Li Cunxin Biography

Li Cunxin was chosen to learn at Madame Mao's Beijing Dance Academy when he was 11 years old, and so his adventure started. Li Cunxin left home to attend the Beijing Dance Academy for a seven-year training program. Li Cunxin graduated as one of the finest dancers China has ever produced, thanks to his extraordinary dedication, resilience, perseverance, and vision. The Houston Ballet's choreographer and creative director, Ben Stevenson, was a member of the first American cultural delegation to visit communist China. Mr. Stevenson found Li Cunxin while visiting China, and at the age of 18, Li Cunxin was given one of the earliest cultural scholarships to America. Li Cunxin then signed a soloist contract with the Houston Ballet. In a major media tempest two years later, Li Cunxin defected to the West. Li Cunxin was detained in the Chinese Embassy in Houston, resulting in a standoff between the Chinese and American governments. FBI officers surrounded the consulate, while Chinese and American officials began discussions. His defection became front-page news in America, and Li Cunxin walked out of the Chinese Consulate as a free man twenty-one hours later. Li Cunxin was a sixteen-year member of the Houston Ballet and is considered one of the greatest dancers in the world. He has performed with some of the world's greatest ballet companies as a guest artist and has won two silver and three bronze medals at three international ballet competitions. Li went to Melbourne, Australia, in 1995 to join the Australian Ballet as the main dancer. Li began contemplating a career shift when he was 34 years old, and in 1997 he enrolled at the Australian Securities Institute to learn to become a stockbroker. In 1999, Li Cunxin successfully transitioned from ballet to finance, and she is now a senior manager at one of Australia's major stockbroking businesses. Mao's Last Dancer, Li Cunxin's autobiography published in 2004, shot to the top of Australia's best-seller list almost immediately. It was the number one nonfiction book in Australia and the United States, winning the Book of the Year Award in Australia and the Christopher Award in the United States. Mao's Last Dancer has been published and sold in over twenty countries and has been on the "Top 10 Bestseller List" for over a year. Li Cunxin tells about his drive, endurance, vision, courage, hard labor, and, most importantly, the sacred family values and integrity he acquired in impoverished China. The Young Readers' Edition of Mao's Last Dancer was published in May 2005. Li Cunxin's unique narrative connects well with audiences all over the world as a motivational and inspiring speaker, touching people profoundly. Li Cunxin has given talks at Affinity Health, the Australian Booksellers Association, Barbara Bush's Celebration of Reading, the Brisbane Writers' Festival, the Catholic Educators Conference, the Commonwealth Bank, Ernst & Young, Fujitsu, the National Health Information Summit, Pfizer Inc, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Rotary Club Regional Conference, Sigma Company Ltd., the Texas Book Festival, and UNICEF Australia.

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