The leadership knows that you cannot solve the issues of China's future with the means of the past. The demographic consequences of the one-child policy, the build-up of the welfare state, the jobs for 7 million university graduates every year, the immense corruption: Even some Western governments would have to scramble to find solutions to such problems.

We have to give our opinion, we have to say something, or we are a part of it. As an artist I am forced to say something.

For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.

In the end, I think, the state's rigidity is a function of its own insecurity, its indecisiveness.

The relationship between the Chinese government and me is like a Cold War.

I don't think my father had a direct influence on me, but I do think, more or less, I was influenced by his independent individualism. And the kind of condition he had when he was in this society - the kind of mistreatment society gave him.

My situation gives me certain ideas about beauty or the excitement of life, but that doesn't mean other people can necessarily appreciate it.