The literal meaning of the Chinese characters for revolution is elimination of life — Ma Jian Character Copy Share Image
I am completely in favour of dialogue and engagement. But it must be a true, open dialogue. — Ma Jian Am Copy Share Image
China is completely lacking in self-awareness and as someone who has stepped outside that society, I have a responsibility to write about… — Ma Jian Awareness Copy Share Image
In my 20s, when I was a photojournalist in Beijing. I joined an underground art group and put on clandestine exhibitions of… — Ma Jian Art Copy Share Image
The Beijing Olympics represent China's grand entrance onto the world stage and confirmation of its new superpower status. — Ma Jian Beijing Copy Share Image
Red Dust was about the late 1980s; it was a time of burgeoning hopes and opening up and people searching for new… — Ma Jian 1980s Copy Share Image
“When our parents are alive, they stand in front of us, blocking our view of death. But once they’ve gone, we find… — Ma Jian Cliff Copy Share Image
Everything I was I carry with me, everything I will belies waiting on the road ahead. — Ma Jian Ahead Copy Share Image
It is vitally important for me, both personally and for my writing, to be able to return to China freely, so being… — Ma Jian Able Copy Share Image
To become self-aware, people must be allowed to hear a plurality of opinions and then make up their own minds. They must… — Ma Jian Expression Copy Share Image
I have to live within my memories, within my private universe, and continually return to China, the land where my thoughts are… — Ma Jian China Copy Share Image
After the Tiananmen Massacre, I felt compelled not only to continue writing but to actively resist the restrictions placed on freedom of… — Ma Jian Actively Copy Share Image
I meant that the Chinese people are not aware of their own entrapment. They believe they live in a free society, but… — Ma Jian Believe Copy Share Image
“Before the sparrow arrived, you had almost stopped thinking about flight. Then, last winter, it soared through the sky and landed in… — Ma Jian Bird Copy Share Image
I am trying to persuade my family to spend more time in China. It's no fun to be in exile. I can't… — Ma Jian Above Copy Share Image
“I see my skeleton walking down the street now. I’m walking behind it. Our feet touch the ground at the same time.… — Ma Jian Death Copy Share Image
When people are poor, they find ways of making things taste like fish. — Ma Jian Find Copy Share Image
I believe that the power of literature is stronger than the power of tyranny. — Ma Jian Believe Copy Share Image
I left Beijing in the late 1980s to live in Hong Kong because, having been blacklisted by the government, I couldn't publish… — Ma Jian Because Copy Share Image
If you exile a writer, however free the country he is sent to, there will always be a sense of internal constraint. — Ma Jian Always Copy Share Image
On the face of it, China has won the Olympics. But it is not China that has won, but the Communist party.… — Ma Jian China Copy Share Image
The great quality of the 'Three Kingdoms' is that it seems to encapsulate and portray every facet of the Chinese personality. — Ma Jian Chinese Copy Share Image
“Everything I was I carry with me, everything I will be lies waiting on the road ahead.” — Ma Jian Ahead Copy Share Image
Tyrannies not only want to control your mind and thoughts but your flesh as well. — Ma Jian Control Copy Share Image
I wanted to analyse and understand how the Chinese people could have their lives so crushed by fear. — Ma Jian Chinese Copy Share Image
When the written and spoken word is censored, the urban landscape becomes a nation's only physical link to the past. — Ma Jian Becomes Copy Share Image
The Chinese have made a faustian pact with the government, agreeing to forsake demands for political and intellectual freedom in exchange for… — Ma Jian Agreeing Copy Share Image
My hope is that the Chinese government will come to realise that it is futile to repress free speech, and that contrary… — Ma Jian Believe Copy Share Image
The Chinese people have been forced to forget the Tiananmen massacre. There has been no public debate about the event, no official… — Ma Jian Apology Copy Share Image
In February of this year I returned to China to research my next book. The authorities know about the novels of mine… — Ma Jian Authority Copy Share Image
'Three Kingdoms' gives you a panoply of different routes; everyone can find their own path. It shows that sometimes the route to… — Ma Jian Achieve Copy Share Image
Whatever China I'd been born into, I would probably still have become a painter - I loved sketching portraits as a child,… — Ma Jian Age Copy Share Image
“My mind flashed back to the Cultural Revolution, when a group of Red Guards pulled our neighbor, Granny Li, out of the… — Ma Jian Business Copy Share Image
While I was writing 'Stick Out Your Tongue' in Beijing, the police began knocking on my door again. As soon as I… — Ma Jian Again Copy Share Image
“On July 3, 1968, Chairman Mao issued an order calling for the ruthless suppression of class enemies. He wanted all members of… — Ma Jian Black cat Copy Share Image
I believe that the Tibetans should have the right to control their own destinies and decide for themselves whether they want to… — Ma Jian Believe Copy Share Image
