Li Cunxin
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- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Li.
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| Li Cunxin | |
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| Born | 李存信 Lǐ Cúnxìn January 26, 1961 Qingdao (青岛), China |
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| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Mackay(1981-1982) Mary McKendry(1987- present day) |
Li Cunxin (born January 26, 1961) is a Chinese-Australian former ballet dancer and current stockbroker.
Li was born into a poor family in Li Commune near the city of Qingdao in the Shandong province of China. At the age of eleven, he was selected by Madame Mao's cultural advisers to become a student of The Beijing Dance Academy.
He was one of the first two students of the Beijing Dance Academy to go to America in the 1970s. On his second visit to the United States he decided to defect to the United States to marry Elizabeth Mackey. This caused a 21-hour international incident at the Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Houston, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation surrounded the consulate while American and PRC diplomats debated the issue. Li was allowed to defect.[1]
He went on to become one of the world's best male ballet dancers, dancing with the Houston Ballet for 16 years. He married Mary McKendry after a failed marriage with Elizabeth Mackey. Li moved to Melbourne in 1995, and has three children (Sophie, Thomas and Bridie). Li's autobiography is entitled Mao's Last Dancer. It has received numerous accolades, including the Australian "Book of the Year" award. In 2008, the children's version of this book, Mao's Last Dancer, The Peasant Prince (illustrated by Anne Spudvilas),won the Australian Publishers Association's Book of the Year for Younger Children[2] and the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Children's Book Award.[3] A film of Mao's Last Dancer is currently in production. [4]
Currently Li Cunxin works as a senior manager for a large stockbroking firm and is also a popular public speaker.
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Biography at BookBrowse
- Interview at ballet.co.uk (2003)
- Transcript of ABC interview (2004)
[edit] Notes
- ^ Taylor, Christie. "'Mao's last dancer' tells his story." The Christian Science Monitor. May 14, 2004. Retrieved on January 30, 2009.
- ^ "Brooks wins Book of the Year award", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2008-06-15
- ^ "Queensland Premier's Literary awards 2008 winners". http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/ Department of Premier and Cabinet. 2008-09-17. http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/awardsevents/awards/Queensland_Premiers_Literary_awards/2008_winners/#ChildrensBookMaryRyansAward. Retrieved on 2008-09-17.
- ^ "Imdb.com"
