This week, the world gathers in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic games. This is the extraordinary moment China has been dreaming of for 100 years.
AI WEIWEIIn a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want — not only you, your whole family and all people like you.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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I think by not letting young people be fully informed, how can they have energy and passion and the right picture of the world? I think that’s the true crime.
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No state or society can claim to have established human rights once and for all.
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If human rights are supposed to have any meaning, then they have to be discussed openly.
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I think my stance and my way of life is my most important art.
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I will bring 1,001 Chinese to participate as my artwork there – any Chinese who is a Chinese passport holder and over eighteen years old could apply through my blog.
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Everyone of us is a potential convict.
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As a total activity – I practice curating, art, architecture, writing, and publishing all together. I still act as a living creature.
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We literally lived underground. We dug a hole and lived there for years. My father cleaned public toilets, even though he was a highly respected poet.
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We should also leave behind discrimination, because it is narrow-minded and ignorant, denies contact and warmth; and corrodes mankind’s belief that we can better ourselves.
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I think China is laughing about the results of the presidential elections. China, Russia, they all laugh about it.
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This is a very general understanding of art in China, that being an artist can make you money and turn you into a star.
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So for too long Americans take liberty as granted. We think we are in the safe hand, the democracy and the liberty, which is not true. And it can be even getting much worse than today.
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I think Allen [Ginsberg] was a person who’s like a child.
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It’s very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values.
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There are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship.
AI WEIWEI