Leaving LA

When I was on the plane heading back to LA, I couldn’t sleep because all I could think about was the full work schedule that I had ahead of me once I arrived back in China. So I started to watch some movies and I ended up watching three! I fell asleep for about four hours and when I woke up I thought of so many things – things I have to do, things I have to remember to ask others to do, etc. I was all ready for the one day trip to  Beijing that I would take immediately upon arriving back in Hong Kong. I knew who I needed to meet with, the speech I had to make. As I sat thinking about all of this, I noticed that the plane had already landed at Hong Kong International Airport!

A Big Surprise

After I arrived in Hong Kong, I picked up my luggage and immediately went to a private airport. The security guards said “Happy Birthday!” and it was only then that I remembered that it was April 7^th – my birthday. Oh my God! I forgot about my own birthday. I guess it’s not that special for me.

Once we arrived at the private airport, we went through the check-in process then sat down to wait for Nicholas Tse and the others to arrive. When they got there, we boarded the plane together.

The plane finally took off after we sat on the runway for 45 minutes. As the plane began moving, I heard someone singing the happy birthday song very loudly. I turned around and was surprised to see my son Jaycee coming out of the washroom where he had been hiding for 45 minutes! Then he presented me with a birthday cake complete with candles. I was very happy. I’m not saying I haven’t had  birthday surprises over the years – I have. But in comparison this was a big surprise because I didn’t expect to see my son on the small plane we were on! Maybe he remembered the surprise party we gave for my dad’s 90^th birthday a few years before and learned from that and decided to do the same to celebrate for me. He said he had some free time and wanted to go with me to Beijing on the private jet.

After the surprise, everything calmed down. I sat and started to think quietly. It was so strange that even though Jaycee and I hadn’t seen each other for quite a long time, we had nothing to talk about when we sat down together on the plane. Why? I guess it’s partly because we don’t get together too often. Also, for the Chinese people, it’s not unusual for a father and children not to talk much. However, I know we care about each other; it just isn’t always necessary to be expressed with words. So Jaycee and I just sat side by side reading newspapers and it was very comfortable.

I used to ignore the Hong Kong news when I was away from Hong Kong, but since I was returning home, I thought I’d catch up on the news that I’d missed. Time went by quickly and soon we landed in Beijing.

"The Disciple”

[Note:  “The Disciple” is the loosely translated English of the Chinese title for the competition. The Chinese characters actually say “Dragon’s Successor.”]

After I arrived in Beijing I immediately attended the launch ceremony press conference for “The Disciple.”  After that I went to rehearse a song for that night’s performance. The lyrics for the song are very meaningful and I would like to share them with you:

Dragon’s Dream
If you have any aspiration, you must go ahead;
Try to make your dream come true
Even if it results in failure, tears help us grow.
Don’t feel regret if you fail, but stay strong
Keep your passion and desire to succeed
Someone will notice your effort sooner or later
Don’t be afraid to fail, as long as you have the power
It will lead you to success.
Stay hopeful when pursuing your dreams
A clear conscience is the power of the dragon.
Join me in going forward to fulfill your dreams
Embrace the future and embrace the power of the dragon
When you perform.
The blue sky and the brilliant starlight
Will guide you towards your dream.

After rehearsal, I rushed back to the hotel to change and then went to some meetings. In between so many people came to see me and brought me gifts. I tried to refuse them because I don’t want anyone wasting their money on gifts for me! However, some people said the gifts were handmade and I thought those would be okay to accept.

Since the start of registration for the competition 200,000 people have registered. I want to tell everyone that “The Disciple” is recruiting people with all kinds of backgrounds, not just kung fu backgrounds. Anyone with basic skills in kung fu or sports (swimming, gymnastics, dancing, etc.) is eligible to apply. Since so many people misunderstood the requirements, I really want to clarify to the press and all the participants that both male and females can participate in the selection. I also want everyone to know that “The Disciple” is not just a television show! I really want to find a successor and find new talent. No matter if it’s the new Michelle Yeoh or Jet Li or Jackie Chan, our goal is to find new male and female action stars. During the course of the selection process, I hope that many new stuntmen, stunt choreographers, and even villains can be found.

One of the people who registered for the competition did a sword dance on her demo tape. It was awful! But then she also did a regular dance and it was just beautiful. She was a terrific dancer. Everyone was confused and asked “Why did you do the sword dance when you’re so good at regular dance?” She said that she didn’t have any kung fu skills, but learned the sword dance because of the contest. This is not necessary. For example, Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi knew nothing about kung fu – but they were dancers. With their dancing skills, they quickly and easily learned the stunts and movements from the stunt choreographers. Action actors today are not required to be able to knock down an opponent such as George Foreman! As long as you have basic skills in action or movement and you can take direction from the stunt choreographers, the skills of the cameraman and the other technical staff will make you look like a kung fu master even if you’re not. In my movies I don’t want any violent action; I’m looking for people who have beautiful and rhythmic movement so that the action can look something like dancing. Of course I know this is no piece of cake. However, if by some chance I meet with these people in the future, I will have to train them for a few years so they can become outstanding action stars.

I was happy to see so many friends who don’t often appear in public come out for “The Disciple” launching ceremony. I want to express my deepest gratitude to them for their attendance.

This event originally recruited only from Asia, but to prevent anyone thinking we were discriminating, we expanded the competition to include Chinese from all over the world. [The reason they need to be Chinese is because the first script is a Chinese story using Chinese actors.] In the future we hope to recruit all nationalities from all over the world. We will, of course, need a suitable script. We insure that the winner of that competition will begin a career in film just as the winner of this first competition has.

My Mother

The event was running nice and smoothly until they played a clip of my mother. The host then started asking me questions and the whole time I was fighting back tears. In the end I failed. Whenever I think of my mother, pictures pop up in my mind just like a slideshow. I know that several times during interviews I have been in tears when talking about my mother. I want to tell you one more time the reason why I cry so easily whenever I talk about my mom. When I was growing up, my parents worked very hard because they wanted to give me a stable life in the future; whereas for me, I just ran all over the world earning money. By the time I had the ability to take good care of my parents, my mom was already sick. I remember my mom still looked fine when I left her to go away for filming. However, when I returned home, she was bedridden. Later, I had to leave her again for more work and unfortunately, this time when I returned home, she was in a critical condition. I will never forget what she whispered into my ear when she was so sick and in so much pain: “I’m suffering so much and if I could, I would commit suicide. Please let me die...” As a son, when I heard my terminally ill mother talking to me like this, it was just heartbreaking. It’s impossible to find the words to tell you how I felt. If euthanasia was legal, I would have done what she wished. But I couldn’t do anything to help her. For several days I did nothing except to sit beside my mom. Meanwhile, my dad tried to persuade me to go back to work because, he said, my sitting there wouldn’t change anything; she’d be just the same when I came back. I looked at my mom, but she just turned her face aside not to look at me. At that moment, I just didn’t know what to do, so I let my dad convince me to go back to work. I returned to work and it wasn’t long before I received the unfortunate news: that I couldn’t be with my mom during her last moments of life. She was gone. Everyone around me told me that I had done my duty as a son but seriously, I doubted whether or not that was true. Should I have put aside the filming and stayed with my Mom?

I ask myself questions like this but I have no answers. For example, years ago, if I had been there to take my son to school every single day, I believe that "Jackie Chan" would not exist and I would not be so famous. I finally understand why the ancients said “Zhong xiao bun eng liang cun” which means royalty and filial duty cannot exist at the same time. Look at me, I’m an example.

So now you know how I feel when I hear my mom’s name. The slideshow begins running through my mind and I see her suffering, hear her words, and I can’t hold back the tears.

Studio Tour

After the launching ceremony, we went to have dinner and then returned to the hotel. When I was getting undressed I saw the red wax from the candles that I blew out onstage spattered all over my jacket and it made me think of all the birthday cakes I had today. How funny that when the day started, I didn't even remember that it was my birthday!

The next day, I went to visit a studio. I don’t know if it’s the biggest studio in the world, but for sure it’s the biggest one in China. Since we were led by military vehicles, the travelling time from Beijing to the studio had been shrunk from an hour and a half to 45 minutes. The studio is located in a place named Huai Rou, and the construction will probably be completed in October.

There are two Five-star hotels near the studio, and if the government can set aside some land for me, I’d like to build a museum or a school or a cultural village in there too. I have seven antique houses in my collection that I originally wanted to place in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, Hong Kong is too small and densely populated, so I guess it’s better and more suitable if I place the historic houses in China.

Back to Hong Kong Again

After the studio tour, I rushed to the airport for a flight back to Hong Kong. Any ideas what the first thing was that I wanted to do when I returned to Hong Kong? If you guessed that it has something to do with Jones and JJ, you’re right! I went home immediately and played with my two dogs. I was so happy to see them again; they grew a lot they looked just like two little lions. When they saw me, they ran forward and spun round and round to play with me. Because of my busy working schedule, I seldom have chance to play with Jones and JJ but as long as I’m in Hong Kong, I’ll find time to play with them.

At night, I had dinner with a few directors to show them some equipment that I brought back from United States. Some of the equipment is well-known to everyone as being excellent for filmmaking. I wished that I could bring back much more excellent and high tech products from United States. So far, I’ve already brought back the safety ropes that were especially designed for stuntmen, and the safety buckets that used to hang with the safety ropes. I think I can use this equipment in my next movie.

My schedule for the next day was full of meetings. First, I had a meeting with a designer and afterwards I met Ms. Lee from Korea. Ms. Lee talked about her hope of building a “stunt village” and a Jackie Chan School in Korea. After the meetings, I went to have a quick look at the progress they’re making on my new offices located on Pak To Road.

At night, I had dinner with my staff. Yes, we had a Chinese New Year dinner in April so long after Chinese New Year! Since I was filming in LA during Chinese New Year, I couldn’t see them and it was important to me to have dinner with them. It didn’t matter if it was an official “Spring Dinner” or just a casual gathering, it felt like a regular family dinner. Of course the gathering was important to my staff because I needed to give them red pockets; I just couldn’t miss out such an important tradition! It’s said that it’s not necessary to give others red pockets after January 15^th of the Chinese calendar, but the way I see it, if I don’t give them red pockets this year, I’ll have to give them double red pockets next year!

It had been so long since I’d had dinner with my staff and I was so happy to see everyone. We had a wonderful time and I was so happy. There’s a Chinese expression that is about the same as the English “Eat, drink, and be merry!” That was what our evening was like.  Although I had fun, I had to conserve my energy because I had a meeting after dinner and I’d be filming with George Foreman the next day.

After dinner I had a meeting with the two directors, made some arrangements with them and went home. I played with my dogs for a while and when I finally went to bed it was nearly 1:30.

Meeting George Foreman

The next day I got up at 9:30, went to the office to meet up with my staff, and then drove to the Peninsula Hotel for a press conference for the George Foreman Grill. I am the spokesman for Asia and Mr. Foreman is the spokesman for America.

This is the first time I’ve worked with Mr. Foreman, and it’s an interesting story how our cooperation came about. Here is the story:

You know I love to collect things, and one of the things that I love most are boxing gloves. My first pair of autographed boxing gloves came from Oscar de la Hoya. He’s one of my favorite boxers; so talented, friendly, and handsome. I also admire Sugar Ray Leonard and I have gloves from him too. Did you know that when Sugar Ray lost an important boxing match, half of the females in America cried? He’s also very charming and handsome.

Anyway, one day I was talking to some new friends about my collection and one of the guys said “Hey, I work for George Foreman. I can try to get you some gloves from him!” Wow! I was so happy and excited! Then the man said “You should partner with George to sell the grills.” Well, I told the man it would be nice to cooperate with George to sell grills, but really what I was excited about was the idea of getting the signed boxing gloves. A few months later I received the gloves from Mr. Foreman and I put them into a display case in my museum right away.

Eventually someone from Mr. Foreman’s office contacted me to discuss becoming a spokesman. The grills were big sellers in America and Europe and the company wanted to enter the Asian market. They said they were looking for someone who was as famous in Asia as Mr. Foreman was in America. Honestly, I didn’t think that you could compare the two of us. George Foreman is a boxer, I’m an actor. We are in different fields and anyway, he is a World Champion Boxer; how could I equal that? But anyway, I was happy and honored that he wanted me to be a spokesman. And I think it’s an interesting story about how we became partners!

It may seem odd to you, but even celebrities can have feelings of fan worship. I say this because I want you to know that I am a big fan of George Foreman. I remember watching him fight and feeling such admiration for him. Right before the press conference I finally got to meet him and honestly, I was so excited! I shook his powerful hand and felt like a little kid meeting his hero. It’s really hard to describe my feelings to you. It was thrilling!

Maybe people will say that I took on the grill spokesman job for money, but you should know that I’m not focusing on the money. I wanted to work with Mr. Foreman and after trying out the grill, I found that I liked it very much and felt it was useful and I wanted to introduce it to everyone. In recent years I have brought several high tech and healthy products to Hong Kong and I hope that these products can improve people’s lives. Anything that can make life better is what I love introducing to everyone!  I’m always looking out for quality products. For example, when I was in America shooting Rush Hour 3, I found a lot of high tech film equipment which I brought back to China with me. I called many of my director friends, like Derek Yee and Teddy Chan and showed them what I’d found.

This is the first time I’ve worked with George Foreman and I found that he is a really nice guy and he is a natural in front of the camera. He takes direction well and is able to hit his spots and say his lines naturally. Even though he has no training in acting, he’s very good. I think he has an inborn talent. Maybe someday I will invite him to work with me in a film; I think we have good chemistry.

Second Day Commercial Shoot

My father visited the set again and brought some famous local desserts for everyone: egg tarts, coconut tarts, and Chinese donuts. Of course I offered some to Mr. Foreman and his son. Mr. Foreman tried the Chinese donut and his reaction was “Yummy!”