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1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows

Written by: Ai Weiwei, Allan H. Barr - translator
Narrated by: David Shih
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Publisher's Summary

The “intimate and expansive” (Time) memoir of “one of the most important artists working in the world today” (Financial Times), telling a remarkable history of China over the last hundred years while also illuminating his artistic process

“Poignant . . . An illuminating through-line emerges in the many parallels Ai traces between his life and his father’s.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, BookPage, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews

Once a close associate of Mao Zedong and the nation’s most celebrated poet, Ai Weiwei’s father, Ai Qing, was branded a rightist during the Cultural Revolution, and he and his family were banished to a desolate place known as “Little Siberia,” where Ai Qing was sentenced to hard labor cleaning public toilets. Ai Weiwei recounts his childhood in exile, and his difficult decision to leave his family to study art in America, where he befriended Allen Ginsberg and was inspired by Andy Warhol and the artworks of Marcel Duchamp. With candor and wit, he details his return to China and his rise from artistic unknown to art world superstar and international human rights activist—and how his work has been shaped by living under a totalitarian regime.

Ai Weiwei’s sculptures and installations have been viewed by millions around the globe, and his architectural achievements include helping to design the iconic Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing. His political activism has long made him a target of the Chinese authorities, which culminated in months of secret detention without charge in 2011. Here, for the first time, Ai Weiwei explores the origins of his exceptional creativity and passionate political beliefs through his life story and that of his father, whose creativity was stifled.

At once ambitious and intimate, Ai Weiwei’s 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows offers a deep understanding of the myriad forces that have shaped modern China, and serves as a timely reminder of the urgent need to protect freedom of expression.

©2021 Random House (P)2021 Random House Audio

What the critics say

“An impassioned testament to the enduring powers of art - to challenge the state and the status quo, to affirm essential and inconvenient truths, and to assert the indispensable agency of imagination and will in the face of political repression.” (Michiko Kakutani)

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A Necessary Memoir

Coming from the relative safety of my Canadian life I found this memoir so critical to the development of my thinking. Prior to reading this most of what I knew of China came from school and the news. This memoir has expanded my mind, grown my cultural and historical understanding and made the ideological threats I see to freedoms in the news from all over the world even more visceral.

Ai Weiwei is an engaging character who details his life and the life of his father in a captivating way. His arguments no doubt will compel many individuals to the fight for freedom and encourage those already struggling for it everyday.

The reader had a clear voice and was not distracting from the story. I only wish I could have heard it in the authors own.

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Truth is Love

This is a beautiful book, shows us how pursuits of the heart cannot be tethered, if you believe that Truth is Love, then it was written just for you.

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An absolute must read

Ai Wei Wei gives us courage to find our voices, to live our values and to stand up to injustice despite the consequences. No human is free until all humans are free.

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