The independents are the ones who tend to commit suicide. I'm not against this way of being in the world. Individuals have brought us many treasures. You can't just say that's a bad way of being in the world - it's not. But it's not everyone's way of being in the world.

I think that there is a bias in the current literary climate, which is not only very Western but very male.

Chinese language tends to be quick, economical. To know what people are saying, you always need to know what the context is.

When I think about why I would be a writer, why I should continue to be a writer, it seems to me one of the few things you can dowhere you're never bored.

Whatever I do in life, I'm almost always aware that there's another way to do it.

That there should be a purpose to suffering, that a person should be chosen for it, special - these are houses of the mind, in which whole peoples have found shelter.

I'm trying to give people an idea of what black looks like and what white looks like before I introduce them to gray.