“The fantasy we had with pearls was always so luxurious and unique with a kind of rareness.” KindFantasyUniquePearlsLuxurious Author:Ai Weiwei
“We grew up in a very material-lacking socialist society, but today China is a capitalist society. It's very materialistic. It's full of desire and luxury goods.” TodayDesireMaterialsGrewGrew UpChinaLuxuryGoodsCapitalistSocialistLackingMaterialisticLuxury Goods Author:Ai Weiwei
“A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.” GrowsEffortAttentionAmbitionGardenLaborPlantIntentionPatientThriveGardeningGood IntentionsGardening And GodInspirational GardeningPlanting A GardenPlants Growing Author:Liberty Hyde Bailey
“It's always the rich and there's plenty to waste, yet still China has a lot of people living in very spare, poor conditions.” PeopleStillsPoorRichConditionsWasteChinaPlentySpares Author:Ai Weiwei
“I think the pearls - one is a necklace, and another you have five hundred pounds of pearls, which may be one million pearls in a bowl - really show a kind of [society] condition.” ThinkingKindMayShowsMillionsFiveConditionsHundredPoundsBowlsPearlsNecklaces Author:Ai Weiwei
“A nation like China has become one of the biggest production fields for exporting cheap labor, which also re-questions our history and past, re-questions human desire, and the human illusions of the past.” HumansPastDesireNationsFieldsIllusionLaborProductionsChinaExportingCheap Labor Author:Ai Weiwei
“China hasn't only existed for one day. Now, the whole nation has become richer and it's become a problem. The problem is universal. The factor is big. Everybody has to rethink the balance of the world and the whole landscape.” WorldWholeProblemBigsNationsBalanceOne DayUniversalChinaFactorsLandscape Author:Ai Weiwei
“Any design, any city, any kind of craziness or tragedy, it all comes from a long time of preparation.” KindLongCitiesDesignLong TimeTragedyPreparationCraziness Author:Ai Weiwei
“Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I'm not nostalgic about the old city. I don't enjoy it that much.” EnjoyCitiesCrazyNostalgic Author:Ai Weiwei
“I'm not nostalgic about the old city. I don't enjoy it that much. It was just a city with one emperor and the rest of them just rats or meaningless people.” PeopleEnjoyCitiesMeaninglessRatsEmperorNostalgic Author:Ai Weiwei
