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I'm about to fly back home to China after a week in New Zealand. What a week! I came to share ideas with regular New Zealanders, starting with a screening of my Xizang ("Tibet") documentary in Wellington which was hosted by China's Ambassador Wang Xiaolong. One person asked me if I came back from Xizang feeling more religious, and I honestly replied that it turned me OFF religion even more than before. Growing up, our family were part of a religion that is widely regarded as a cult. Not nice memories. Then I held a lecture for a class of second year international relations students at my university, Victoria University, thanks to Dr. Iati who I've been chatting with about doing a class for years. My topic was around why it's dangerous to gain your understanding of China through Western media, and how such a biased understanding of the country can lead to bad policy decisions. I started by asking the students to raise their hands if they've been to China. Only three. The remainder have built their understanding of the country solely through media representations. That was an important point. There were lots of interesting questions, including one girl who came to find me afterwards and asked if I really feel China is more fair economically as a socialist country. I told her no country is perfect, and that there's still a huge income divide in China between rural and urban areas etc, but that by-and-large Chinese governance is much more people centered. I told her all about the Evergrande CEO who used to be China's richest man and who was recently sentenced to death for ripping off so many ordinary Chinese people of their life savings, and she thought that sounded amazing. "Imagine if we could do that here!" she pondered. I told her that is exactly what Western elits are afraid of. After that I had another documentary screening and Q&A for my Xizang film at Auckland University with Professor Sima, which I unfortunately had to attend online from Wellington after my flight was canceled. I was so thrilled that some Tibetans came along who are studying at the university. One of them told me she misses home so much after watching my film, and said my portrayal of her hometown is exactly as she remembers it. She can't wait to go home! Tomorrow morning I'll get to snuggle up in my own bed in Shanghai, all while knowing I did my best to foster just a little bit more understanding between China and New Zealand through young Kiwis who I think are eager to learn and to make the world better. And I'm looking forward to next time!