I'm totally independent. I don't bear any responsibility to any system.

I have always stated I designed the stadium as a toilet seat. I don't care if this is a great cultural event or a national symbol. It has nothing to do with me. It deals with the city.

The leadership knows that you cannot solve the issues of China's future with the means of the past. The demographic consequences of the one-child policy, the build-up of the welfare state, 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.

Measuring national prestige by gold medals is like using Viagra to judge the potency of a man.

Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.

I saw [Allen Ginsberg] more as an old man who liked poetry and who had a lot of physical and emotional problems. We liked our time together.

In my life, I often make so-called major decisions by very quick, immediate responses.