Arabic version: لي كونشين يستعيد حياة ما بعد «راقص ماو الأخير»

According to The Guardian, Li Cunxin’s second memoir, The Lucky Son, continues the story told in his 2003 international success Mao’s Last Dancer. The Chinese Australian ballet dancer and former Queensland Ballet artistic director said he had signed a follow-up contract with Penguin Random House, but his work leading the company delayed the book for 14 years.

The Lucky Son begins as Cunxin and his wife, fellow ballet dancer Mary, fly to Houston Ballet, then led by Ben Stevenson. The memoir also sketches the lives of Cunxin’s six brothers and reflects on China’s transformation from poverty to a world superpower. Cunxin said his mother taught him to keep moving forward and focus on what lay ahead.

The book recounts Mary’s decision to leave ballet after their daughter Sophie was born profoundly deaf. Mary later returned to Queensland Ballet as ballet mistress, while Sophie received a cochlear implant, studied, embraced dance and excelled at work. After Sophie wrote to her parents in 2015 about their failure to learn sign language, Cunxin and Mary began learning Auslan. Cunxin said Sophie is now an ambassador between hearing and deaf communities.

Cunxin also traces his move from the Beijing Dance Academy to Houston Ballet and the Australian Ballet, followed by a period in stockbroking after he missed out on the Australian Ballet artistic director role. He later led Queensland Ballet, overseeing higher standards and the development of the Thomas Dixon Centre. He said business experience helped him communicate with donors, including through relationships with Elisabeth Murdoch and the Ian Potter Foundation. The Lucky Son concludes with Cunxin receiving the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland in 2025. The book is out now through Penguin for $36.99.