Shanghai Tango
by Jin Xing
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Description
Jin Xing is a former prima ballerina, one of the brightest stars of the Shanghai Ballet. But her journey to international fame has been fraught with difficulty because Jin Xing was in fact born a man. From an early age she was intensely uncomfortable with her gender. Unable to understand or put words to her feelings, she immersed herself in ballet dancing, her first love. Aged 9, she joined the People's Liberation Army, where she received both dance and military training and attained the show more rank of colonel. The curtains opened on a new act in her life when, at the age of 19, she received a scholarship to study dance in New York. It was there that she discovered for the first time that it was possible to change sex. In an instant, what had been the province of dreams became a real opportunity. She took the courageous decision to return to China to face the authorities, quit the army, and confront the world with her decision to become a woman. As dramatic, graceful and deeply felt as a pas de deux, Shanghai Tango is a deeply personal and inspiring account of growing up in a body that feels alien and of braving pioneering surgery in communist China. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This arrived in a bookbox a couple of years ago.
This is a very unusual memoir, this is the memoir of Jin Xing, one of China's top dancers, her professional journey from humble beginnings to reaching the top of her profession, as well as her personal journey from being boy to woman.
Jing Xin joins a military dance troupe, moving through the ranks, not without difficulty, before getting his big break with a student visa for the U.S. As his career is on the up, Jing Xin is still not content in his homelife, there is something not quite right. He takes the brave step to go for gender reassignment, something which even now is unusual in China.
This is an amazing story, both professionally and personally, but I wish that I could have read more show more about the wider Chinese context. We only get glimpses, which is a real shame. On the other hand, Jin Xing's determination is something to behold, never giving up on her dreams until she attains her work goal and is finally the person she knew she was. show less
This is a very unusual memoir, this is the memoir of Jin Xing, one of China's top dancers, her professional journey from humble beginnings to reaching the top of her profession, as well as her personal journey from being boy to woman.
Jing Xin joins a military dance troupe, moving through the ranks, not without difficulty, before getting his big break with a student visa for the U.S. As his career is on the up, Jing Xin is still not content in his homelife, there is something not quite right. He takes the brave step to go for gender reassignment, something which even now is unusual in China.
This is an amazing story, both professionally and personally, but I wish that I could have read more show more about the wider Chinese context. We only get glimpses, which is a real shame. On the other hand, Jin Xing's determination is something to behold, never giving up on her dreams until she attains her work goal and is finally the person she knew she was. show less
Chinese; tango; Shanghai
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Author Information
1+ Work 41 Members
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 792.8028092 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Theater: Plays, Ballet, Opera Ballet and modern dance modified standard subdivisions Techniques, procedures, apparatus, equipment, materials, miscellany Acting and performance standard subdivisions History, geographic treatment, biography Biography
- LCC
- GV1785 .J54 .A3 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Recreation. Leisure Recreation. Leisure Dancing
Statistics
- Members
- 41
- Popularity
- 714,224
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (2.42)
- Languages
- Chinese, English, German
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 10
- ASINs
- 1
