Mao’s Last Dancer: Chapter 19: Good-bye, China Summary & Analysis

Back in Beijing, Cunxin can’t wait to tell Teacher Xiao, Zhang Shu, the Bandit, and the rest of his friends about his experiences. He knows that he must keep quiet about how much he liked America, lest the authorities find out and deny him the chance to return. But he can’t stop thinking about how much freedom and self-determination Americans have—and how much higher their standards of living are—even though he tries to convince himself that capitalism is rotten. He both chafes at his lack of freedom in China and longs to go back to believing in what Chairman Mao and the Party taught him all his life.

Cunxin composes a report for the Ministry of Culture on his and Zhang Weiqiang’s behalf. He describes the Houston Ballet Academy classes, emphasizes the goodwill he and Weiqiang generated for China, then fills the report with exaggerations and lies about the behavior of American elites and their violent oppression of the poor, the disadvantaged, and Black people. When he and Weiqiang turn in the report and the business suits the Ministry let them borrow for the trip, they learn they must also hand over the remnants of their cash allowances. Cunxin, like a good and honest Red Guard, complies, but he feels angry about it—his family needs the money more than the Ministry of Culture does.

Cunxin sends gifts to his family by mail—set to return to America in October and stay for a year, he will miss his annual Chinese New Year trip home. He gives the Bandit gifts, too, and answers his questions about America as honestly but as briefly as he can. The Bandit loves Cunxin’s tales, especially his description of the ATM.

Two weeks after returning to Beijing, Cunxin receives his visa papers from America. He immediately goes to the Ministry of Culture to reapply for his passport only to discover that the Minister Wang has changed his mind. Citing worries that Cunxin is too young to withstand potential Western influences if he stays abroad for a whole year, he rescinds the permission he gave just a few weeks earlier for Cunxin to return. Cunxin returns to the academy. He begs the director for help, but there’s nothing she can do. Nearly blind with anger, he runs from the grounds and through the Beijing streets until he’s exhausted. He stops near a row of willow trees, where he pours out his frustration and anger. . For the first time in years, he crawls under the drooping leaves of one and pours out his troubles, just like he did when he first came to the academy.

With no answers but a desperate feeling of need to get back to America, Cunxin finally climbs down from the tree. He resolves to find out why Minister Wang changed his mind. Back at the academy, he learns that Teacher Xiao and Zhang Shu have already convinced the academy’s director to send an official petition to Minister Wang, asking him to change his mind. But one week later they receive another denial, and Cunxin plunges into despair again. Heartsick, he takes to his bed. But when as he thinks about how badly he wants to go back, to experience American freedoms again, to study with Ben, and to become the best dancer possible, he rediscovers his resolve.

Cunxin talks Teacher Xiao into giving him Minister Wang’s home address. He goes there three nights in a row. Each time, an armed guard bars his way. But on the third night, he earns the guard’s sympathy. The guard allows him to wait until Minister Wang returns from an evening engagement, peppering him with questions about America. Cunxin tries to keep his answers from sounding too enthusiastic. When Minister Wang comes home, the guard approaches his car and asks him if he will talk to Cunxin. Minister Wang refuses yet again, evidently annoyed by Cunxin’s persistence.

Seething with disappointment, anger, and resentment, Cunxin goes back to the dance academy. In a flash, he realizes that China is just as unequal as any other country. He finally understands that he and most Chinese people gave Chairman Mao and his government their support for decades based on Mao’s lies. He tells himself that he must wake up and start looking after himself instead of trusting the Party to take care of him. The next day, he stays in bed, sick with a fever and disappointment, until Teacher Xiao and the Bandit try to rouse him from his despair. Teacher Xiao tells Cunxin that life is a card game: he can keep playing and see what happens, or he can just stop.

In the following days, Cunxin calls to tell Ben Stevenson the bad news. He makes plans to visit his family. But just days before he is due to depart for Qingdao, he reads in the newspaper reporting that Minister Wang will soon be leaving on a trip to South America. Cunxin and his teachers hatch a plan to petition the vice minister most likely to sympathize with Cunxin’s cause during Wang’s absence. It takes weeks of concerted effort by Teacher Xiao and Zhang Shu, but they eventually secure that minister’s permission. With his newly issued passport in hand, Cunxin wastes no time getting his visa and arranging his flights back to America.

Frantic activity fills Cunxin’s last three days in China. Teacher Xiao throws him a going-away party, during which he tells Cunxin and his classmates how proud they should be of what they have accomplished. As Chairman and Madame Mao’s last generation of dancers, their art will stand high in the history of Chinese ballet. Cunxin visits the Chongs one last time, bitterly disappointed that he can’t risk a trip back to his own family, lest the ministers change their minds again in his absence. Then, in November 1979, one month after he was originally set to depart, Cunxin boards a plane bound for America. He doesn’t know it yet, but it will be many, many years before he will go home again.