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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
In preparation for their trip, Cunxin and Mary buy five suitcases full of gifts for everyone in Cunxin’s family. Then, finally, in July of 1988, they board a plane bound for Beijing. When they arrive, the Bandit and Fengtian are waiting in the baggage claim. Cunxin initially sticks out his hand for a handshake, but then he changes his mind and pulls his blood brother and good friend into a warm embrace. On the two-hour minibus trip from the airport to the hotel, Cunxin, the Bandit, and Fengtian talk nonstop while their wives become fast friends.
The ease with which Cunxin falls back into his friendships with these men, whom he hasn’t seen in years, points to the power of love and affection, which neither time nor distance can destroy. And, like Niang and Dia, the Bandit, Fengtian, and their wives immediately draw Mary into their circle, suggesting that she’s the right partner for Cunxin and hinting that their life together will be long and happy.
Themes
Many things have changed: the airport is bigger than when Cunxin last left in 1979, and many more Chinese people can afford to fly now. Signs of prosperity are everywhere in Beijing, and the new Deng Xiaoping slogan on everyone’s lips is “Get rich is glorious.” Other things haven’t changed, however: the Chinese government still smarts from Cunxin’s defection, and the secret police make it clear that he and Mary will remain under surveillance during their visit.
In Cunxin’s absence, Deng Xiaoping’s focus on modernizing and growing China’s economy has led to widespread improvements in standards of living and prosperity. But, while standards of living are important, they aren’t enough to make Cunxin look past the distinct lack of freedom he—and anyone else unlucky enough to fall afoul of the Party and its aims—still faces in China.
Themes
A few days after their arrival, Cunxin receives permission to visit the Beijing Dance Academy. One look at the compound brings years of memories flooding back. But before he can get lost in nostalgia, he catches sight of Teacher Xiao and Zhang Shu waiting just inside the big metal gate. Through tears, the three men shake hands; Cunxin tries to express all his love, gratitude, and unspoken words through the gesture. Soon, a small crowd of familiar teachers surround him. Inside, the teachers have prepared refreshments. Zhang Shu, Teacher Xiao, and the others tell Cunxin that they have quietly been following his career for years. They’re especially proud of his international ballet competition medals.
Despite the government surveillance, Cunxin can move relatively freely around Beijing. This is important to him because it allows him to repay the debts of love and gratitude he owes to the teachers at the Beijing Dance Academy, without whose demands, guidance, and affection he would not be where he is today. His own efforts have brought him much success, but he never forgets—and never allows readers to forget—that without the love and support of people like Teacher Xiao, none of his efforts would have carried him this far.
Themes
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Eventually, the ballet teachers ask Cunxin to dance for them—after they shoo away all the students and the teachers from the other dance departments, as Cunxin is still considered a dangerously Western influence. As his audience gathers around him, Cunxin breathes in the familiar smell of the studio where he spent so many hours practicing pirouettes. He feels like he’s 11 years old again, about to face a grueling mid-term dance exam. He dances the prince solo from Swan Lake as his audience hums the music. Then he shows off solos from some of the more modern ballets he’s recently starred in. He wishes he could show his teachers one of Ben’s fully realized productions, with music, costumes, and scenery.
Considering Cunxin’s dancing dangerous is akin to considering the dancing on the old recordings of Western ballets dangerous back in Cunxin’s student days. The Chinese economy might have changed significantly, but the Party’s grip on society—and its iron-fisted control over the ideas people consume—hasn’t. And remember that Cunxin’s own turning point came, in fact, from watching a recording of Baryshnikov. Stories have power, and anything that contradicts the Party’s story about China’s dominance and the perfection of socialism as a political and cultural system threatens the Party’s ability to control its people.
Themes
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Teacher Xiao takes Cunxin and Mary back to his apartment for lunch. He tells Cunxin how honored he is to have been Cunxin’s teacher, how proud he is of his former student, and how fervently he hoped he would be able to see Cunxin’s dancing one more time before he died. Afterward, Cunxin shows Mary around the school. They visit the theater where their paths had first crossed back in 1979. The primitive conditions at the school shock her: she cannot believe that Cunxin came out of this place.
It’s a testament not just to Cunxin’s own efforts but also the power of Teacher Xiao’s affection and influence that Cunxin has become the dancer that he is. Readers have followed the story through Cunxin’s eyes. Because he grew up in China, he accepted what happened to him as normal. Mary’s reaction reminds readers of how limited Cunxin’s life truly was, and how much more impressive, then, his success is.
Themes
Before leaving Beijing, Cunxin and Mary host a party for all his old teachers and classmates. At the end, he tells everyone how excited and grateful he is to be back; it’s like a dream come true. He says he cannot imagine where he would be if he hadn’t been selected to join Madame Mao’s Beijing Dance Academy 16 long years ago. “You would be back at the Li Commune!” the Bandit shouts. Yes, Cunxin thinks, he would be there, still eating dried yams and drinking northwest wind.
The dinner party gives Cunxin yet another opportunity to reflect on his life and how far he has come. He has much to be grateful for, and he remains keenly aware of what he owes to the people whose love and support gave him the foundation to launch himself into so much success.
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