April 14-16, 2008

Promotional Tour in Beijing

I’ve finally finished my promotional work in America. Today I flew back to Beijing so I could continue promoting the release of my new film, The Forbidden Kingdom, in China.

My schedule for the next three days is filled with interviews, interviews, and more interviews. I guess you can call this is a continuous and intense style of promoting a film because apart from giving interviews, I’ll be doing other things as well like attending the international press release conference and the Beijing premier of The Forbidden Kingdom. I invited children who’ve received eye surgery to join us at the event because I wanted to share some joy and happiness with them. I hope they had a good time absorbing the hype and excitement at the premier.

I wanted to tell you some general information about The Forbidden Kingdom but I’m sure you’ve either seen, read, or heard a lot of promotional news about the movie from newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television programs, or even the Internet so I won’t repeat it here. Instead, let me show you some photos that were taken while I was doing promotional work for the movie.

I was so happy when I met up with Jet Li again. I know he’s done a lot of work for the One Foundation recently. I think that if more people were actively involved in doing charity work, for example; me doing work for the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation or Jet Li doing work for the One Foundation, I’m sure the whole of China would become an even better place. Jet and I gave a lot of the interviews together during our junket in Beijing, and apart from answering question related to The Forbidden Kingdom, we also briefly touched on other topics like charity. Both of us know that there is never an end to doing charity work and there will always be someone out there who needs help. We hope that with the influence of our names, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, or maybe with our celebrity status, we can help promote awareness of doing charity and encourage more people to be actively involved. We also talked about Chinese culture; on ways to promote it and how we’d like everyone around the world to better understand our culture.

During my recent promotional trips around the world for The Forbidden Kingdom, including the stops I’ve done in Hong Kong, America, and now Beijing, I’ve been giving so many interviews for the film that I’ve seemed to lose count at how many I’ve actually done. Right now, I really don’t feel like doing any more interviews. The thought of sitting down for a whole day, being interviewed by over 50 different reporters, and answering similar questions one after another makes me want to cringe. When reporters come and interview me, they are always fresh and energized, ready to fire all their questions. That’s because to them, it’s their first interview with me. But if you try and see it from my point of view, giving interview after interview, it’s a slightly different story. Oh well, reporters may not understand how drained and exhausted I might be feeling but that’s okay. This is my job and I’m a professional. During every interview, I always try my best to answer every question with interest and variation so reporters feel satisfied with our meeting and hopefully have enough information to write a good article.

Doing this kind of promotional work before the release of a new film is something I’ve become accustomed to. It’s like a set routine that comes standard with making a movie. But there are still some times when I really don’t feel like giving interviews. Please don’t get me wrong, I love my work and I enjoy what I do. But junket style interviews can get quite tiring and repetitive. I just hope everyone can understand how I feel. Strangely enough while on this promotional trip in Beijing, there was one particular interview I did on a television talk show program where, after an hour when the show was supposed to finish, I actually didn’t want to leave and I continued with the interview. After two hours on the show, I still didn’t want the interview to end. As a result, what was supposed to be an hour long program turned into a two and a half hour interview special. You must think that I’m losing my mind because I just said that I didn’t like giving interviews. Well, the reason why I didn’t want this interview to end was because the television station invited a very special guest on the program, someone I’ve always want to meet – Professor Yu Dan. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about Professor Yu and having the opportunity to meet her in person was definitely something very special. Her use of expressive words and her ability to talk continuously for an hour without a break is inspiring and admirable.

The talk show program I appeared on, Wu Xing Ye Hua (Five Star Evening Talk), is a discussion program that is broadcast on Beijing Satellite Television’s cultural channel. While talking with Professor Yu on the program, I wanted to learn more from our deep and meaningful discussions. And after we finished recording the show, I totally fell in love with Professor Yu. Her knowledge impresses me. It’s very rare for me to give an interview and not want it to end. After being interviewed for an hour, I seriously didn’t want to leave and I requested that we continue with the show. Normally, each guest that appears on the program is broadcast as a one night episode. But now, because my interview was extended, the television station had to split my episode into a two part special and broadcast the interview over two nights.

Until someone told me, I didn’t know that Solon was in the studio waiting for me. He was standing to one side, quietly listening to our discussions. I could tell that he was thoroughly enjoying the show because I stood in the same spot for two hours; he didn’t move or change his position. I guess you could say that he was also mesmerized by Professor Yu’s manner of speech and was completely drawn into our interesting discussion.

While sitting in the presence of Professor Yu and listening to her expressive, fluent, and logical thoughts, I felt just like a student, absolutely subdued and convinced by her words. During the whole time on the program, all I could think was, wow, she’s incredible. She can talk about so many different things and she never repeats any of her ideas. When we finished recording the program, Professor Yu and I both agreed that whenever we appear on programs in the future, we can call ourselves the “Teachers of Arts” – Professor Yu being the teacher of literacy arts and I being the teacher of martial arts. Professor Yu also gave me a set of books she wrote called The Reinterpretation of Confucian Analects. Inside the cover page, she wrote a few words of wisdom: “Let us learn to grow and mature under the radiance of wise virtues.” I’ve never enjoyed doing an interview with someone this much before. What a memorable interview. I gave Professor Yu a big hug and then couldn’t help but say to her, “I will never forget the time we had on this program tonight!”

At the end of the day when I got back to the hotel, I had a lot of trouble trying to fall asleep. I kept thinking about the interview I just had with Professor Yu and our deep and meaningful discussions. I couldn’t stop thinking about everything she said. I pondered on these thoughts for a good two days!

I’m not trying to be a teacher’s pet by excessively praising Professor Yu or saying nice things just to make her happy. She really is an amazing person. I remember the time when I first heard her talk on a television program. I think the program was called The Great Hall Talk and Professor Yu was a guest speaker. I listened to her words and was completely drawn into by things she said. But, the most remarkable thing was she managed to hold my interest during the whole program and I didn’t change the channel. This was something very rare because I usually have the habit of flicking through all the channels when I watch TV. After watching a program for a while, I’d change channels and watch something else. It’s not very often that I find a program that keeps me interested and watch till the end. Anyway, when the talk show finished, I actually wanted to watch more so I asked the staff from my Beijing office to buy the program on DVDs for me. While I was filming The Forbidden Kingdom, I watched Professor Yu’s DVDs on my breaks between shooting scenes.

Let me tell you a little secret. Initially, when I was contacted to appear on the talk show, I didn’t want to accept the interview. But when the television station told me that they invited Yu Dan as a special guest, I immediately agreed to be on the program. It’s because of her that I agreed to do this interview on the evening talk show, Wu Xing Ye Hua. Professor Yu has managed to leave a deep and lasting impression on me and she is one of few people who I would consider as my idol. I highly recommend everyone to listen to her talks and interviews, buy her DVDs, or read her books because I’m sure that you’ll be inspired by the things she says and gain a new insight of knowledge from her logical viewpoints and perspectives.
 
Later in the evening, I met up with Xu Jinglei. She’s a very well-known, gifted, and talented Chinese artist. I first met her when we recently filmed a movie together. Since the wrap of the movie, she’s been trying to contact me so we could arrange a time to meet. Now I know why. Xu Jinglei especially wrote some beautiful words as a gift for my birthday and she wanted to hand the present to me personally. What made these words extra special was that she used my Chinese name, Cheng Long, to write them. Have a look at my present. Don’t you think it’s beautiful?

On my second day in Beijing, I attended more promotional events. But before I attended those events, I met with several fans from overseas who especially flew to Beijing just so they could see me. They also handed me a donation for my Dragon’s Heart Foundation. I actually don’t know exactly how much money they donated but that doesn’t matter because it’s not the amount you give that’s important, it’s the thought of helping others that counts. I am deeply grateful for their generosity and charitable hearts.

You know, there is never a time when you can say that there is no more charity work to do. Until poverty is totally wiped off the face of the Earth and there are no more poor people in the world, there will always be some sort of charity work that can be done. As long as someone out there needs help, we should work together as one and continue to help all those who need help. With your support and kind hearts, the poor and unfortunate people in China have a chance of a better life. Please continue supporting the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation and the Dragon’s Heart Foundation. Thank you!

©2008 The JC Group. All Rights Reserved.

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April 14 – 16 (星期一至星期三)

北京宣传之旅：

          我终于完成了美国的宣传之旅，今日从美国飞抵北京，进行《功夫之王》在国内的宣传工作。

          一连三天的接受不同媒体访问，可以说又是一连串的密集式宣传，既要接受访问，又出席全球发布会和北京首映礼。这一次首映礼，我特意邀请了做了矫视手术的小朋友一起看，希望与众同乐。

          相信大家从报章、杂志、电视或是电台节目、或是在网上都看到很多有关《功夫之王》的宣传报导，在这里我不再重复了，让大家看看一些宣传时拍下的照片吧：

          很高兴再次与李连杰见面，知道他为‘壹基金’做了很多工作，如果有更多的人都可以投入慈善工作，例如：我做‘成龙慈善基金’，李连杰做‘壹基金’，相信整个中国都会变得更好。在访问的时候，除了答有关《功夫之王》的问题外，我们都有提及慈善工作，因为慈善工作是做不完的，希望借着我们二人的影响力，推广更多有关慈善的工作；另外，又提及如何把中国文化推广出去。

          近来为《功夫之王》做宣传，包括香港、美国和北京，接受了无数个的访问，我真的很怕做访问，因为一整天接受超过五十个访问，由于记者们都是当天第一次跟我做访问，他们怎会知道我已经身心疲累呢？！为了工作，我也要尽量做好它，让记者朋友们都可以交差。

          坦白说，虽然我已习惯了新戏上映前做宣传工作，但是有些时候仍是会讨厌做访问，相信大家都会体谅我的。但是，这一次我来到北京，上了一个电视清谈节目做访问，一个小时的节目完了，我却不想走，我继续做访问，做了两个小时的访问，我也不想走，最后却访问了两个半小时。这是因为这个节目邀请了一位我很想认识的人──于丹，果然闻名不如见面，她的言词，和一讲一个小时不休息的功夫，令我佩服得五体投地。

          我出席北京卫视大型文艺评论栏目《五星夜话》，是怀着‘虔诚向学’的心对话于丹教授。我做完这个节目以后，我爱上了于教授，我真的很少做访问，做了一个小时后而不想走，再要求继续的。本来我出席的这一辑只是一晚的节目，现在电视台要分两辑播放呢。不说不知，香港公司的Solon在录音室一旁站着等我，他也听得津津有味，站着听了两个半小时，就是站的姿态都没有变过呢，可想而知，他听得有多投入呀！

          在口若悬河的于丹老师面前，我倒像个小学生，完全折服了。我一直在想，她好厉害，她讲话没有重复过！最后，录像完毕，相约今后“文武相师”，于丹送我一套《论语》感悟，扉页留言写了一行字，“让我们在圣贤的光芒下学习成长”。和于丹来了个大大的拥抱后，我不禁说：‘今天节目我永生难忘’！

          当晚回到酒店，我久久未能成眠，仍在回味跟于老师的一席话，我一直回味了两天呢！

          我不是拍于老师的马屁，记得有一次看了一个叫什么大讲堂的节目，她是嘉宾之一，我听她说话，完全被吸引了，没有转台，平常我很喜欢转台的，一个台看了一会儿，就会转到另一个台的。看完这个节目以后，我就叫北京公司同事为我买这个节目的DVD给我看，我就是利用拍《功夫之王》等候的时候看她的节目。本来我是不想接受访问的，但是当电视台说请了于丹做嘉宾，我马上答应出席，就是因为她，我才接受《五星夜话》的访问。我想，于老师是我近年印象最深刻，可以把她视为偶像的人。而且，我可以介绍大家听听她的访问，或是买她的DVD，买她的书看看，因为当中你一定会感到获益良多。

          晚上，我跟徐静蕾见面，她是一个出名的才女，我们因为拍戏而认识了。当戏拍完以后，她一直联络说要跟我见面，原来她写了这些字要送给我做生日礼物，用了我的名字‘成龙’，写了这些字，大家看看，多漂亮！

          第二天，我又要出席宣传活动，在活动之前，我见了几位专诚坐飞机来到北京的影迷，他们送上善款给‘龙子心工程’。虽然我不知道他们带来多少钱，但是他们有这颗善心，我都很感激他们。慈善是没有做完的一日，除非世界再没有穷人，所以，一天还有人需要帮忙，我们仍然需要大家集翼成裘，请大家继续支持成龙慈善基金和龙子心工程，谢谢大家！