Fong-fong's toughest role

End child sexual abuse'. 'Protect our seedlings'. These plaintive pleas have become a mantra on Josephine Siao Fong-fong's lips. They inspire the veteran actress' top mission these days and will also provide the English and Cantonese names of the charitable foundation she is seeking to start ('Protect our seedlings' being the less direct Cantonese interpretation of the group's English name).

'The problem really exists but, because it is such an unpleasant subject, nobody wants to talk about it. I thought I should take that up,' Siao said determinedly.

The timing of the launch of her search for support and funds for the project owes nothing to the current slump in the film industry - the idea had been germinating for years.

Neither does Siao need the publicity generated by championing a topical good cause. Since she was five, she has rarely been out of the news. Her acting achievements have been plenty - the 11 awards she has donated to the new Hong Kong Film Archive are proof enough of that - but her other achievements have been equally impressive.

The former child star recently received her external MA in Psychology from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. It is a degree that has taken four years of struggle for the 51-year-old. Not only did she have to balance study with time for her family, and for filming, she also has to battle deafness. It speaks of an iron determination and prodigious staying power within that wispy, elegant frame.

'I have been thinking about this [cause] for a few years now. In 1996, we'd wanted to start working on it but I had to put everything on hold because of my studies,' said Siao.

So strong was her conviction that she chose to specialise in child and adolescent psychology for her degree. Her research on the subject for her MA only served to reinforce her belief that something had to be done - and very quickly.