Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin

Author:Li Cunxin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: 2003-01-27T10:00:00+00:00

In the second half of that year the head of the Communist Youth Party at our academy asked me to apply for membership. This was a privilege. Only the most politically devoted students could join. I was flattered and surprised.

I handed in my application and then had private heart-to-heart discussions with three different party leaders. I had to read a thick party manual, full of communist ideals familiar to me from the Little Red Book. Then the committee assigned two members to sponsor me.

After the final vote of all the Youth Party members, five new members, including me, found ourselves standing under the flag of China with the Little Red Book raised by our faces, pledging our allegiance: “I willingly and proudly join the Communist Youth Party. I swear to love Chairman Mao, love the Communist Party, love my country, love my people, and love my colleagues. I will respond to the party’s calling and strictly observe all party rules. The party’s interests come before mine. I’m ready to give my all, including my life, to its glorious cause. We are dedicated to the principle of bearing hardship and letting others enjoy the fruit of our work …”

From that moment on my life had true purpose—to serve glorious communism. Once again I felt a powerful sense of belonging. I took my role as a party member very seriously. I was one step closer to becoming a full Communist Party member, my ultimate political dream. Now I could contribute to Mao’s political cause more effectively, and try my hardest to make a difference whenever I could.

But the political situation was constantly changing. Mao knew the Gang of Four, his closest advisers, was incapable of managing China’s economic affairs, and by 1974 he felt increasingly threatened by Deng Xiaoping’s popularity. Deng Xiaoping’s reputation was spreading fast. Within the walls of our academy, however, Madame Mao was still in control.

Madame Mao might have been pleased with our political development but she still wasn’t happy, apparently, with the standard of our dancing. The Vice-Minister of Culture sent Zhang Ce, retired principal dancer from the Central Ballet of China, to be the new vice-director of our academy. And Zhang Ce brought back one of his former teachers, Zhang Shu, to be head of the ballet department.

Zhang Shu was one of the founders of Chinese ballet. He had been released from detention as a former rightist—a person suspected of being anti-Mao. He was a small man with an even temperament, and he often watched our classes and occasionally taught us. From the very beginning he seemed to notice me, and I found out that he’d even told Teacher Xiao that I was one to watch.

One day, soon after Zhang Shu’s arrival, as I lay on my bed reading, I felt something hard under my thin cotton mat. When I put my hand under it I found a little book. It looked very old and when I flicked through it I saw that it was in a foreign language.

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