocrisy. He felt he had let his family down because he was doing something he didn’t really want to do for quite a while. In the sort of circumstances he grew up in, and with the life in China was like, none of us can really comprehend what life was really like: the fear, the threat, the life (being shot for protesting etc.). We grow up without any fear in western society and so have no real comprehension. It must have been a terrible shock to his family when they arrived to see him perform in Houston. They’d come straight from the airport to see him prancing around with tights on and his father asked him why he didn’t have any pants on. He had an opportunity, though, that many western children would not have had. Here parents would need money to help their children pursue a career in ballet, yet Li was chosen and sent away and groomed for that exact purpose.
4. What do you think Li meant when he says, “There’s no doubt [that] without Ben I would still be in China,” Cunxin says. “Without him, I would not be where I am today. Without him, I wouldn’t be the dancer I was. He is one of the mentors of my life.”
- Li might have thought that Ben was his mentor but I still think the teacher at the academy was the real inspiration because Li never would’ve gotten to the US without him.
5. What was your impression of how Li handled his defection to the USA. What do you think Li gained and lost by hid decision to defect ot he USA?
- Not very well planned and seemed a bit impulsive. He had the opportunity to have a bit of freedom – something we take for granted – and so took for it. He was an artist first and foremost and that had to be expressed, too bad about the relationships, he was a true artist. He trained to be an artist so why wouldn’t he want to do what he had been trained to be extremely good at it, and he had more freedom to be so in the west. He saw hypocrisy when talking with the minister and he saw what freedom could be had elsewhere. He was a bit of a drama queen, he anguished over the silliest things while in school.
6. Rate the book out of 5 with 1 being terrible and 5 being excellent.
- 1 ½ 3 1/2 4 3 3 4 3 ½ 4 3 ½-4 3
7.Would you recommend the book? Do you think you will go to the movie when it comes out?
- Yes I would recommend the book; Lesley will go to see the movie which comes out in NZ in Feb 2010
Please note: Our next meeting is Saturday 23rd January 2010 here at Manurewa Library. Our next book is 'The 10pm question' by Kate de Goldi. Nat will request copies for the group. If each person could think of one question to phone/email/blog for Nat to compile for our discussion questions for the next meeting, please and thank you :)
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