This is the true story of a poor Chinese peasant boy who plucked unsuspectingly at the age of ten from millions of others across the land to be trained as a ballet dancer turned the situation to his advantage to become one of the world's greatest ballet stars. Simply told with charm humour & compassion & at times this is a great drama. His childhood despite the terrible hardships is drawn with love & affection & contrasts starkly with the seven lonely years of gruelling training at the Peking Dance Academy. At the age of l 8 Li performs at the Houston Ballet school in the US which leads to his dramatic defection. This is a condensed edition specially for younger readers & has an Afterword especially for children.