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At the moment about 350,000 students return to China from abroad each year - 350,000 young and educated people. I know about them because they know me and often ask me in the street if they can take a selfie with me. These folks are creative and ironic, and the government can ultimately not control what is going on in their heads.

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
Often
Students
Abroad
Moments
Streets
Ironic
Young
Return
Heads
Government
Control
Ultimately
Take
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Educated
Going
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Year
China
People
Moment
Street

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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I don't think China has professional museums - not in the past, present, or near future.
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In a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want — not only you, your whole family and all people like you.
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I don't personally feel any association with a kind of culture related to state, or culture related to power, which I think is always disgusting.
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Censorship is saying: I'm the one who says the last sentence. Whatever you say, the conclusion is mine. But the internet is like a tree that is growing. The people will always have the last word – even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice. Such power will collapse because of a whisper.
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The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.
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Freedom of speech implies the world isn’t defined. It is meaningful when people are allowed to see the world their way.
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By participating in the society we live in, we understand our conditions and the way we relate to the world.
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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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Growing up, my family was an enemy of the state. I have experienced more disappointment than joy, much more sad stories or desperate conditions.
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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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Through my work and ways of expression, I strive to engage in dialogue with the society that I am living in.
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I saw [Allen Ginsberg] more as an old man who liked poetry and who had a lot of physical and emotional problems. We liked our time together.
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China and the U.S. are two societies with very different attitudes towards opinion and criticism. In China, I am constantly under surveillance. Even my slightest, most innocuous move can - and often is - censored by Chinese authorities.
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Everything is selected by the central government without good judgment or an understanding of culture to make it really safe. They will become nobody to maintain their power and be raised to the next higher level.
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These are nonviolent people who have lost their freedom simply because they expressed their ideas….In truth, they are heroes of our time.
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I don’t want the next generation to fight the same fight as I did.
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I think art is a very important weapon to achieve human freedom
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Chinese government is very clearly losing power in every aspect, but trying to fix up all the problems or potential problems.
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