“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.”

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.

Mass production is nothing new. Weren’t cathedrals built through mass production? The pyramids?

I’m just bringing them to Kassel to see the art show, and pay their room and board.

The purpose of art is the fight for freedom.

[Shanghai Biennale] has been my attitude for as long as I’ve been practicing art and other cultural-related activities.

The project or a few ideas which are not finished or if there are possible directions and what will lead into another game. It’s always like setting up some kind of game you can continuously play.

You have so many museums in the West, and so many shows, you need somebody to show the work, otherwise it’s empty.

Nowadays, China is experiencing the detrimental effects of such decisions. Its citizens have no creativity.

I have to find a place for my own. I have to search for my own happiness.

Today, the general masses in this society are in this political-social condition that really encourages people to become rich and become a star and be unique.

You need a purpose to express yourself, but that expression is its own purpose.

I came back [to Beijing ] because that’s the only time I had an excuse to come back, or otherwise I would never have a reason to come back.

That’s why I always question this sense. The feeling of home really requires a lot of trust. It requires you to identify with it, which I always find myself very contradictory to.

But personally, I don’t think my work and my understanding of art is so much related to being Chinese, but the character of that. Maybe it’s beyond my own consciousness.

I would throw down roots with you if I ever had the chance. We’d grow strong in tender shoots, and bloom in burning hands.

One life; a little gleam of Time between two Eternities; no second chance to us for evermore!

If you never get criticized, chances are you aren’t getting anything done.

A split second can ruin or boost the sequence.

Take chances, and love will find its way to you.

Fate, Time, Occasion, Chance, and Change? To these All things are subject but eternal love.

The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again.

When opportunity knocks, invite it to stay for dinner.