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Chapter 17: On the Way to the West
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mao’s Last Dancer, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Opportunity, Hard Work, and Success
Love and Family
The Power of Stories
Freedom vs. Repression
Summary
Analysis
Ben Stevenson meets Cunxin and Zhang Weiqiang in Chicago. Although they can barely communicate, they share their excitement through gestures. Flying to Huston, Cunxin notes with surprise that the green and verdant landscape below doesn’t match what he’s heard about America’s extreme poverty and underdevelopment. At the Houston airport, he uncomfortably accepts gifts from people associated with the Houston Ballet to be polite. But he still distrusts his hosts since he has been raised to think of Americans as enemies. His confusion grows when he sees the massive, impressive Houston skyline from the car. It doesn’t look like the decaying, depressing America that Party officials in China describe.
While at this point Cunxin still largely believes what the Party has told him about the world outside of China, the evidence he encounters with his own eyes contradicts their narratives. Luckily, far away from Party handlers, he finally has the space to make up his own mind.
Themes
Previously unimaginable luxuries fill the house where Cunxin and Weiqiang stay, including huge rooms with soft carpets, the biggest refrigerator Cunxin has ever seen, an electric stove and two sinks in the kitchen, a walk-in closet in his private bedroom, and a bathtub in his private bathroom. On their first night in the country, Ben Stevenson and others take Cunxin and Weiqiang to a Chinese restaurant where they enjoy Chinese specialties like Tsingtao beer and Peking Duck for the first time. Cunxin cannot believe the amount of food the Texans order. Back at the house, he enjoys a long, relaxing bath. And the next morning, Ben cooks him and Weiqiang a bigger—and more luxurious—breakfast than they’ve ever eaten: eggs, bacon, buttered toast, and fresh orange juice.
Coming from a place where many rural families like his own didn’t have indoor plumbing, Cunxin cannot escape the contrast between China and America—and his uncomfortable but growing realization that the U.S. is much wealthier, not much poorer, than China. Slowly, Cunxin realizes how many lies the Party told him. The fact that the dancers experience Chinese treats like Tsingtao beer for the first time in America further suggests the extreme limitations of life in China; despite their relative privilege, even Madame Mao’s dancers lack access to luxuries.
Themes
When Cunxin and Weiqiang arrive at the Houston Ballet Academy, they realize—and Cunxin explains to Ben, with the help of his Chinese-English dictionary—that they don’t have the necessary gear. Ben sends them to a dance-wear shop for tights, dance belts, and shoes. Cunxin watches with amazement as the company manager calmly pays over $400—the equivalent of four years of Dia’s salary—for their items. Later that day, another Houston Ballet board member, Louisa Sarofim, takes Cunxin and Weiqiang to lunch at a restaurant where the least expensive items are nearly $15 each. At the house, Cunxin and Weiqiang hand-wash their clothes and dishes; when Cunxin tries to use the dishwasher, he floods the kitchen with bubbles.
The dance uniforms again highlight the relative wealth and privilege of America compared to China: although Cunxin and Weiqiang are among a privileged and respected group of students, the best that they receive in China is still less nice than the standard equipment of their American counterparts. And while the book generally paints American culture in a positive light, Cunxin also notices some of its dark sides, such as a spending money on frivolous things. He counts each dollar spent on himself and Weiqiang and calculates how much it would be worth to his family. And when a side dish would feed his family for two months, it’s hard to argue that the American system is perfect, even if it has advantages.
Themes
In dance classes, Cunxin proudly realizes that he and Weiqiang are just as technically accomplished as their peers in standard ballet, thanks to the Beijing Dance Academy’s strict discipline. Although language barriers prevent much conversation, the other students welcome them warmly.
In China, Cunxin measured himself against his classmates and against recordings of internationally recognized dancers like Baryshnikov. This is his first chance to measure himself in an international context, and he's pleased to discover that his hard work and sacrifice have paid off. He can now confidently trust that he’s not just a good dancer for the academy’s standards: he’s a good dancer on the world stage as well.
Themes
Get the entire Mao’s Last Dancer LitChart as a printable PDF.
Many of Ben’s personal and professional contacts entertain Cunxin and Weiqiang during their time in Houston. Cunxin can hardly believe how wealthy and powerful people like Louisa Sarofim or George and Barbara Bush live. They have priceless artwork and indoor pools, and they seem, in Cunxin’s eyes, to throw money around carelessly. But despite their power and wealth, both Barbara Bush and Louisa Sarofim impress him as kind and generous.
Chinese Communist Party propaganda taught Cunxin to think of wealthy and privileged people as landlords and capitalists, abusers of the poor and the downtrodden. Yet, the wealthy people he meets in America treat him with kindness and respect, contradicting this narrative. Cunxin sees more and more gaps between Party ideology and his real-world experience.
Themes
As his English improves, Cunxin talks with his hosts and fellow dancers more. He discovers that Americans freely voice complaints about the government and even their president. In China, people face stiff consequences for criticizing Chairman Mao. Ben choreographs a special dance for Cunxin and Weiqiang to a piece of music by American composer George Gershwin. They struggle to master the relaxed style of dance he wants because it contrasts so sharply with the disciplined approach of their Chinese teachers. Shortly before he leaves, Cunxin learns that Ben has asked—and the Chinese government has granted permission—for Cunxin to return in two months and remain with the Houston Ballet for an entire year. Cunxin feels gratitude towards the Communist Party for the opportunity, believing that it has always looked out for peasant boys like himself.
Although he describes the luxurious American surroundings in loving detail, what truly impresses Cunxin about this country is the freedom its people have to express themselves. Political freedoms translate into social freedoms and artistic freedoms, and in the freedom Cunxin enjoys in America, he discovers a heretofore underexplored artistic side of dancing. Characteristically, however, he's a hard worker and he experiences this newfound freedom at first as a source of frustration because it means that he doesn’t immediately understand the expectations. But he grows to love it more and more.
Themes
Before sending them back to China, Ben takes Cunxin and Weiqiang to visit Washington, D.C. and New York City. In Washington, Cunxin is surprised by the relative lack of armed guards patrolling the White House. In New York, Cunxin and Weiqiang see all the best sights: the World Trade Center, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and the theaters. Cunxin enjoys these, but smaller things make a bigger impression on him, like the ATM that spits out $20 bills on command. Cunxin carefully hoards his money in New York. He cannot make a purchase without calculating how far the money would go for his family back home.
The lower profile guarding of the White House compared to Tiananmen Square in China reinforces the sense of freedom Americans enjoy. The government doesn’t fear uprisings because it holds power through mutual agreement rather than coercion. And, with New York just as grand and wonderful as Houston, Cunxin can no longer accept the Party’s claims about American squalor. It’s a mark of how much he loves his family that, even in his land of freedom and excess, he tries to preserve as much money as he can to take back to them. At this point, it doesn’t seem like they’ll ever escape China like he temporarily has. But he never forgets them or stops caring about their needs.
Themes
As he flies back to China, Cunxin reflects on his time in America. He feels gratitude toward Ben and all the kind people he met. He feels excited about the prospect of returning soon and for a longer time. But mostly, he feels confused. America is not the dark, scary place the Communist Party said it was. He wonders why China is so poor while America is so rich. He also wonders why his leaders hid the truth from him and everyone else. His trip shakes his faith in communism, and although he tries to tell himself that he’s happy to return to China and that he still believes in the Party, he cannot fully escape his doubts.
The plane ride home gives Cunxin the opportunity to reflect openly on the things he’s noticed during his trip. When he was a child and he discovered the book about Chicago, he began to wonder if the Party’s stories about China and about the rest of the world were entirely true. His doubts grew as Chinese society slowly embraced Western films and books. And now that he’s seen America for himself, he can no longer believe the Party’s lies. Stories have power when they describe the world and a person’s place in it—but that power starts to crumble when stories lie about the world to make their points. And now that Cunxin has tasted freedom, it remains to be seen whether he will be able to conform himself to the Party’s expectations yet again.
Themes
