Quotes from Ma Jian

Getting pregnant without authorization is against the law. Argue your case with the government, if you want. Go to America-- see what they say. China's population control policy has the full support of the United Nations.

It's still alive, the stubborn little thing. What shall we do with it? Strangle it. We]ll register it as a stillbirth. Don't wipe its face. Illegal babies aren't entitled to have their mucus removed.

It's still alive, the stubborn little thing. What shall we do with it? Strangle it. We'll register it as a stillbirth. Don't wipe its face. Illegal babies aren't entitled to have their mucus removed.

If a panda gets pregnant, the entire nation celebrates. But if a woman gets pregnant, she's treated like a criminal.

The team's chairman told him that if the baby is a girl and they decide not to keep her, the Welfare Office would take the baby off their hands and pay the 4000-yuan fine for the illegal birth. It's common knowledge that the Welfare Office sells children in their care to foreigners for a 30,000-yuan profit.

I'm sick of your male chauvinism. No wonder Confucius wasn't welcomed during his travels - jabbering on about male superiority all the time!

All these years you drone on about benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, then you go and sell your own daughter.

It is only when you take control of your life that you know you are alive.

Don't let me return as a woman in my next life! I'd rather be a dog or a rat than suffer this pain again!

When the people around you have lost their will to be free, then earth becomes a hell.

As a child in the dark days of the Cultural Revolution, I dreamed of being a painter. My art teacher warned me that paintings could land a person behind bars, especially portraits, and advised me to stick to anodyne landscapes.

We relished the small freedoms granted to us, but wanted more. We read Ginsberg's Howl, and longed for the day when we too could sing out of our windows in despair.

I know now that no path is solitary, we all tread across other people's beginnings and ends.

There are still many white mountains to cross, but I am on my way home.

Yes. Just think: the literal meaning of the Chinese characters for "revolution" is "elimination of life".

If the sages have managed to transcend the fetters of samsara, why do they feel the need to leave these mementoes behind?