If human rights are supposed to have any meaning, then they have to be discussed openly.

I never felt like a Chinese citizen because I was pushed away at a very young age. My father, a writer, was a national enemy of the Communist Party. He was forbidden to write for 20 years. We literally lived underground. We dug a hole and lived there for years. My father cleaned public toilets, even though he was a highly respected poet. Nationality and borders are barriers to our intelligence, to our imagination and to all kinds of possibilities.

So-called Chinese art and culture is under control of the Party. They exist to serve the official agenda. I call it fake art and culture.

Life is never guaranteed to be safe, so we better use it while we are still in good condition.

Everyone thinks the Chinese government selected me. Never ever. I was selected by Herzog and de Meuron.

The museums used to be exhibition halls for government propaganda, and now every city wants to build a museum. A few thousand are to be built in the next few years, all using taxpayer money. But there is no system, no research, no content, no good programs, no good managers.

In a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want — not only you, your whole family and all people like you.