Yan Lianke

“I used to assume history and memory would always triumph over temporary aberrations and return to their rightful place. It now appears the opposite is true.”

“Anything negative about the country or the regime will be rapidly erased from the collective memory. This memory deletion is being carried out by censoring newspapers, magazines, television news, the Internet and anything that preserves memories.”

“China's censorship is not as rigorous as everyone thinks. The self-censorship of the authors is much worse.”

“Reality is much more absurd and complex than any fiction.”