Our lives are bound by physical limits, familial ties, political conditions, and geographical restrictions. Individual freedom takes us beyond them all.

Once you've tasted freedom, it stays in your heart and no one can take it. Then, you can be more powerful than a whole country.

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.

A lot of the time [in the U.S.], I was thinking about how spending time is always questionable or is always the biggest obstacle in my life.

If artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?

I lived there [ in New York City] as an artist, but never as a Chinese artist.

Only with the Internet can a peasant I have never met hear my voice and I can learn what's on his mind. A fairy tale has come true.