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Maos Last Dancer(Young Readers Edition) by Li Cunxin - Comprehension

Themes Summary: What is Li Cunxin saying about these

themes?

Quotes

A Wedding

Quingdao, 1946

Family Arranged marriages

Leaving home

Page IX 'the wedding has been arranged by

marriage introducers as is arranged.'

Page XI. 'Tears stream from her eyes. Soon she

will become a wife and another family's

daughter in law.

Discipline and

Culture

Bounded feet

Bear many sons

Bound feet are sill in fashion'

Page XI 'bear many sons'

Change Symbolising change - mirror

Moving

Page XI 'flip your mirror'

Page XI 'she has never left home before'

Identity andbelonging

Marriage name change

Wealth

Page XIV 'her name and place are changed forever'

'You silly girl...Do you want to be poor for the

rest of your life

Power Sons bring wealth

Males have power over women

Page XI ' those symbolise the early arrival of

sons.'

Page 'obey him and make him happy'

Part One

My Childhood

Chapter 1 Home

Family Everything was crammed into a small space

Boys are considered better

My mother and father lived with my fathers

six brothers, their wives, his two sisters and

their children.

mymother eventually became known as that

lucky woman with seven sons

Discipline and

Culture

They had healers to help

Dried yams were the familysmain meal

myniang started to panic. She took me to see

many healers in our area, to no avail.

wehad dried yams, steamed or boiled, almost

daily, week after week, month after month,

year after year.

Change the Japanese made everyone move houses

they almost always eat yams

theLi Family had been forced to move here by

the Japanese invaders in WW2

werarely ate meat. Once a month, we would

wait in long lines for the fattest piece of pork

available

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Identity and

belonging

Cunxin has 6 brothers in a big family

Family names were a big part of life

threeyears later my niang gave birth to her

seventh son.

ourgood family name was sacred and should

be protected with all ourmight.

Power Government takes most of the food

When the Japanese invaded, they took most of the

goodies

thegovernment would get the biggest

proportion, at a set price

theJapanese built an airport where my father

used to live

Chapter 2 My Niang and Dia

Family The parents had to work hard to keep everyone alive

Everyone in the family helps out

It was often well after seven in the evening

when dia came home.Henever missed a

single dayswork.

By the time I had arrived, my fourth aunt and

some other women had already begun to put

cold, wet towels over my niangs forehead.

Discipline and

Culture

Parents have to work early

All children had to have MaosLittle Red Book

Our dia was often up earlier than five thirty in

the morning, and my niang had to be up even

earlier to cook him breakfast.

We were all givenMaosRed Book.

Change If someone gets sick heywonthave enough money

to survive

Maosdoctors

My niang was worried that my dia might get

sick from overworking.

Maoordered many clinics and hospitals totrain as many people as possible and sent them

to the countryside.

Identity and

belonging

Lots of people shared a bed

Everyone had the same fate

Every aspect of life was hard for my parents.

We even had to sleep in the same bed.

Iwished that I could be a truck driver one day,

but I knew that my destiny lay in the fields.

Power The boys dontrespect their parents, they get hit.

Mao made barefoot doctors to live with the peasants

He hit us with that broomstick so hard that I

wanted to dig a hole in the ground and hide

The barefoot doctor was one of Maos

inventionstheywere supposed to live among

the peasants.

Chapter 3 A Commune Childhood

Family Brotherly love Thistime I carried my little brother on my

back. Shutyour eyes. Close your mouth. If I

hear a single word from you I will throw you

into the well.Page 36

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Ancestor respect

beforedark on New YearsEve, my dia and my

fourth uncle would take me and my brothers to

my ancestorsgraveyard.Page 37

Discipline and

Culture

They didnthave bandaids

They used snake skin for medicine

Getting rid of warts

whenI cut myself I was told by my parents to

wipemy figer on the windowsill to gather some

dust to put on the cut and stop the bleeding.

Page 33

ourniangsremedy to severe coughs involved

a snakeskin collected in the fields.Page 33

the best way to eradicate monkeys was to wet

them on the grain grinder on a day of rain. He

said that for this treatment to work, we had to

keep our mouths on the way to and back from

the grinder.Page 35

Change People are poor and have to find coal to keep warm

They finally get good food on NYE

The outer part had already been dug out by

desperate people.Page 31

thearoma of all this delicious food, mixed with

the Chinese rice wine, the incense and the pipe

smoke, was unforgettable.Page 38

Identity and

belonging

Chinese new year

They talk to their ancestors

The one time we all looked forward to, the one

time where we would be guaranteed wonderful

food, was the Chinese new year.Page 36

Theytalked to our ancestors as if they were

still alivepage 37

Power The civilians have no access to the airport sincethen the guards had tightened security

page 31

Chapter 4 Seven Brothers

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

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Power

Chapter 5 Na-na

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 6 ChairmanMaosClassroom

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 7 Leaving Home

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

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Identity and

belonging

Power

Part Two

Beijing

Chapter 8 Feather in a Whirlwind

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 9 The Caged Bird

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 10 That First Lonely Year

Family

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Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 11 The Pen

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 12 My Own Voice

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 13 Teacher XiaosWords

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Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 14 Turning Points

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 15 The Mango

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

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Chapter 16 Change

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 17 On the Way to the West

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 18 FilthyCapitalist America

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 19 Goodbye China

Family

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Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity andbelonging

Power

Part Three

The West

Chapter 20 Return to the Land of Freedom

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 21 Elizabeth

Family

Discipline and

Culture

Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

Chapter 22 Defection

Family

Discipline and

Culture

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Change

Identity and

belonging

Power

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