I never regret anything.

I think optimism is whether you are still exhilarated by life, whether you are curious, whether you still believe there is possibility.

Of course, people will call you an old artist or young artist, which is just a character of you. But personally, I don't think my work and my understanding of art is so much related to being Chinese, but the character of that. Maybe it's beyond my own consciousness.

Once you've tasted freedom, it stays in your heart...

In my case, I was stuck there for quite a while. New York is large enough to be a very abstract city, so nobody cares.

The misconception of totalitarianism is that freedom can be imprisoned. This is not the case. When you constrain freedom, freedom will take flight and land on a windowsill.

Any politician who respects China's government should tell it openly what is in his heart. It is disrespectful to keep quiet about such issues - both vis-a-vis the government and the people concerned.