This fall, the Brian Lehrer Show is marking 25 years of Brian at WNYC with a year-by-year look at stories that mattered from 1989 to 2014. Find the full schedule and lots more here.

Also today, Donna Brazile reflects on the hope for change when President Obama was elected.

Ai Weiwei's 'Snake Ceiling', which uses children's backpacks to commemorate the children killed in the Sichuan earthquake. 

(Collection of Larry Warsh)

In August 2008, China hosted the Olympic games in Beijing. In May, nearly 70,000 people died in the Sichuan earthquake - including many children who died in poorly built schools.

We hear from the renowned Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei who worked on the design for the Bird's Nest Olympic stadium and spoke out about the handling of the earthquake disaster about freedom of speech in China today and his reflections on that important year for China. And we speak with Louisa Lim, visiting professor of Journalism at the University of Michigan, former NPR Beijing correspondent, and author of The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited, about how 2008 changed the way the Chinese people see their government, and how the world sees China.