Mao's Last Dancer is the autobiographical story of the young Chinese man Li Cunxin, who comes from humble beginnings and is unexpectedly selected in the early 1970s for the country's most prestigious ballet school, Madame Mao's Ballet Academy. In Beijing, he receives classical ballet training. Inspired by a teacher, Cunxin becomes increasingly passionate about dance and eventually achieves worldwide fame. However, when he marries the dancer Elizabeth in America, political complications arise with the tragic consequence that he is initially not allowed to return to his homeland. This book vividly and powerfully depicts the harsh life in communist China, where each day is a struggle for survival, the tough years of ballet training, the little boy's homesickness, and his passion for dance. An impressive life story.