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.