“It became like a symbolic thing, to be “an artist.” After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product.”

This world should be much more open and should be much more free, so the young people would have the chance to exercise the quality of their lives.

If people are being abused or even killed during an arrest, this is highly disturbing.

I don’t think [price] reflects if the work is good or bad.A good artist shouldn’t be nervous about that.

A clear understanding of such differences will help the rest of the world understand China and all that is happening to the nation.

I also have to speak out for people around me who are afraid, who think it is not worth it or who have totally given up hope. So I want to set an example: you can do it and this is OK, to speak out.

The leadership knows that you cannot solve the issues of China’s future with the means of the past. The demographic consequences of the one-child policy, the build-up of the welfare state.

Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.

I spend a lot of time talking to journalists.

In China, we don’t have any contemporary art museums. Until a few years ago, we didn’t even have a gallery.

The IT people who have made such an effort to know and understand computer technology. They are frustrated that you cannot use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in China. They are the first to recognize that the situation is terrible.

China didn’t want to lose the cutting edge of technology. So the idea of having a Sina Weibo was an attempt to compete with Twitter. However, it has no soul – which is freedom of expression. Nevertheless,

It’s very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values.

I think Allen [Ginsberg] was a person who’s like a child.

A small act is worth a million thoughts.

It is to wonder about the world, to understand the nature of people and, most importantly, to be shared with another, old or young, known or unknown.

Somehow, we [ Tan Dun and director Chen Kaige] were all privileged at the time; we could be outside of China. But at the moment, we had no sense of what the future was going to be like.