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I never felt like a Chinese citizen because I was pushed away at a very young age. My father, a writer, was a national enemy of the Communist Party. He was forbidden to write for 20 years.

Ai Weiwei

As a person, I was born to give out my opinions. By giving out my opinions, I realize who I am.
AI WEIWEI

Art Communicate Lonely Long Opinion Person Realize
You have so many museums in the West, and so many shows, you need somebody to show the work, otherwise it’s empty.
AI WEIWEI

Empty Many Museum Need Otherwise Show Somebody West Work
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 WEIWEI

Country Dream Extraordinary Game Gather Moment Week Year
If my art has nothing to do with people’s pain and sorrow, what is ‘art’ for?
AI WEIWEI

Art Nothing Pain People Sorrow
I think the pearls – one is a necklace, and another you have five hundred pounds of pearls, which may be one million pearls in a bowl – really show a kind of [society] condition.
AI WEIWEI

Another Five Hundred Million Necklace Pearl Pound Thinking
We grew up in a very material-lacking socialist society, but today China is a capitalist society. It’s very materialistic. It’s full of desire and luxury goods.
AI WEIWEI

Capitalist Country Desire Grew Lacking Luxury Material Materialistic Socialist Today
Just look at the statistics: Each university has tens of thousands of applications for students who want to be in art school, but they can only accept a few hundred.
AI WEIWEI

Application Art Look School Statistic Student Ten Thousand
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.
AI WEIWEI

Border Cope Create Deal Election Idea Imbalance Making Meet Political Popularity Selling Solving Voter
That’s why the country can’t face up to open competition – unless it resorts to measures like North Korea.
AI WEIWEI

Competition Country Face Measure Open Resort
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.
AI WEIWEI

Blame People Responsibility Sense System
When human beings are scared and feel everything is exposed to the government, we will censor ourselves from free thinking. That’s dangerous for human development.
AI WEIWEI

Censor Development Everything Exposed Feel Government Ourselves Scared Thinking
If civil society has nobody who protects the law, then what kind of society is that?
AI WEIWEI

Kind Law Nobody Protect Society
Mass production is nothing new. Weren’t cathedrals built through mass production? The pyramids?
AI WEIWEI

Cathedral Hand Mass People Production Pyramid
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.
AI WEIWEI

Believe Country Personal Structured Success Thinking
[Cultural department] understand nothing but bureaucratic daily affairs. They don’t care about culture.
AI WEIWEI

Affair Care Culture Daily Understand
This so-called contemporary art is not a form, but a philosophy of society.
AI WEIWEI

Art Called Contemporary Form Philosophy Society

I never felt like a Chinese citizen because I was pushed away at a very young age. My father, a writer, was a national enemy of the Communist Party. He was forbidden to write for 20 years.

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I never felt like a Chinese citizen because I was pushed away at a very young age. My father, a writer, was a national enemy of the Communist Party. He was forbidden to write for 20 years.

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Popular Authors

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