It’s over, the four days' volunteering work for the Women’s Forum Asia. What impact did it have on us except the tiredness and a series of missed classes?

For me, I consider it as my first true experience in society. I tasted the flavor of various kinds of people: their clothing, behaviors, attitude, and thoughts. I think I grew more mature through the whole Forum. Looking back, I find myself just like a treasure hunter.

The most significant thing for me is the conversations I had with one and a half dozen people. It really required courage for me to do so. I remember that on my first day, I was so worried about whether these successful people would listen to me and talk with me. What if they would not even take a look at me! However, things turned out to be just fine. Quite a lot of people showed much interest and concern about us university volunteers. Moreover, many kind women and men even agreed to build future connections with us! How exciting! Through our little chats, I could feel their care for the next generation. One woman said that it is their responsibility and honor to guide adolescents out of puzzles and wrong ways, which is part of their social commitment.

On the other hand, I fully experienced the work of people who had more labor-oriented jobs. We worked packing bags, and I talked with hotel employees and the volunteers at the registration desks and helping guide people from one place to another. I became aware of their thoughts and ideas--how to do everything well, and how to think through the customers’ minds.

Moreover, I organized my thoughts by processing words for the blogs. After listening to many sessions, I found myself so full that I had to digest them and reorganize them to write. I had to efficiently condense my thoughts so that everyone reading the blogs would feel at ease and relaxed. As a college student, I can obviously adopt this method to academic study.

These are the treasures I have found. Definitely there are more than what I have just written about. And my fellow bloggers are sure to have more things to express. If you would like to hear these things, contact us! We are enthusiastic, and will share every treasure that we have got. Welcome!

I used to think that women do have the ability to achieve success. I wondered, though, what kind of success? What will these successful women look like? Will they feel really happy about their jobs? I was not quite sure and my belief was not so firm before attending the Women’s Forum Asia.

However, when I saw so many top women gathering together discussing the issues they're concerned about, I felt my doubt disappear. Whenever I talked to them I could see the passion in their eyes, which told me they are really in a good condition and they love their job.

One speaker told me that loving what you do is very important. “If you can do a job until 3 o’clock in the morning without noticing the time, that must be the job you love deeply and is worth pursuing in your life,” she said.

I also remember a lady from Hong Kong who said that many youngsters often complain they have high pressure. “I can’t see that,” she said. “These young people should feel lucky because they have jobs. They should learn to love what they are doing.” Then she said she was 60 years old. I felt surprised because she only looked like she was 40. She was an optimistic, energetic and sunshiny person, one who I just wanted to talk with more.

Unlike many people I've met in my life who complain a lot, many of the participants are artists about life, who have wide vision. They seldom show any negative emotion. A Miss Shi encouraged me to just prepare for the best.

When you decide to do something, you should show the willingness to do that and put your heart into it. Love yourself, love others, and also, remember to love your job. That is attitude. Life is about attitude!

We all know that there are urgent problems which are caused by demographic changes, one of which is the rapidly growing aging population. Currently 11.6% of the population is the old; however, around 2050 that figure will rise to 31%. When I listened to the speaker in “Building The Social Systems That Will Ensure Sustainability” say that, I was astonished.

Imagine that when we, who are 20-year-old youngsters currently, are more than 60, one in three people we see on the street will be old people, just like us! I suppose that when we do the shopping at that time, we will see numerous shops and stores opened, and there will also be some fashion magazines just for the old, which will be really a large group! So how to deal with the aging population should also be our concern, because everyone is in the process of aging!

One of the speakers, Li Bao Ku, mentioned that there is a traditional Chinese Culture of Xiao Dao, which means people should raise their parents, respect them, make suggestions to them and also do that to others’ parents. However, this kind of culture is dying away. I think that no matter what people in other countries are doing, we should stick to this kind of culture, which is a very important virtue in history--a tradition that has been passed from generation to generation. Globalization and change doesn’t mean losing our style!

I heard several important ideas today: that the ever-widening gap between the wealthy and the poor must be narrowed; that rapidly accelerating urbanization and environmental protection must be balanced; and that we must make China better understood in the world. I think there are no definite answers to these big questions, and there are no short cuts to resolution. The Women's Forum is an illumination which enlightens and calls to attention those people who lead the way on public issues. People put their ideas together, but whether they can be realized is still a question. There is always a gap between a sketch and a finished picture.

In the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards tonight, the speakers summarized their thoughts about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur into five words: courage, determination, confidence, patience, and persistence. I think these words can not only be applied to each of those young women starting a company, but also to leaders who want to make a country better. Both are complex situations where the gap between the sketch and the finished picture exists, but we must move ahead. Human beings are the ones who have to build a bridge across the gap, and sometimes the only way to do this is to start walking and seek the way while we walk.

I attended the Cartier Awards to see potential leaders in Asia come out due to the help of Cartier. Cartier really supports those whose ideas are innovative and will have positive impacts on the society and economy. How does one become a person with such qualities? Six successful and promising women on the stage gave us the following words as suggestions:

Confidence: It is regarded as the priority. Nobody can achieve or just do something successfully without confidence. I remember that someone (who didn’t us to mention her name) said, “Successful persons have less pressure.” Well, I bet some of you will not agree, but what she emphasized was that successful people were confident enough to deal with pressure.

Instinct: It is a kind of quality you were born with, such as seeing the suffering in the world and wanting to make it a better place.

Courage: I think it is a basic quality a will-be successful woman should own. If someone is not brave enough to speak out, how can she be remarkable ultimately?

Determination: Everything is changing every second in our market. If a leader is not able to make decisions at once, or to overcome obstacles, how can a corporation survive?

Patience: Especially in DEVELOPING countries, people seem to be very anxious to make their dream come true or to achieve success as soon as possible. However, haste does not always produce desired results.

Commitment: We have CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) already, but I do think it is possible to keep a promise, and to know clearly what you are going to do and what impact you will bring to the society and economy. The more successful you are, the more responsibilities you should take.

Persistence: Failure is the mother of success is a good explanation of this word. As soon as you decide to do something, whatever difficulties you will meet with, just move on and insist on success.

I hope women’s voices being heard by more and more people, since they are really playing a more and more important role in society. The words these women shared are worth remembering.

What kind of business talent is needed?
How can we college students make efforts to develop ourselves?
What is the true meaning of advanced education?

I have so many questions and I got the answers from the session called “Building the Next Generation of Business Leadership, The Challenge of Developing Talent” this morning. As a future candidate for business jobs, it is really nice for me to know how the Boards and CEOs of a company think of their prospective leaders and how they intend to cultivate talents.

As Jing Ulrich, the managing director of JP Morgan pointed out, the future business leadership should question authority, know how to innovate, have multicultural skills, think creatively, and have very good interpersonal skills. In fact, I wanted to have some further discussion with her not only because she is the chairman of China Equities, a big investment bank, which I am always interested in, but also because she speaks coherently, clearly and raises good ideas. However, she had a meeting and had to leave the room in a hurry.

Later, I had a short conversation with Wing-Dar Ker, who is the general manager of Microsoft in the Asia-Pacific and Greater China Region. He is a friendly and talkative man who gave me some inspiration. Our conversation started with education, which was an issue raised by him during the meeting. He said that college education should not be job training, but it should give students a solid foundation and system of knowledge that they can continue to build on after graduation. It should also teach students to learn to take advantage of their strengths, because every successful person knows what they are really good at. Nowadays, what some people see and their definition of success may be a little too narrow because of the market-driven world. Different people have different characteristics. Different leaders can also have different styles of leadership. Most importantly, he also told us to do what we love.

Whenever I talked with some of these leaders, they all give me an impression of knowledge. They can keep talking for quite a long time and make their points easy to understand.

Some of the points about how to become a leader are valuable, but also modest and simple, such as, “do what you say, say what you believe”, “forgive”, “have a sense of pride”, and “listen to others”. When a lady said wittily that when companies show the number of top women leaders not to just fill the numbers, but because they are really capable, we’ll know we’ve arrived, everyone burst out laughing.

I am Inspired!

When I announced I was to attend Women’s Forum Asia, my roommates were astonished because they failed to figure out why I, a man, would volunteer in such a forum.. Well, “because I’d like to,” I said, “since they will talk about what roles women should play to help development”. This is true; however, I am also here for the women on my campus.

After listening to the discussion leaders’ presentation about “Creating a Work-Life Balance in a Stressful Environment”, I realized I had some questions to raise about study-life balance, as we regard “study” as “work”. I chatted with Hung Huang, CEO of CIMG, which publishes iLook and Time Out magazines. I asked her how we students, who are under great pressure, could balance study and life.

“Set one goal at one time, but when things mix you up, do what makes you feel happy, what you really enjoy and what is the most important instead of thinking what will benefit you in the future,” was what she told me.

“What should my female classmates do to reduce pressure while preparing for their future?” I raised my second question.

“Be lazy,” was her answer, since she thinks that schoolgirls themselves increase their own pressure. They create the following worries: “I want to be slimmer.” “How can I be more beautiful?”, “I have to be smart besides having a good appearance.” “Where can I find my Prince Charming?” It is really true that women add more pressure. So, remember…“be lazy!”

The Women’s Forum is hot, not only for the participants, but also for the volunteers.

We 30 volunteers from SILC, Shanghai University, are pouring all our enthusiasm into the duty. All the volunteers, wherever they are (Pudong Airport, Hongqiao Airport, or Shangri-la Hotel), find themselves so happy helping with the Forum that they think this experience worthwhile.

However, the volunteering work is by no means an easy task. We have to concentrate on the events happening at each of our workplaces throughout the day. Where there is an incident, there is a need for volunteers. Welcoming guests at the airport, guiding participants to the proper room, placing the seats in neat rows, laying booklets in the Plenary Room, helping deliver microphones to questioners—these are all places where we are needed.

The most important thing for us is the sense of commitment. In order to ensure there is a volunteer on duty, many have skipped lunch and stuck to where they belong. But meanwhile, we do not lack flexibility, which means we are ready to make up the absence if the person at a position needs extra help. And in that way, we are able to keep everything running smoothly.

After a days’ work, almost every volunteer tells me that they can’t find where their poor feet are because they are too exhausted to move. At the same time we feel busy and tired, we also feel ourselves being helpful and responsible. We feel our efforts have paid off when we receive thanks from participants. We strongly believe that everyone can make a difference, no matter who you are.

During the 3 1/2 days of the Women’s Forum, we three lucky bloggers will not only attend all the sessions, but also have meals together and talk with CEOs of world-known companies, leaders of non-profit organizations, top politicians, artists, and famous writers. The women around us are all noble and respectable. “They look so beautiful and glorious,” a friend of mine said. And how can they be so, I wondered. Fortunately, I have got the chance to see them all the time and have some talk with them occasionally. After a day’s participating in the event, I feel I am somewhat different from when I was on the taxi to the hotel yesterday morning. I know have gradually absorbed some virtue subconsciously.

When a nice young woman from the Association for International Friendly Contact sat next to me at lunch, we talked about how to balance being firm inside and being not so aggressive outside. She had some really very good points. She said, “You should know your heart and have principles, so that you will not be just following other people.” She added that those who follow other people will always fall behind the trends and the tide. When you know your own principles, you will be acting naturally because you are not being someone else. You will have balance inside and look relaxed outside. Only that is the real confidence. Her ideas impressed me.

In the afternoon, I attended “Women Business Leaders in Asia” and saw some excellent business talent. In Xu Shuqing, the Chairperson of the Zhongheng Group, I saw a generous and motherlike figure who has donated 40 million to charity on her own. Wang Li, the Vice-President of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce, is an independent and courageous woman who described current women in the world as smart, capable and lovely. Another woman suggested that women should work much more as unifiers, and that team work is very important. I suppose that is why there are so many networking break sessions, because people need to talk and communicate. I think the common characteristic of those women is that they are all devoted to what they love and they keep the passion, which makes them gorgeous.

For a one-word conclusion for each of the five speakers, I would say, “competent, generous, practical, diligent and unifying.” They are great examples to look up to.

One thing I heard today has me thinking a lot. Equality, or fairness, is what we chase in our whole life, but will never be accomplished. I recall that one woman asked a question about where to find the shared growth and income fairness. Well, there was a loud applause, but I prefer to applaud the speaker who responded there would never be fairness at all--that fairness only makes things worse-- while instead, we could give children the opportunity to learn.

Let’s just take a minute to think about the Soviet Union and China in the mid- to late 20th century. (There was a period of time when my parents lived in the society with equality. Everyone was fairly treated then so they ate meals together, earned the same wage and bonus, etc.). What did the egalitarianism bring us? Our society nearly stopped growing, since everyone felt satisfied, as they shared the same and lost their motivation to make progress and be better. The result was that our country stopped developing. On the contrary, we do need to give everyone the chance to be not only educated, but well-educated, as it’s the only way each can survive and struggle for his or her definition of fairness.

To perfect the educational system and give as many children as possible the chance to receive education is what our government has been doing all the time. The reason is mainly because we need highly educated people to help our country to keep developing in a fast pace, and only skilled persons have the qualities and abilities to survive in a jungle rules world.

As a matter of fact, education always has something to do with governments’ main concerns and crucial policies. Our government created regulations to decrease the amount of homework, and increase more extracurricular activities to reduce pupils’ burden; sent out scholarships and subsidies to help the poor have the chance to change their lives; made high school education or even college education prevail for more and more students… Bill Clinton, who is one of my superheroes, focused on education during his presidency. We can see how fast America was developing those years (It’s true that there were many other policies that helped the growth that time, but education was one of his most important innovative aspects). If even one of the most powerful countries takes so much notice on education, how can developing or underdeveloped countries ignore it? We are all talking about sustainable development, so none of us can underestimate the importance of education rather than emphasizing on fairness. Women dedicate a lot to education, so growth and sustainability have much to do with women.

In China, we regard teachers as gardeners, and students as flowers figuratively, and people to be or being educated are promising for the future of their country. But flowers need good gardeners to take care of, so we need more and more qualified women to devote to “fairness”.

It seems that the word “CHANGE” has become a prevailing word throughout the world. Candidates emphasize CHANGE as their concern to win polls; ways of communicating changed because of hi-tech; lifestyles are CHANGING because of globalization; and even the theme of CHANGE is in the Women’s Forum Asia’s topics today.

When the speakers talked about how to contribute to economic growth and sustainability, Bruno Lafont from LaFarge focused on CHANGING traditional construction and the composition of cement, since urbanization requires more and more buildings. Many of the practices which create these buildings contribute to global warming and other environmental problems, thus preventing the world, and especially China, who is building so much so quickly, from growth and sustainability. I appreciated their concern about environmental issues, as I am an activist in such problems. Think about tornados in America, think about the growing devastation of the hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, the heavy snowfalls in China, and the heat wave in India that lasted for nearly a month. The earth is really sending us a pressing message that the climate is CHANGING, so what we need to do now is to CHANGE as well. We cannot just leave it to governments or international organizations, but each one of us has to make a commitment and take action.

In the session about China and India, the two new economic powerhouses, it was mentioned that they are significantly reshaping the global economic and business scene. I know clearly, however, that China is not strong enough economically, though her GDP continues to grow year after year. Maybe it’s the same case in India, as the speakers, also mentioned that what these two countries, as well as the rest of the world needs, is CHANGE.

Mentioning globalization, we regard it as an invader at first, but the fact is that we need globalization to reshape the rules of doing business and enhance cooperation to ensure long-term growth. Change is the basic foundation for this. In China we are troubled by piracy, natural disasters, prevailing diseases, political systems not being so open, and industries depending on manufacturing rather than high-tech, while India has a population problem since they have no one-child policy as that in China, and their economy is not so open. Therefore, we need to CHANGE ourselves by learning from failures and other countries, and increase communications with the rest of the world for everyone to survive sustainably, as we now have a world economy, not just the economies of individual countries.

One of the speakers, Clyde Prestowitz, said that environmental issues like global warming will decelerate growth or even destroy sustainability. Nobody wants to see such a tragedy happen. If China and India fall, the rest of the world falls, too, so actions such as announcing constraints on buying products “Made In China” affect not only China, but everyone. Therefore, the whole world needs to CHANGE.

It’s easy to say but hard to do. We can see how many remarkable women have played an important role to society and economy. We know we can make things CHANGE if we pay attention the issues the Women's Forum Asia is talking about. Why not take action and make inferior things CHANGE right now?

This was a day full of harvest and vigor for us.

In the morning, we saw so many beautiful and glorious women. They looked so well not only in appearance, but also in manner. I feel in a very good mood.

The program started with the great founder and president of the women’s forum, Aude Zieseniss de Thuin delivering an opening speech. Then some of the organizers and leaders gave us a brief introduction about the three-day theme of the forum, which is “Growth and Sustainability”.

After that I attended a plenary session, “China-India: How They Are Impacting The World”, which is a universal topic and gave me a lot of knowledge which cannot be learned in college. The speaker profoundly compared China’s problems and challenges with India’s. As a young Chinese who loves her country deeply, I am aware that though China is making great achievements, there are still piracy problems, serious earthquakes, and an aging population which needs extra support. The speaker said that the differences between India and China are that they have different population policies, India has a more open political environment, China has a more open economic situation, and India's legal system is better-built than China's, so we should really learn from them. India is providing the hi-tech, and China is the factory of the world. In order to build a hi-tech industry, China should emphasize the protection of copy-rights and learn to cooperate and let the outside world know us.

Also, there may be three kinds of phenomena in sustainability which are:

1. The exchange rate in Asia will rise by 50%.
2. The environmental problems, especially the water crisis, will cause more and more desert to appear.
3. The developing countries will lead the way of changing of the life-style for the entire world.

Where there are problems, we firmly and confidently believe that there must be ways to solve them. I realize that we bring those important people who care so much about the society to this forum because these issues are not only a country’s issues, but also the whole world’s issues. We stand together to solve not my problems or your problems, but our problems.

I am also glad when the speaker said that the power of the world has started changing, because some of the developing countries, such as China and India, are growing stronger. The world will no longer be a world with only two or three powerful countries. A lot of countries will share the power and the world will be more complex and sophisticated, but more cooperation is required for that to happen.

Thanks to the sessions! They are giving us a wider horizon to care more about the whole world we live in. I am honored because I have a clear window to look out from. We youngsters have hopes in and are the hopes of the future!

Since the 7.8-Richter scale earthquake happened in western China, it has drawn much attention. In today’s conferences, the speakers mentioned the catastrophe and expressed their concern. During lunch time, two interpreters sitting beside me told me that they felt really anxious when they heard the sorrowful news, because the children under the disaster made them think of their own. “What if the child buried under the ruins were mine? How terrible! How will his parents feel! I must help!” The Women's Forum gave everyone a chance to donate money at lunch today, and they both donated a lot, as many others did. Tender Loving Care, I think, that’s our motto. However, the victims were not the only thing we took into consideration during the day.

After attending several conferences, I found myself really appreciating the stage the Women’s Forum provided for the audience to question and talk with the panels of speakers. Some of the questions were quite sharp and difficult to answer, but the speakers mostly did that wonderfully and wisely, which gave me a solid impression that if you want to be successful and strong, you have to be quick-minded and ready to face every possible challenge. And from my little conversations with some participants, I got a lot about what really concerns them. They were all friendly enough to share ideas with me.

While talking with them, someone mentioned that, in the past, women had to act like men if they wanted to succeed, to try to be as tough and hard as men were. However, the condition changed over time and some women gradually were able to build their own solution style. Now "women's style" is recognized, which I'm happy about, because personally, I don’t like the idea at all of having to act like men to be successful. I agree that the diversity can actually refresh the business field.

I do feel the urge to share my ideas with schoolmates since we are from SILC. We care about our career orientation and future. I believe the notion of “women's solution style” will help us young women, and young men, a lot. I can’t wait to tell them!

“Tired, fatigued, wearing, exhausted”--these were the only words that passed thorough my thoughts when I was helping pack gift bags during my first day volunteering. However, when I got back home and was sitting on the couch recalling what I had done on Day One, “incredible, excited, fantastic, and even "très bien" appeared into my eyes.

I got up really early today (May 14, 2008) to attend Women’s Forum Asia as a volunteer, since I wanted to give the staff a good first impression as I represented SILC, Shanghai University. I was a little bit nervous on my way to the Shangri La Hotel, since I couldn’t stop thinking about those outstanding and well-known people I was going to meet and communicate with. My heart beat even faster as soon as I entered the hotel. Nevertheless, I felt smooth when I saw Bruno Vinay, Managing Director, who was in charge. He was really a nice guy, as he kept smiling all the time and treated us as indeed friends. These things really helped us reduce the pressure and devote ourselves to the tasks as soon as possible.

After a short meeting with Bruno and Yaël Smadja, whose company is producing the event. we were told to help pack “Toll Bags”. There was a lot of stuff, like the Women’s Forum Asia White Book, The Women’s Forum Asia 2008 Yearbook, Program and Practical Information, etc., included that would help us bloggers and participants a lot in the next few days. I could tell that everyone was sweating in a small room filled with various kinds of things to be packaged, and I heard the applause outside of the room when they were done. But unfortunate news came that there was one more thing to package when we finished our lunch. Marin, Pegasus and I, who do the blog, went back and redid the bags. As Susan, our teacher, said, “everything is changing every second, and sometimes, we can just play it by ear.” Fortunately, we could always make things happen and work it out. As Bruno said, “We are a small company, but do huge things.”

Thinking about how huge the hotel is, you can tell how huge such a forum is and how hard it is to get everything organized. Therefore, we have to do everything well and perfect every tiny detail. Bruno emphasized what we did today was not intellectual, but I did think it essential and indispensable. I call it “Our Road to Tomorrow”, similar to SILC's slogan of “Your Road To the Future”. We were paving the way to greet participants the next day. Aude Zieseniss De Thuin made things happen, we are making things happen and the participants, especially women, will make things happen!

I missed the Inaugural evening of the Women’s Forum Asia thanks to my hosting a closing ceremony on my campus, but I have to say that Day One left me so many good memories and I am now expecting my challenge after the sun’s rising tomorrow.

The first time in China, the first time in Asia, the first time held abroad, the Women’s Forum has represented us with so many “firsts”. The moment we group of volunteers arrived at the Shangri-la Hotel, we were strongly seized by our first impression of the conference – even though it was still under preparation.

We came to the hotel one day before the conference began. So some of us volunteers (including me) helped prepare information bags for the participants. It was not until hours later that we finally finished that huge project. However, this tough work did gave us a silhouette of the hard-working staff and the complexity of such a big forum. "How shall we arrange a big event like this? Is there anything we may refer to, or is there anything we can change for the better?" we were thinking as we worked. As you can see, we volunteers were also working our thoughts and minds.

Then came the training process. Other volunteers were trained in details separately according to their duty. Many said that they felt so involved that they couldn’t wait till tomorrow’s opening, which will absolutely add to their sense of achievement.

Being a lucky dog, I was invited to attend the inaugural evening of the Women’s Forum Asia, which lay a strong impression on me. We saw many celebrities coming to the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum, and I actually grasped some opportunity to have brief talks. We talked a lot with the president of the Practical Skills Training Center for Rural Women. Their efforts help some of the rural young women get out of the accessory position of men and make contributions through their hard work and education. Moreover, I also had a delightful conversation with several successful business women, from whom I saw the bright future of women. And we were able to tell them something about our little “women’s discussion group” organization in Shanghai University. I could tell that they were quite concerned about the difficulties we Chinese college girls are facing and that proper guidance is needed. I was so happy to feel their willingness to have a further connections with us, along with their care of every woman in the world, which is what the Women’s Forum wants to encourage.

May 14, 2008 was a pretty busy day for the organizers of the Women’s Forum Asia, since all the work had to be done before the opening on May 15 and the pre-registration started that evening.

As volunteers and official bloggers for the forum, we three, Kevin, Pegasus, and me, who are three curious, warm-hearted and passionate college freshman students, together with our teacher, Susan, arrived at the Shangri La Hotel, which is one of the most prestigious hotels in Shanghai, early. On the way to the hotel, we were eager to find out what the meeting place would be like, how such a grand and influential event was being prepared, and what kind of inspiration it would bring to our lives.

On arriving at the conference place, we had a deeper understanding of both the forum and our tasks from the managing director, Bruno. A lot of things should be taken into consideration and pre-arranged in holding such a big forum. All the details have to be well-organized to make sure all the things run smoothly. Even the preparation for the bags of gifts and booklets took us volunteers a lot of time. Imagine that there will be over 700 delegates and guests, and 90 high level speakers. When we finished stuffing the heavy bags, transported them to the storage room and put them in order, unluckily we were informed that there was another kind of booklet left, so we had to start over. After finishing that we were really exhausted and didn’t move any more. In fact, stuffing the bags was only a very little thing. However, when I saw the workers busily arranging the plenary room, moving fixtures and furniture, other volunteers doing the registration jobs, the leaders assinging jobs to the helpers, and our students going to buy materials, I know so much patience is required to finish the great task. And that is just only the work we can see. What about the work we can’t sees?

Luckily, there is so much support and help; there are so many people who care about our society's growth and sustainability, and there is a will, which is to make a difference to our world by coming together.

It was an honor for me to attend the Inaugural Evening in the Shanghai Urban Planning Center. Some Shanghai municipality and leaders of the Shanghai Women’s Federation, who helped the Women's Forum create this event, also attended. The next three days will be some of my most memorable days. I am looking forward to talking with so many excellent people and listening to the sessions, and I think I will have a wonderful time.