Ma Jian Quotes
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Whatever China I'd been born into, I would probably still have become a painter - I loved sketching portraits as a child, and began art classes at the age 7. But if China hadn't been under Maoist rule, I might never have become a writer.
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In February of this year I returned to China to research my next book. The authorities know about the novels of mine that have been published in the west, including the latest one, Beijing Coma, about a student shot in Tiananmen Square, but so far have allowed me to return.
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When the written and spoken word is censored, the urban landscape becomes a nation's only physical link to the past.
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'Three Kingdoms' gives you a panoply of different routes; everyone can find their own path. It shows that sometimes the route to fulfilment or success is not the obvious one. You must take twists and turns to achieve a goal.
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I am trying to persuade my family to spend more time in China. It's no fun to be in exile. I can't even figure out the basic 26 letters, let alone operate, in English. I often feel that although I've found the sky of freedom above my head, I've lost the soil I stand on. I need to be back in my motherland, where I can find inspirations.
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China is completely lacking in self-awareness and as someone who has stepped outside that society, I have a responsibility to write about it as I see it.
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If you exile a writer, however free the country he is sent to, there will always be a sense of internal constraint.
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Living in London is like being on a luxury cruise liner.
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It is vitally important for me, both personally and for my writing, to be able to return to China freely, so being barred entry has caused me deep concern and distress.
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The great quality of the 'Three Kingdoms' is that it seems to encapsulate and portray every facet of the Chinese personality.
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I wanted to analyse and understand how the Chinese people could have their lives so crushed by fear.
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After the Tiananmen Massacre, I felt compelled not only to continue writing but to actively resist the restrictions placed on freedom of speech. I set up the publishing company in Hong Kong, with offices in Shenzhen in mainland China, and managed to publish works of fiction, philosophy, and politics by unapproved authors.