1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows

In his widely anticipated memoir, Ai Weiwei - one of the worlds most famous artists and activists - tells a century-long epic tale of China through the story of his own extraordinary life and the legacy of his father, Ai Qing, the nations most celebrated poet. Hailed as the most important artist working today by the Financial Times and as an eloquent and unsilenceable voice of freedom by the New York Times, Ai Weiwei has written a sweeping memoir that presents a remarkable history of China over the last 100 years while illuminating his artistic process. Once an intimate of Mao Zedong, Ai Weiweis father 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 labour 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. With candour 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 Weiweis sculptures and installations have been viewed by millions around the globe, and his architectural achievements include helping to design the iconic Birds Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing. His political activism has long made him a target of the Chinese authorities, wh
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