Vietnamese refugee children staying in an open camp in Hong Kong were interviewed to find out the nature of their war experience. The effects of war and refugee experience on their fears about being hurt or killed were assessed. Most of the Vietnamese children in the present sample travelled to Hong Kong with their family and had little experience of separation, death or injury of close family members. However, about two-thirds of them had witnessed violence and one-third reported experience of being assaulted. Children exposed to unpleasant war experience were more likely to report a fear of being hurt than those not exposed to similar negative events. However, there was no consistent finding relating other types of fear to war experience. The family and the cohesiveness of the community in which they lived may have protected them against adverse psychological reactions.