“The only way to avoid misunderstanding, war and bloodshed is to defend freedom of expression and to communicate with sincerity, concern and good intentions.”

I think of art as coming from daily life, daily experience. I think it’s very important not to have it become work for some kind of elite circle.

We never really see the global situation as a total situation. Today’s political leaders are still lacking of the vision.

If we all say the same thing, then I think the government has to listen. But because no one is saying it, I become singled out, even though what I’m saying is common sense.

People who can’t do that don’t get a sense of responsibility. And if you lack a sense of responsibility, you push the blame onto the system.

They very often just try to cope with their own election, their own popularity, solving the problem or selling the ideas to meet their own voters. By doing that, it creates a great imbalance in terms of making deals or treaty or all those things.

If civil society has nobody who protects the law, then what kind of society is that?

I don’t think I was very structured in that society and I don’t really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe in.

If human rights are supposed to have any meaning, then they have to be discussed openly.

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.