At the moment about 350,000 students return to China from abroad each year – 350,000 young and educated people. I know about them because they know me and often ask me in the street if they can take a selfie with me.
AI WEIWEIThe [China] government has improved in the last years. Of course, the structure is still the same; there’s still a one-party system and strong censorship.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
-
-
It’s very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values.
AI WEIWEI -
The jobs for 7 million university graduates every year, the immense corruption: Even some Western governments would have to scramble to find solutions to such problems.
AI WEIWEI -
A historical property has morals and ethics of the society that created it and it can be revived. What I mean is that we can discover new possibilities from the process of dismantling, transforming, and recreating.
AI WEIWEI -
I call on people to be ‘obsessed citizens,’ forever questioning and asking for accountability. That’s the only chance we have today of a healthy and happy life.
AI WEIWEI -
So, the politicians and the people who make decisions very often is the one we think can make some difference. But of course they will not make a difference if the citizens or the individuals not push it or not to speak out, to possess a very strong voice about, this is not acceptable.
AI WEIWEI -
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.
AI WEIWEI -
They lack any ability to sense what is beautiful or what is proper. They can be learned and skillful, but they lack the ability to make their own free judgment. It is really sad to see young adults of 20, 25 years who were never taught to make their own decisions.
AI WEIWEI -
The people will always have the last word – even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice. Such power will collapse because of a whisper.
AI WEIWEI -
I grew up in a desert, which has no kind of imagination.
AI WEIWEI -
I always want to design a frame that’s open to everyone. I don’t see art as a secret code.
AI WEIWEI -
Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.
AI WEIWEI -
I think to deal with the situation like human crisis, 65 million people being displaced, lost their home, and with such human tragedy, has to make every level of society to be conscious and to be alert about the situation.
AI WEIWEI -
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.
AI WEIWEI -
There isn’t a single Chinese university that can invite me to give a talk. Even though I know there are many students who would like to hear what I have to say.
AI WEIWEI -
Civilization has evolved toward more acceptance, understanding and tolerance of global thinking. If we accept differences, our creativity booms. It makes life much more colorful.
AI WEIWEI