To survive, China had to open up to the West. It could not survive otherwise. This was after many millions have died of hunger in a country that was like North Korea is today. Once we became part of global competition, we had to agree to some rules. It's painful, but we had to. Otherwise there was no way to survive.

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.

China has a rich history that has spanned millennia. It consists of the histories of many nations and regions.

It became like a symbolic thing, to be “an artist.” After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product.

My understanding of Chinese history is limited. So far, I have only scratched its surface; I wish I could find out more.

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.