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Shanghai Tango

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Shanghai Tango

By: Jin Xing
Narrated by: Keith Brockett
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About this listen

At the age of nine, Jin Xing entered a military academy. He knew that he had been born to dance and, in Mao's China, it was the army that provided the best training. His exceptional talent was soon recognised; by the time he was eighteen, he was regarded as the best principal dancer in China. He won a scholarship to study in the United States where he discovered a new world of contemporary dance, and made both a new identity and a decision that was to change his life - and would shake the whole of China: Jin Xing underwent a sex-change. He became a woman - and then a mother and, later, a wife.

The incredible adventure of this solider with a young girl's heart was suppressed by Chinese authorities for years, but now Jin Xing can finally tell her story. From the regimented world of the Red Army, to Europe's most elegant boulevards; from the small Manchurian village of her birth, to the dizzying excess of New York; Jin Xing's story has all the drama and energy of a classic ballet - and a happy ending.

©2005 Jin Xing. (P)2008 Bolinda Publishing Political Science

Editorial reviews

On February 27, 1902, in the waning days of the second Boer War in Africa, Harry "the Breaker" Morant, an Australian soldier, was convicted and executed on the grounds that he murdered a German missionary and several Boer prisoners. How, then, did he become an Australian folk hero?

The ponderous, convicting voice of Terrence Donovan relates a novelized account of Morant’s life in The Breaker, written in 1972 by Kit Denton. In swift accounts of action and imagined accounts of Morant as balladeer and poet, The Breaker poses the central question: Was Morant guilty of his crimes? Whether you believe he is innocent or guilty, this audiobook - performed by a master - will take you deep into the blood and sweat of a war that has passed.

Critic Reviews

"An extraordinary story … gender surgery that cuts to the quick of China's double standards." (The Independent)
"Shanghai Tango is a breathtaking story... Everyone in the West should know about Jin Xing." (Xiaolu Guo, author of A Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers)
"Shanghai Tango is a fascinating insight into the changes in China over the past 40 years through its relationship with one extraordinary person." (The Spectator)
"This memoir stands out [and is] never less than gripping." (The First Post)
"A courageous memoir, Shanghai Tango is the story of prima ballerina Jin Xing's journey to international fame via the difficult route of gender transformation. One of the most promising stars of the Shanghai Ballet, Xing chose to confront communist China with her decision to become a woman. Keith Brockett tackles the sensitive role of a man becoming a woman with dramatic grace. His delivery bridges the gap between male and female, setting the perfect androgynous tone throughout. Brockett skillfully captures Xing's anguish, pain, pride, and eventual triumph as her transformation evolves. His compelling account is sweetened by his sharply accurate Chinese language pronunciations." (AudioFile Magazine)

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Profile Image for stanley

Awesome.

Great work, great author, great read loved it. Get into it.
shoot straight you bastards.

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