I don’t want the next generation to fight the same fight as I did.

If there is no free speech, every single life has lived in vain

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.

Of course, most luxury goods in China are for corrupted officials and their relatives. And that made China become the biggest luxury-goods market. In this kind of dictatorship, in this kind of totalitarian society, it is easy to make deals that you cannot make in a democratic society.

Many people are going to use [Beijing National Stadium], which makes it more meaningful. If we don't design it, somebody else has to design it.

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.

By participating in the society we live in, we understand our conditions and the way we relate to the world.