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The rest of the world understands little about China's changes and the possibilities and crises that come with them.

Ai Weiwei

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Ai Weiwei
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: May 18
Architect
Consultant
Contemporary Artist
Designer
Film Director
Human Rights Activist
Painter
Photographer
Sculptor
Social Activist
Peking
Wei-wei Ai
Weiwei Ai
Ai Wei Wei
World
China
Crisis
Changes
Possibility
Rest
Littles
Crises
Little
Understands
Come
Possibilities

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Chinese citizens have never had the right to really express their opinions in the constitution it says you can, but in the real world it is more dangerous. In the west people think it's a right they're born with. Here it's a right given by the government, and one that's not really practised.
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I don't belong to a working system. They only select people if you belong to one so you can be controlled.
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My image of what a city should be - the super-rich and all the poor and desperate and the people who have some kind of a desire. It's a surviving game, people trying to survive on many different levels.
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For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.
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Because Great Britain has self-confidence, it doesn't need a monumental Olympics.
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China seems unpredictable because it has a distinct culture and social system. It is still a mystery to other parts of the world, even though the veil of China has been lifted many times as a result of globalization.
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The tragic reality of today is reflected in the true plight of our spiritual existence. We are spineless and cannot stand straight.
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Of course, there [in China] has to be chaos. It has to be crazy, and I don't think there's anything wrong about it except this government, which is really incapable of doing anything meaningful.
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Historically, China is not a nation of sportsmen. We traditionally put more emphasis on being close to nature than pushing endlessly to excel. A philosophy that values tranquil contemplation of the landscape cannot easily be adapted to the Olympic slogan of 'higher, stronger, faster.'
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I don't believe in the so-called Olympic spirit. I speak from personal experience. When China hosted the Games, it failed to include the people. The event was constructed without regard for their joy.
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I often feel more disgust than pride about this kind of success. So there's no regret whatsoever.
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Life is never guaranteed to be safe, so we better use it while we are still in good condition.
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Just look at the statistics: Each university has tens of thousands of applications for students who want to be in art school, but they can only accept a few hundred.
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I don't think I was very structured in that society and I don't really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe in.
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We should use this public sphere and redefine - beyond China's borders - what a government is allowed to do, where its powers end and where the realm of a citizen's privacy begins.
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Now many enterprises are made by individuals, so the attitude has started to change.
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Today, the general masses in this society are in this political-social condition that really encourages people to become rich and become a star and be unique.
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Today, we jump into this globalization of the economy and the internet age.
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Expressing oneself is like a drug. I'm so addicted to it.
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When I first got into the first-year study after the Cultural Revolution, got into the same school with this group, I wasn't conscious of the so-called Fifth Generation. I didn't like that kind of study condition because there's no real, true education there.
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