If a society cannot even support somebody like me, then people ask: Who is under protection then? That's why there is such support for me. It is not because I am so beautiful or I am so charming. People feel: This guy is fighting for us.

The freedom of speech is an important yardstick for a society's level of civilization.

Hopefully, other successes aren't like me. It carries much more meaning to other people; my success story is irrelevant. It doesn't make any sense.

If a nation cannot face its past, it has no future.

I think by shattering it we can create a new form, a new way to look at what is valuable — how we decide what is valuable.

I have to respect my life, and free expression is part of my life. I can never really silence myself.

China partially wants to become part of the world. By hosting the Olympics and the Expo, they made a big effort to tell people: Look, we are the same. They want to be accepted by the international community.