Everybody contributes something to the system, and everybody suffers from the system.

There are people who are willing to work within the system, and people who don't want to work with the system at all.

Your characters are always your children. And while you are writing, you're keeping them safe. Now they're ready to go into the world and it's sad. I'm happy with the way the novel came out but all the characters' ending really saddened me.

Some people in China don't look at freedom of speech as an abstract ideal, but more as a means to an end.

In film, you have to present everything on the screen so it's the opposite of what I usually do with storytelling. It forced me to think about how people walk, where they sit at that moment. With Princess of Nebraska, it was just fun to watch because the movie was so far from the story. It was very much a different story.

I would never describe a cloud as 'fluffy'—in Chinese or in English.

There is a certain amount of politeness here in America, which is probably more than just politeness.