The whole Chinese system - not just the political leadership, the military too, the whole power structure, our education system, the whole of society - is suffering from being cut off from the free flow of information. That's why the country can't face up to open competition - unless it resorts to measures like North Korea.

Expressing oneself is like a drug. I'm so addicted to it.

China and the U.S. are two societies with very different attitudes towards opinion and criticism. In China, I am constantly under surveillance. Even my slightest, most innocuous move can - and often is - censored by Chinese authorities.

[Cultural departments] don't care about culture. Maybe they're the furthest from the people who understand culture.

I can still wake up the next day and feel that there's something that needs to be done, which always amuses me.

I'm not nostalgic about the old city. I don't enjoy it that much. It was just a city with one emperor and the rest of them just rats or meaningless people.

Twitter is the people’s tool, the tool of the ordinary people, people who have no other resources.