After last night's rehearsal I returned to the hotel, and I could finally enjoy some private time, with no one directing what I should be doing, ha ha. When my assistant came to wake me up it was 12:30pm, and after I showered I ate some simple breakfast.
After breakfast my assistant said it had rained heavily in the morning and the sun had since come out. I looked outside the window, and it was definitely bright and shiny, and it certainly seemed that a good reward would come from doing charity. Tonight's concert should be able take place smoothly.
Heaven was on our side and the rehearsal proceeded successfully. When I was at the Harbin International Convention, Exhibition and Sports Center, I noticed there were 2,000 policemen there. They were carefully checking all the entrances and exits, and outside the venue there were 1,600 policemen. There were also security guards, patrolling policemen, special policemen, and auxiliary policemen. I almost forgot...there were also police dogs. Apart from ensuring the security of the venue before the concert, once the audience entered, the auxiliary policemen would have to ensure that they would be orderly and provide them with assistance. When the audience had to leave, the police had to guarantee that the audience would exit the venue in fifteen minutes. As the audience exited the venue the 1,600 police officers outside had to deal with the traffic flow. Do I really need this much security? I guess, upon second thought, I understood it was part of that job, because since September 11, the world's security has gotten a lot tighter.

After the rehearsals we all returned to the hotel, quickly ate something, and then we had to quickly get changed to go to the venue. I looked out onto the street and saw thousands of audience members walking toward the stadium like ants. It was a stunning sight and one that made me excited.
Like Nanjing, we used "Three Dreams" as a prelude, and when I came out I didn't forget to thank every audience member who bought tickets to come in. At first I had two concerns. One was rain and the other was that no one would come to the concert. Seeing sixty thousand audience members in front of me now, I didn't have to worry about that either!
During the concert I donated two million Yuan to the Harbin Charitable Foundation. The city's Deputy Secretary and the mayor represented the city to present me with the "City of Harbin Charity Ambassador" Honorable Certificate to me. The Deputy Mayor gave the performing artists "Charity Star" certificates. To be honest, even without the title of Charity Ambassador I would still continue to do charity work. I guess this is their way of welcoming me. I am happy to accept and even if they didn't give it to me, it wouldn't matter.
During the concert I performed with thirty disabled children of different ages from the Harbin Children Benefits Center. The children performed "Mom is the Best Thing in the World." After the performance the children said they had a gift for me. I took a look and it was a drawing! I laughed and asked why they make me look so old! The children laughed and said, "Because that is your mother!" I felt a surge of sadness upon hearing them, because I suddenly thought of my mother who had passed away. I looked at these children and like them, I had no mother. I felt I could identify with them and tears came to my eyes. It took a great deal of effort for me not to cry.

After that, seventy deaf students from the Harbin School for the Deaf did a dance accompaniment for me. I saw these deaf students were working very hard to perform with me, and I couldn't help telling the thousands of audience members that the dance moves we spent an hour rehearsing took the students a month to practice and it was very hard on them. I knew the audience didn't care that their moves were not perfect, but what the audience saw was their determination! I also performed with Liu Ying, the singer from the Harbin Disabled Artists Troupe, singing "In My Life Everyday." I believe the appearance of Liu Ying will encourage more people with disabilities to work harder, so they can still be active in society.

Last night's group of stars, with the singers and the idols, was already enough to dazzle the audience. But a special guest created another high for the concert, and he is the one-year-old baby in my new movie Rob-B-Hood. I showed footage from the newly completed film to the world for the first time, and the audience members in Harbin were the lucky ones. Even though it was only a few minutes of footage, the film's little actor Matthew's adorable expressions affected everyone, the audience was heard praising at different times, "This baby is so cute!"
Apart from the little highlight with Matthew, I also told the audience a real story. In the morning someone left a letter outside my room; it was from a girl named Xiao Xue. In the letter she said she didn't want to study anymore, but wanted to do charity work like me. In the letter I also found two hundred Yuan. The little girl said in the letter that it was her scholarship and she wanted to donate it to this concert. I found out more about the situation. Xiao Xue is from Shenyang, and she travelled on the train for one night just to see me, and she only left her parents a note. This morning her parents came from Shenyang, and even though they did not support their daughter taking off, they were extremely supportive of their daughter's determination to donate money to charity. I therefore gave them three concert tickets. At the concert, after telling the story I cried out in the venue, "Where are you Xiao Xue? I believe you are here right now. No matter where you are, I must tell you that you must study and do well. Listen to your parents and me. Make money first to take care of your parents and then pay society back." Even though I was saying this to Xiao Xue, I was also saying it to the audience. As I said this, a girl ran towards the stage. The security wanted to stop her but I immediately told them to let her onto the stage. Even though I had never seen Xiao Xue before, something told me that she was the girl. She came on stage and said she had to thank me because I gave her positive influence and made her want to help others in need. We hugged and gave each other encouragement and support. After Xiao Xue heard what I said she promised to go home with her parents and study hard, and do more charity work in the future.

The concert finally ended at 11pm in happiness and warmth. After singing the last song I immediately ran from the stage to the car waiting for me. My people and a few of the artists were waiting for me in the car already, and we were still excitedly talking about the special moments during the concert.
We went to the ballroom of the hotel to participate in the wrap party. I thought, with myself as an exception, everyone would feel relaxed about completing the concert. However, I had to rush back to Hong Kong for work the next day, and was naturally not as relaxed as they were. But after completing the two concerts in Nanjing and Harbin I felt genuinely happy.
After a night of sufficient rest our group left the hotel in the afternoon and headed straight to Harbin Taiping International Airport. I returned to Hong Kong with my three staffers, while my mainland colleagues returned to Beijing. We all thought we could relax once we got to the airport, but there were over a hundred people waiting there. Even the Mayor of Harbin, who wanted to see me off, came along as well. I was really touched that I was so well supported and loved by everyone in Harbin, officials and civilians alike. Therefore, even before I boarded the plane I tried to sign autographs and take pictures with them to fulfil their requests. Before I left I had a small chat with the Mayor and realized that in Harbin city, one out of every four families has a piano. This is why Harbin has a reputation as the Capital of Music. The Mayor also told me that there would be a recital with a thousand pianos in August, but unfortunately I will not be able to attend. I think the earliest date I could return would be next year. The Mayor said that if I could make it next year they would host a recital with two thousand pianos to celebrate my participation. It sounded quite exciting. When I sing there would be two thousand pianos accompanying me, and I hoped for this opportunity to happen.
After I got on the plane I planned to sleep, but the flight attendants and the pilots were all residents of Harbin and they were very grateful that I was raising money for Harbin. They excitedly told me that they attended the charity concert last night, and excitedly asked for my autograph and photographs. I obviously could not say no and happily fulfilled their requests. They also gave me a cake, some sparkling juice, and some flowers. We had a little welcoming party on the plane and after another ten minutes they returned to work.

As I planned to sleep again a passenger came to me and said he wanted to thank me. He had been following my news for some time, and he asked me how long I would do charity for, and when I would stop. It made me think of last night, during the concert, when I was performing with the disabled female singer Liu Ying, I couldn't help but to think that when God was creating humans why would there be so much injustice? How could we help disabled people to recover? At the time my mind thought of one thing, and that is when all the injustice in the world stops, then I will stop as well.
After about four hours of travelling we returned to Hong Kong. If there was any news I'll tell you all later, but for now, bye!
Photos ©2006 The JC Group. All Rights Reserved.
哈爾濱的第二天:昨晚綵排後,我回到酒店房間,我終於可以享受自己的私人時間,不用受任何人指揮我做什麼,哈哈。助手叫我起床時,已經是中午十二時半,我梳洗過後,吃一些簡單的早點。
吃早點時,助手說今早下了一場大雨,現在放晴,我馬上從窗向外望去,果然天朗氣清,陽光普照,看來做善事真的有好報,今晚的演唱會應該可以順利進行了。
天公造美,綵排順利進行。我在哈爾濱國際會議展覽體育中心時,留意到場地內佈置了2000名幹警,他們小心地在各個出入口和座位間檢查,場外佈置了 1600名幹警,還調動了保安、巡警、特警和民警,我差點兒忘記了,還有警犬。他們除了要在演唱會前做出保安措施外,當觀眾入場後,場地內的民警既要維持 秩序,還為觀眾提供引導服務。退場時,他們保證觀眾在十五分鐘之內迅速離開場地。觀眾離開會場後,佈置在外圍的1600名幹警,負責疏導交通。我需要這麼 多保安嗎?想一想,我明白他們都是職責所在,因為自911事件後,世界的保安變得更為嚴密。
綵排過後,我們一行人回到酒店,匆匆的吃過一些東西,馬上更衣準備出發到現場。我從房內向街外望去,看到有成千上萬的觀眾像螞蟻般爬行向場館,場面既壯觀,又令人感到興奮。
我乘專車到會場時,看到有很多幹警在指揮交通,為了這一次演唱會,當地政府也做了一些封路措施。看到有很多人如潮湧向場館,很是熱鬧。
像南京一樣,都是以‘三個夢’作為序幕,我出場時,我不忘多謝所有買票入場的每一位觀眾,本來我有兩個擔心,第一個是下雨,第二個怕沒有人來這個演唱會,現在我看到六萬名觀眾在我眼前,我都不擔心了!
演唱會進行過程中,我捐了兩百萬給哈爾濱慈善基金會。市委副書記、市長代表市政府授予‘哈爾濱市慈善大使’榮譽證書給我,副市長向參演嘉賓頒發了‘慈善之 星’證書。坦白說,沒有慈善大使的美譽,我都會繼續做慈善工作,我想這是他們表示歡迎我的儀式而已,我樂意接受,沒有頒給我,我也沒有所謂。
其間,我和哈爾濱市兒童福利院的30名年齡不等的孤殘兒童配合演出,孩子們獻上‘世上只有媽媽好’。演唱完畢,孩子說有禮物送給我,我一看之下,竟是一幅 畫像,我笑說為什麼把我畫得那麼老?孩子們笑了,他們說:「因為這是你媽媽呀!」聞言後,我不禁心頭一酸,我忽然想起逝去的媽媽,我跟這群孩子一樣,是沒 有媽媽的,有些感同身受,淚珠在眼眶內打轉,好不容易才忍著不哭。
然後,哈爾濱市盲聾啞學校的70位聾啞學生又為我伴舞。我看到這些聾啞學生努力地表演,不禁向幾萬觀眾說,我們練一個小時的舞蹈,這群學生要練一個月,真 的很辛苦。我知道觀眾不在乎他們的動作是不是整齊,是不是好看,大家看到的,是他們堅強的內心!我還與哈爾濱殘疾人藝術團的肢殘女歌手劉瑩對唱‘在我生命 中的每一天’,我相信劉瑩的出現,會鼓勵更多身體有殘疾的人們繼續努力,做一個殘而不廢的人。
實力的、偶像的,昨晚薈萃的群星已經足夠讓觀眾 眼花繚亂了,但是一位特殊嘉賓又掀起了一輪高潮,他就是我的新片“寶貝計劃”中的僅僅一歲的小寶貝。我特別將這部剛剛完成後期製作的新電影全球首次展示, 哈爾濱觀眾成了幸運兒。雖然僅僅幾分鍾的錄像,片中的小演員Matthew可愛的嘻笑哭鬧感染了所有人,觀眾中不時發出讚嘆:「這個寶寶好可愛啊!」
除了Matthew這個小高潮外,我還向在座觀眾說了一個真人真事。今天一早,我就在自己的房間門口發現了一封信,是一個叫小雪的女孩寫給我的,她的信中 說,不想再讀書了,想像我一樣做慈善。在信封裡面,我還發現了兩百元人民幣,小姑娘在信裡說,這是她的獎學金,想要捐給這次演唱會。我了解事情後,原來小 雪是來自沈陽,她坐了一夜的火車只為見到我一面,並且只給父母留了一張字條。今天早上,她的父母從沈陽趕了過來。雖然他們對女兒出走並不支持,但卻堅決支 持女兒為慈善事業捐款的願望。於是,我送出三張演唱會門票給他們。說罷這個故事,我在現場呼喊:「小雪你在那裡?我相信你現在就在這裡,無論你在那一個角 落,我要告訴你,你一定要讀好書,聽我的話,聽爸爸媽媽的話。賺了錢,先養好爸爸媽媽,再回饋社會。」這番話雖是跟小雪,但也是我要講給在場觀眾聽的。當 我在台上說著時,有一個小女孩跑向舞台,保安欲阻止她,我馬上著保安讓她上台,雖然我沒有見過小雪,但是我像是心有靈犀的認出她就是小雪。她來到台上,說 要感謝我,是我給了她好的影響,讓她想要幫助那些需要幫助的人們。我們互相擁抱,就是給予對方鼓勵和支持。小雪聽了我的一番話,答應跟爸媽回家,還保證一 定好好讀書,將來為慈善事業做更多的工作。
直至十一時,演唱會終於在歡樂和溫暖的氣氛下結束。在唱完最後一首歌之後,我馬上從舞台跑到專車上,我的隨行人員和部份藝人已在車上等我,大家還興致勃勃地談論著整個演唱會的點點滴滴。
我們匆匆回到酒店的宴會廳,參加慶功宴。我想在座的各人,除了我之外,其他人都應該為完成演唱會感到輕鬆,可是我明天還要趕回香港工作,所以心情自然沒有他們的輕鬆。然而,完成了南京和哈爾濱兩個演唱會,我還是感到愉快的。
經過一晚充足的睡眠,翌日下午我們一行十多人離開酒店,直奔哈爾濱太平國際機場。我跟三名隨行人員回香港,其他國內同事直接回北京。大家以為到機場就可以 輕鬆一點,豈料,在機場等候的人也有百多人,哈爾濱市長為了送我最後一程,也專程來到。我真的很感激哈爾濱上至官員,下至市民對我的支持和愛戴,所以在臨 上機之前,我也為他們簽名或是拍照,盡量滿足他們的要求。在離開前的短聚間,方從市長口中知道哈爾濱市內,每四個家庭就有一個家庭有鋼琴,所以哈爾濱也有 ‘音樂之都’的美譽。市長還說今年八月會舉行千人鋼琴盛會,可惜我未能出席,我想再回來最快是明年了。市長馬上跟我說,如果我明年到的話,他們將舉行二千 人鋼琴盛會,以歡迎我的參與。聽起來也挺興奮的,唱歌的時候,有二千人鋼琴伴奏,我也蠻期待這個合作機會。
上機後,本來打算睡覺的,可是機上的空姐和機師都是哈市的居民,他們很感激我為哈市籌款,他們興奮的說昨晚也有出席慈善演唱會,還興致勃勃的要求簽名和合 照,我當然盛情難卻,也樂意滿足他們的要求。他們又送上蛋糕和鮮花,在機上舉行了一個小小的歡迎僧。就此擾攘了十多分鐘,他們繼續工作。
我再次想 睡的時候,有一位乘客來到我面前,他說要感謝我。原來他一直有留意我的消息,他問我做慈善會做到何時?何時會停?其實,昨晚演唱會表演時,當我和肢殘女歌 手劉瑩合唱時,腦海中已不斷在想上帝創造人類,為什麼有這麼多不公平呢?科技這麼發達,有什麼可以讓傷殘人士康復過來呢?當時,我的心就想一件事,如果世 界不公平的事情停下來,那我就會停下來了。
大概四個小時航程,我們回到香港。有什麼新消息,稍後再跟大家聊吧,拜拜。
|
posted on Thursday, Oct 21, 2010
|

