 Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. My name is Qianwei from Beijing. It's great to be one of my great friends on the stage with all of you. Thank you for coming to today's session, Inside with Yao Chen. The whole session is likely to be in Chinese for our conversation. But at the very beginning I would use English just to briefly introduce the content of our session and also Yao Chen, who is sitting here with me. Well, she has many titles. There are 78 million Chinese followers of her on Chinese social media. Meanwhile, she starred in various TV series and movies which has one viewership of millions, hundreds of millions in China. We Chinese have to be careful. But these are not necessarily all about her. One part of her life recently over the past six years has a lot to do with the refugee situation in the world. She's been to many parts of the world to look at the situation of the refugees and she's also been very passionately promoting the cause of protection of the refugees, not only in China, but also in the international community. So in that way, I'm very honored. Very honored to be with the Goodwill Ambassador of UNHCR, Yao Chen, to ask her to talk about her story and what she learned from refugees. This session, in order to give you a general idea of what Miss Yao has been doing over the past few years, let's take a look at a piece of short video. We'll put the video now. Thank you. I just want to tell you a story, a story of desperation and sadness, but also of hope after disaster. There are beginnings and endings of more than 40 million in the world. We expect to hear from you so that we can share this story. How cute was that boy? That little boy was so cute at the end of it. Well, today, this is my third time that I participate in three one-day talks on refugees. This morning, Christine Lacar talked about it from the IMF's point of view. This morning, Dr. Schwab talked about refugees with the President of Germany today. And right now, we would like to hear from the point of view of a woman from China and also from the point of view of the Goodwill Ambassador of UNHCR. You still remember the shots we saw in the video? Well, it was 2004. We were visiting a refugee camp in Syria. It was a trailer of the documentary. Right. It was refugees in Lebanon, but they were Syrians. How can I talk about this? Refugees are a group that are made up of individuals. I'm an individual myself. And I think every year, my visits are individual to individuals. Indeed, people are watching the issue of refugees. This is the biggest crisis we face now in the world. You've been to Lebanon. I noticed that in your video, you held a little child in your arms that you looked really, you were smiling. You looked like a mother, almost. And also towards the end of the video, that was a child, too. Do you remember what it was like at the time? Where did they come from? And did you talk to their parents? What did they say to you about their story? And how did those stories make you feel? Well, what struck me most of all of these visits is children. Because we all think that children are the future of a country. They have these innocent eyes looking at you with kindness. They smile. It was impossible to imagine that these were children from war and they were refugees themselves. We captured many images with children. In all their eyes, I saw hope. But when you talked to them, their childhood was practically ruined by war. In the video earlier, there was a girl by the name of Laura. I recall our visit to her. She was very timid. She was hiding behind her mother. But she smiled at us all the time. Then her mother said to me, in fact, she was quite an extrovert, seeing bombs falling in front of her eyes and destroying the village. And also her best friends dying in front of her. Then she changed. She became an introvert even at night. She would wake up shouting yelling from her dreams. She was very scared. Hearing that, I felt heartbroken. She was going to be a happy young girl. She should have been worried free. But war left such wounds. Indeed, in media, we often hear similar stories. There seems to be a commonality between them. In other words, there's something common between them. These are real events taking place on individuals. It's very different from telling a story afterwards because those things change their lives. Children, particularly the three-year-old child on that beach, when that child died, I think that was the image that moved the world. But the question is, how do we change that? We have sympathy. But then how do we introduce change? I know you talked to some of the refugees in Lebanon. Where did they live? What was it like? When you were visiting them, how did they talk to you about how they felt? Did they say they wanted to go home? Last year, because of security and also UNHCR, our staff needed to deal with about 20 million refugees every day. They were under a lot of pressure. They were not able to accompany us every day on our visits and therefore the arrangement was for us to visit some of the refugees that had been settled around cities. Although it was a settlement in name, but their shelter was practically like just a shelter indeed. There weren't even windows installed. That was how they lived. But to them, it was already very good. At least there was no immediate threat to their lives. Did you have a chance to chat to them? Indeed, we talked quite a lot to them. Was there anyone that struck you as a particular... Well, including Laura that I was telling you about, because she was very afraid. So I recalled after our conversation, she liked drawing so she drew a little watermelon on my hand, a little fish. So I drew a little cat. I said, this is my cat. The name is Barton. And this cat will protect you so that you don't need to be afraid anymore. I'm sure she would not want to wash her hand because she wanted to keep the cat. Well, the saddest thing is whenever we visit, it seems that we are bringing hopes to them and their expectation. I feel that it's just so heavy on my shoulder. For example, after our visit to Laura's family, as we were leaving, Laura was just following us. After we'd reached the bottom of the stairs, we realized that she had been with us all along. She just looked at us. I could see tears in her eyes. So I had another photo taken with her. I held her hands and I said to her, I hope we'll be happy one day and be able to return to your home. Did she want to go home? Yes, very much so. In my recollection, no refugee said they didn't want to return home. Also, Syrian refugees are in Lebanon. I remember meeting this mother. She was pregnant. She was about to give birth to the sixth child. Five of them ran away with her during war. Her youngest child was still a baby. It was just over a month old. And in the shelter they were in, she went to work. And it rained. There was a short circuit. The shelter caught fire and the baby died in the fire. When we were there, we had a small photo of that baby hanging on the wall. And she told us that was her child. She looked firm, calm, as if she was talking about the past. Perhaps war has wounded the hearts already so deeply. Well, in Syria, in history, we've heard about goodwill ambassadors, for example, Angelina Jolie. Oh, she's still there. She's still this one, yes. Well, as ambassadors, you come from culture, society, and economy, very different from the refugees. And perhaps to some extent, those differences will have an impact on how you see refugees and how to resolve the problems. So I'd just like to ask you about that. You've come from Fujian province of China. And after some time, I think you, well, Fujian provinces in the south of China, relatively, it's quite a well-off province. And then you went to Beijing to learn folk dance of China. Then you went to the Beijing Film Academy, the famous one in China. And then you became a big star of film and TV in China. Many people think, so what is the connection between you and refugees then? In other words, this empathy, is it just limited to telling a story? To what extent are we able to change their fate? I think these are the questions many people will have. Well, in films, I play the roles of a refugee, well, immigrant, but I had no idea of what refugee was, what, yeah, migrant, immigrant. They're different from refugees, indeed. Refugees were forced out of their home. Since I started as an ambassador, it's been six years nearly, six years ago, when they phoned us, asking me to consider becoming their spokesperson. We had no clue at all, really, about refugees. Other than what we saw on TV, about refugees in Africa, we thought refugees were the result of famine. During the first year, I visited Manila, Philippines. We visited the refugees in cities. They were known as invisible people. Even then, I had only a half-hearted understanding, but I was deeply touched already. I came into a world that I had known nothing about. During subsequent visits, possibly about three to four years ago, I was even considering quitting, because in China, it was difficult to talk about issue for refugees within China. Each year, I ask myself, what else can I do for them? I feel I've done very little, little, very little for them. But there is one thing I must accept. After visits each year, I've received more strength from them than I have given them. Well, this is something interesting. You've mentioned that in China, if you want to talk about refugee issues and conduct discussions, it's difficult, because it's not one of the priorities in China, but of course, in recent history, China used to have refugees because of war, et cetera. But in the last few decades, we've not seen anything like that now. So when you talk to people about your visits to refugee camps, and when you are talking about a nation completely different from China, when you hope your Chinese friends to work together with you to change the fate of the refugees, you probably get this question from many. Why is it that you are bothered? There are so many things in China to do. China at least thinks that it's a developing country, and there are people in poverty in China. There are issues like migrant workers, so you mentioned migrants. So when you are talking to people about these stories about refugees, do you think people understand in China? Some do. Some not really. In fact, today, I read something written by the press officer who initially contacted me many years ago. He is now working in Turkey. He said in his note that Yao Chen received many negative comments on behalf of UNHCR, because the challenge was there are so many people who are still hungry in China. Why do you spend your time working in other countries? Of course, people, poor people in China, need help, but there are many people working to help them, including me. But to go outside China to work for those refugees, that's not a large number of people. Well, I haven't spoken to you very much. Prior to this session, I was talking to you. I mentioned one of my friends has said that your spring has come in brackets, spring in brackets, because people now do watch the issue of refugees, particularly in Iraq and in Syria. Even when I chair TV programs, two to three days each week, we'll be talking about refugees. So this means that there's a much higher degree of awareness. And you said also, people are more aware now. At the same time, it makes you feel rather sad, although people are watching. But it's sad because it's a crisis indeed. I wish there were no refugees. Refugees mean there's war somewhere in the world. Of course, we really hope that everyone lives happily in their own company. I wish I was not having to do this one day. That would be a very nice, great vision. Can you tell us how does UNCR work together with you to help refugees? What have you done so far? Well, basically, the main thing is visits each year. Nothing changes that. This year, we'll be going to Pakistan to visit refugees from Afghanistan. So I was a little bit hesitant, not for my own sake. But people that come with me each year are all volunteers. They have their own jobs, happy families. They're usually six to seven people. Are they all Chinese? Yes, they are. Some of them are journalists or people that work with me or friends. This year, I was rather hesitant. Twice, I said to my team, this year was going to be rather special. I hoped that you would all think about it. You could say no now. But the interesting thing is that I send these messages out twice, but I had no response. So I'm very touched. And I feel, indeed, I feel the pressure because this is like you are going with several lives in your hands because they didn't respond to my request. Therefore, they were all coming. Well, when you publicize these stories on Sina MicroBlock, we've got 78 million people watching, following you. What do they comment? Well, those comments change over time, too. The first year, it was mostly negative, questioning me, saying about the same thing. We have so many refugees in China. Why don't you work in China? Why do you need to do other people? Well, not refugees. There's just people in China that need help. Or indeed, well, at the time, people didn't see the difference between refugees and people need help. So we often replied to these postings and comments one by one to tell them what's the difference between refugees and people that need help. Gradually, I think starting from our visit to Africa, that was quite a turning point. I started to notice that the comments changed about half of the people were questioning me. The other half were encouraging me. Some even helped me to respond to those people that didn't understand the issue of the refugee. That change was a great surprise to us. Well, just to tell you, Weibo is rather like a Facebook in China. The year before, we did some work on Baidu's search engine. We saw UNHCE ranked number four in the top 100 search words. This was unimaginable before then. Our team and the UNHCR people were really happy. Oh, they said that they found the right person to do the job. Because prior to this in China, nobody thought about the issue of refugees. And nobody wanted to know, really. Well, I think this is perhaps a transition for you too, because in the work you did before, you were martial artist in a comedy because you were quite a lot of this fighting for justice. And then it was a TV soap. It was undercover, Communist Party member, how to collect intelligence, all the rest of it. Now, those images are very different from the person you are now looking after refugees. So people need to see you differently, seeing you from the screen down to the reality. Well, indeed, since you talked about it, well, there is some threat there. Because when I was young, I wanted to be a police woman. In my bone, perhaps in my blood, I always wanted to do something for other people. I always feel that I can't stand injustice. And that part of me, perhaps, come across from time to time in Weibo. So sometimes, although it looks like coincidence, but very often it is actually a choice you made subconsciously. I think you're rather like me, perhaps. So every day, we watch refugees, whether it's media in China or when we travel around the world. We come across a lot of things about refugees. So I'm just wondering now, as the Goodwill Ambassador of UNHCR, you are talking and working with people that think about this on a daily basis, and also those people who live and work with refugees. When you see the news, how do you feel? Well, I have several angles here. Number one, from the point of view of a Goodwill Ambassador. Secondly, from the point of view of a woman. And thirdly, from the point of view of an artist. Because artists are usually quite exposed to emotional impact. A lot of goodness in there. So there are different angles here. Today, what's happening to refugees? What does that mean to you in all these three ways? Well, I used to think these things were very far away from me. But each year, each visit makes me feel that I'm closer to them. They are flesh and blood just like me. They have their own stories. They used to have their own lives. They would like to have what you often have. Oh, they have worries too. But all these things are ruined by war. I think visits in the last couple of years have really made me feel how they feel. Coming back from Lebanon, I had a dream in the afternoon. In my dream, I went down to the supermarket downstairs. Upon my return, you often buy things from the supermarket downstairs. Oh, really? Well, this is a big news it's going to be to your fans. Well, OK, just a joke. So when I returned, I found that my home was bombed to pieces. It was just a sunny afternoon. It was smoke everywhere. And there were helicopters in the sky. People were running, scattering. And I was pushed forward by the crowds. I didn't know where my family members were. And we hid ourselves in the ruins. We were hungry. We were thirsty. And there, I really missed my home, my family, and the great life of green grass and sun and children. So I started crying. And I woke up crying. I thought it was just a dream. Then I immediately thought that was exactly what those refugees had gone through. So I cried even more. That was when you felt rather powerless. After visiting Afghan refugees in Pakistan, we visited a school, met many children. We shouldn't just feel powerless. We need to find a solution, perhaps they do already. Yeah. This time, I feel deeply touched. Because at several schools, I asked those children, what do you want to do when you grow up? I was very surprised. Many of them had the same answer. They wanted to be in the military, whether it was a boy or a girl. Only this small or that big. Rather like you wanted to be a policeman? No, I don't think it's the same idea. I asked a local teacher, Akhila. She's the winner of a Nathan refugee prize. I asked her why. She said, the situation in Afghanistan is such that it's been more for 35 years. The longest lasting refugee issue. Pakistan is not stable. So in the heart of these children, being a soldier, you'll be able to defend your country and to resolve all problems and to stop war, to protect families. Indeed, they said that every day, they were talking about war every day. Children asked teachers every day, why are we here? Why are we so poor? Why do we not have anything? Why can't our country be as beautiful as what we see on TV? Why can't we return to our home? They asked the same question every day. What was the answer from teachers? The teacher said, we need to learn knowledge because in their eye, knowledge is more powerful than weapons. On that, I can't help wanting to talk about Akila. During our visit in Pakistan, she had my respect. I consider her as a friend. I can feel the connection between us. She said, when a country is invaded, education is the first to go because education is the future of this country. So to her, she very much hoped that children in Afghanistan would receive education. That was how they would be able to rebuild their country. Akila is a great woman. She's a refugee herself. More than 20 years ago, she and her husband and family ran from Afghanistan to Pakistan. She used to be from a middle-class family. She used to be a teacher. Now, she's penniless. Her life depended on grounds from the local government and AIDS from UNHCR. One day, she saw many girls playing, doing nothing. So she asked them, why aren't you at school? The girls said, no one ever said to us we could go to a school because in Afghanistan, in some tribes, they were very conservative. Women for centuries had no education. Akila changed that. She went door-to-door, talking to each family, persuading them to send their girls to school. Today, she's taught more than 1,000 girls because girls married early in Afghanistan and they have their children. And these girls sent their children to Akila's school. It's great, isn't it? Yes, absolutely. Indeed, she's nominated as international teacher of the year. I can feel that you're almost a sister. So you talk about her more fluently than you do yourself. Well, we have very limited time today and our topic is very extensive. It's about refugees. In fact, they are all one of ours. I know it's not just in Asia, but also in Europe, in America, there are similar debates. How should we deal with this? What's the relationship between us and refugees and our values and reality? How do we balance the two? What can the government do? People of the country, how do they protect their lives at the same time reaching out to the refugees? These are all the things we are thinking about. We hope Yao Cheng's stories have helped us think and help us to understand refugees more. So we thank Yao Cheng for sharing the stories with us. Such genuine stories.