The extraordinary memoir of a peasant boy raised in rural maoist China who was plucked from his village to study ballet and went on to become one of the greatest dancers of his generation. From a desperately poor village...The extraordinary memoir of a peasant boy raised in rural maoist China who was plucked from his village to study ballet and went on to become one of the greatest dancers of his generation. From a desperately poor village in northeast China, at age eleven, Li Cunxin was chosen by Madame Mao's cultural delegates to be taken from his rural home and brought to beijing, where he would study ballet.