I woke up at 5:30am and got ready to leave. I took a car to the airport, wrapping up this Nanjing trip and beginning my trip to Harbin. We quickly finished check-in and sat in the cabin. I told the flight attendant that I would not be eating, and then I fell asleep. I don’t know how long I slept for and I woke up when the flight landed at the Harbin Taiping International Airport.

The image of Harbin is a world-famous, tourism-friendly city of ice, but Harbin is actually on the Songhua River, and it’s the capital of the Heilongjiang Province. It is the center of the province’s politics, economics, culture, and communications, with a size of 56,579 square km, and a population of 9.411 million (2001). The population of the metropolitan area is 3.12 million, and is the country’s largest sub-provincial city. Harbin has an industry-based economy, but the city’s development crosses all three categories, including agricultural and commerce, it is one of our country’s oldest industrial cities.

The summer in Harbin is comfortable for humans, and with its unique beauty it’s an ideal place for a summer escape. The beautiful Songhua River is like a colorful ribbon, adding an indescribable aura to the city. The annual Harbin summer concert attracts artists from China and abroad to perform, earning Harbin the title of “Northern Music City.” Harbin is also a famous city of ice, and every year there are the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festivals and the Harbin Ice Lantern Gala Party. With the essence of ice and snow art in one place it attracts a lot of foreign tourists to visit, which helps develop economic exchange. The architecture of Harbin is unique as well, with influences from the East and West. Not only is there all kinds of European architecture, but there are Chinese traditional buildings, and in recent years the rise of modern architecture further developed the East meets West architectural style.

When I got off the plane Mr. Xun, the organizer’s representative, came to pick me up. When I left the airport I could see a group of junior school band and some very cute children waiting for me, and the children were full of smiles and holding beautiful flowers in their hands. When the band saw me they played a welcome tune, and the children kept waving at me and gave me a garland, and I placed it around my neck. Even though a lot of people came rushing up hoping to shake hands with me, I still managed to steal a little time to quickly peck every child’s face, so the children who spent so long waiting weren’t doing it in vain.

It was strange as the Harbin in my mind is always clear and sunny, so why was I seeing the grey skies of Harbin during my first visit? When I asked I was told that the weather forecast said today would be overcast with scattered showers. No wonder! Weather reports for Harbin were predicting rain as well. Mr. Sun laughed at said this proved the old saying that “when someone important travels it always attract wind and rain.” I joked that I wasn’t worried about the weather as I was used to it. As long as there wasn’t any security concern the concert would go on as planned. I actually really like the rain because I know that a lot of places in China have a shortage of water, so if it rains more it would be beneficial not only to humans, but animals and plants as well.

If what happened at the airport was considered a warm welcome, then what happened at the hotel would be overwhelming. There were about a thousand people at the hotel and they completely packed the outside. Amid the screams I got out of the car calmly and I first planned to stay for a while so I could shake people’s hands, but four hands separately pushed my whole body forward. It was the police who were pushing me and we quickly entered the hotel. I thought they were only doing their job, because by then there were a lot of people on the second floor. If anything went wrong or if someone fell then it would be very dangerous.

After entering the room I found out I had a press conference at 3pm. I decided to sleep for a while because I was extremely tired. I had been very busy and lacked sleep so I was desperate for any sleeping time. This nap was a great sleep and made me feel fresh and awake. But when I saw the clock I was shocked because it was 4pm! Wasn’t there a press conference at 3pm? I immediately asked my assistant and she said that the organizer knew I was exhausted so they changed the press conference time to 5pm so I could rest for a while longer.

This press conference was to take place at the Harbin Friendship Palace, and the “Jackie Chan and Friends Charity Concert” would take place in the Harbin International Exhibition, Conference, and Sports Center. Through this concert I would help the poor children and disabled people and the Charity Fund of Harbin, and I hope to raise 2million Yuan. The Harbin Charity Club and the Harbin Disabled Persons Benefit Fund would ensure that the money would be spent on charity and would administer all the money raised from this concert. The money raised from the charity performance would be used to build a Jackie Chan Charity Primary School and a Winter Sport Charity School to ensure that poor children would receive an education and develop in all areas. It would also be used to help poor disabled children to receive medical treatment so they could have a healthy life.

During the press conference a reporter asked me now that Harbin had entered its rain season, would I be worried that it would rain during the concert? I said frankly that rain was something that used to be a concern but it was no longer one. The most astonishing thing was when I was in Shanghai last year to perform an 80,000 capacity concert I was rushing to rehearsals when it was pouring with rain. At the time I thought, what could I do with rain like this? However the rain stopped half an hour before rehearsals began, as though it was purposely done so we would have time to dry up 80,000 seats and the audience could enter in an orderly fashion. After the program I said goodbye to everyone and it started to rain heavily again five minutes after I left the stage. I was also carrying an umbrella to the rehearsals of the Nanjing concert, but by the time I got there the rain stopped. Seeing that dragons drive the rain and tigers drive the wind, it seems that everywhere I go rain would follow me. But every time I appear on stage the rain would stop. I believe this concert in Harbin would be equally successful. Upon rethinking I wondered whether I would be so lucky each time. Who knows? I would find out tomorrow night.

Everyone asked me why I came to Harbin for charity work. It was because I just wrapped my film Rob-B-Hood and had just completed the post-production work. I then came to Nanjing and Harbin without taking any time to rest. I used to ask these questions all the time: Why are the elderly alone? Why are there people who can’t feed themselves? Why do children have no money to study? Why is the world so unfair? There were lots and lots of “whys” in my mind. But in the end I understand. Don’t ask why. If I want to help them then I should act and hopefully do something for them. I know that I have limited power but I still hope to use my influence to encourage other people to do more charity work, and influence people with power to help aid the people in need. Yesterday a reporter from Chicago followed me around to the rehearsals, then to the retirement home in Nanjing, and attended the press conference of Operation Smile. He saw what I did and I managed to move him, so he donated US$10,000 to the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation. This is just an example and there are plenty more, which I won’t mention here. As long as I am willing to give I can influence lots and lots of people. Therefore, no matter how tough it is I will continue the work. I hope that everyone will continue to support me so I’ll have more drive to soldier on.

I also had to thank the mayor of Harbin, the officials and Mr. Xun who was responsible for the organizing effort. Without their unwavering support and preparation I would not have been able to come. Of course, I need to thank the media who gave the event a lot of coverage, and it was due to their reporting that allowed more people to know about the event and participate in it. It used to be “do charity without letting others know” but now it is “do charity and let people know about it.” This is the only way to influence more people to do good work. To encourage more people to do more charity, I gave away twenty-five concert tickets on my blog, ten for Nanjing and fifteen in Harbin. On a first come first served basis, the participants only needed to donate one Yuan to receive a ticket. I hope to tell people that charity isn’t really about how much money you give but it is the intention that counts. One dollar is charity, so is two hundred dollars or ten thousand dollars. China is too big and there are a lot of people in need. China has a population of 1.3 billion people, and if every person donates one dollar there would be $1.3 billion. If everyone in China donates 50 cents it would come to $650 million. Even if everyone just give ten cents it would come to $130 million, so you can see how a lot of small amounts can become something huge. Don’t ever think that ten cents or a dollar is very little, because as long as everyone is willing to give just a little it will become a huge sum. I can’t do it now but I believe one day I can influence 600 million people and encourage them to donate a dollar. It would be something like ‘The One Dollar Event” or even “The Ten Cents Event.” This is one of my future wishes.

You all know that I was very poor when I was young, and help from other people gave me opportunities, so I could become successful now. I have succeeded, and today I can repay society. I hope today I can help children and maybe one or two will grow up to be doctors or professors or successful people, and they won’t forget to repay society. This is the message I am trying to convey. Even if I can’t pass the message along it is still okay as long as I know I am doing something good. Because no matter what I do I never think about what reward I would get, I just do it.

I want to appeal to the youth of today: don’t just think about getting a new mobile phone or new sneakers. If there is a chance to go to some mountainous area hit hard by poverty and see what really goes on there, I think the youth will be more active in doing some charitable deeds. I personally witnessed lots and lots of these unfortunate scenes, and went from someone who does no charity to becoming willing to do it, and now I am determined to do charity. I’ve personally visited Cambodia, Vietnam and poor mountainous regions in the mainland, and I saw children in Cambodia could only play football in a space three feet wide. They were too scared to kick too hard, and if the ball went beyond the three feet area they were too scared to pick it up because they were worried about stepping onto a landmine. I’ve seen a child using a tiny pencil to write because they have no money to study. They had to treasure such a little pencil and the opportunity to study. All these little things moved my heart, and I believe more and more artists would begin to think charity events as less of a show and become truly passionate in doing them if they could see what I’ve seen. This was why I brought on some new artists to do the charity concert, and hopefully everyone who came would do some charity work, including everyone in the audience right now and everyone near them. China is too big and there are too many poor regions. Not to mention, charity work can never be finished. It requires the media, individuals, the big corporations and the big organizations working together so that we can ensure everyone can have a comfortable home in fifty to sixty years. This is also one of my wishes, and I believe it is the wish of all Chinese people, as well as the wish of all Chinese leaders of the past, present and future.

There is only one Jackie Chan and there are only so many places I can go to. Yet, every year I use a month or two of my schedule to think about what I can do. Why couldn’t I come to Nanjing and Harbin last year? It was because I promised UNICEF to visit Cambodia and Vietnam as a Goodwill Ambassador. This year I cancelled my trip to Africa to come to Nanjing and Harbin. Next month I will first go to Duyun – to attend the foundation laying ceremony for the Calligraphy Museum, a Cultural Reserve. Then I go to Tuanshan for the foundation laying ceremony of a school, and finally to Guizhou’s Liupanshui because the construction of the three Dragon Heart Schools was completed. I will go there for the opening ceremony so that the children can go to school as soon as possible. After all this work I will have completed all my charity work this year. This year’s Jackie Chan Charity Cup will not be held because I’ll be working in France, and should finish in January next year. After that I’ll work on a film (The J & J Project) until July or August, then the Shinjuku Incident (literal translated title). I will therefore be working on films for all of next year, and even though I’ll be very busy, if I find that I have three weeks off, I’ll try and see if I can arrange somewhere to go for charity work.

As the press conference approached its end I learned from a reporter that because the press conference was delayed, over seven hundred of my music and film fans waited for two hours and yet didn’t see me. But they did not have any complaints and were very understanding. I thought if everyone in the world could be like this and be understanding towards each other, then the word war would disappear from this world. I am extremely sorry for what had happened, as I didn’t know anything about this. I only had one hour of sleep after the concert in Nanjing last night to the scheduled press conference in Harbin. When I am resting at home I can be most free because that is my private time. But once I left the door I am no longer in control. No matter where I walk, run, stand, sit, eat, or do anything at all, it is organized by my assistants or the crew. I hope that I can find a chance to see these 700 music and film fans. I am so happy that music fans from Harbin came to see it. I finally have music fans! Hopefully I’ll see them next time.

I then attended the welcoming gathering organized by the city government with all the performers and crew. I thanked every one of the performing artists such as: the MC Li Xia, newcomers VC Girl, Angus Tung An Ko, Angie Chiu Nga Chi, Zhang Hung Liang, Pang Long, Qi Qin, Zheng Fan and Zhou Wen Zhou. I am really so happy because not only could I catch up with friends, but when they found out I was doing charity work and asked for their help they immediately said yes. It made me so excited and grateful.

There was something else I must tell you about. Because this was my first visit to Harbin the people there were extremely passionate. I caused chaos everywhere I went, but thankfully the organizers arranged security guards to protect me closely, with guards outside my door twenty-four hours a day to avoid some passionate fans disturbing me. There were also police clearing the road for me and I would like to give them my most sincere thanks.

After dinner we went to the Harbin International Convention, Exhibition, and Sports Center for rehearsals. Because it is summer now everyone was wearing very thin clothes. But at night the temperature suddenly dropped and during rehearsals, apart from the crew members running around, everyone else was shivering from the cold. We rehearsed until around 1am and returned to the hotel to rest.

Photos ©2006 The JC Group. All Rights Reserved.

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