MAY 12 -13, 2008

Clamping Down on Fake Goods

When I arrived in Beijing, I immediately changed into a customs officer uniform because I was doing a photo shoot and filming a public service announcement (PSA) for Beijing customs to help fight back against sellers of fake and low quality goods. At the moment, there are a lot of overseas tourists coming to visit China and apart from admiring the various attractions, some visitors buy imitation watches, leather goods, clothes, and other fake products as well. Customs has already arrested many people. The way I see it is if people stop buying these goods then production for them will naturally cease; it’s all just a market supply and demand problem. If there is no demand for the goods then there will be no need to supply it.

I want to help customs in China to strike back at these illegal operations so I agreed to be the customs ambassador, calling everyone to stop buying fake goods. I spent the whole of the first day doing the photo shoot for customs. On the second day, I started filming the PSA.

 

 

Sichuan Earthquake

The first day of the photo shoot went very smoothly but on the second day while we were filming the PSA, I suddenly felt the set shaking. At first I thought it was just the film crew walking past with heavy footsteps, causing the floorboards to shake. But I was wrong. It was an earthquake! When this happened, I had no idea what was going on and it wasn’t until later that evening, I found out that Sichuan had a very serious and devastating earthquake.

Wenchuan County in Sichuan province just experienced one of China’s strongest earthquakes in thirty years, measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale. Reports said that at least ten thousand people were killed and local authorities estimated that in the most heavily affected disaster area of Wenchuan County, about ten thousand people were still buried under the rubble.

A few small teams from the Sichuan province Military Area Command, a combined number of over 300 troops, were dispatched to the devastated area of Wenchuan County to help with rescue efforts. They walked to the disaster zone, climbing mountains and crossing rivers, and reached the epicenter of the quake-stricken Wenchuan by 12 o’clock in the afternoon to start disaster relief work but unfortunately, rescue efforts were hindered by heavy rain at the time. At three o’clock in the afternoon, there was a very strong aftershock. Right now, all roads and transportation to the area of Wenchuan are blocked, and all communication and power have been cut off, making it very difficult to contact the area. Premier Wen Jiabao ordered that all efforts must be made to clear and unblock the roads to the disaster area before midnight so rescue efforts could begin and preparations could be made for relief work.

Local officials expressed that an estimated total of over sixty thousand people in rural areas like Yingxiu village in Wenchuan County, the Special Administrative Region of Wolong, the township of Sanjang, Xuankau village, and other places, had been cut off from outside contact since the earthquake occurred.

According to news reports, the earthquake caused a confirmed 9,212 deaths in eight affected provinces including Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Yunan, Shanxi, Guizhou, and Hubei; and over 500,000 homes were destroyed. The PRC China Seismological Bureau reported that risks of aftershocks in Sichuan were constant and the possibility of a strong aftershock in the area was very likely.

The People of Sichuan – Hang In There

When I found out how serious this devastating earthquake was, my heart just sank and I felt despair. All I could think was - what can I do to help them? As it happened, my friend, Albert Yeung (chairman of Emperor Entertainment Group), was in Beijing so I immediately went to discuss this issue with him because I wondered if the fund we jointly established could be used for this right away.

In the morning of the following day, we both went to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and in the name of the Jackie Chan and Albert Yeung Charitable Foundation, we donated RMB$10 million (USD$1.4 million) for the victims of the earthquake and disaster relief. Originally, I wanted to gather a group of artists and lead them to do some disaster relief fundraising events but I was afraid that if I tried to organize something like this, it would take at least 8-10 days before it could happen.

Since I just mentioned the Jackie Chan and Albert Yeung Charitable Foundation, let me take this opportunity to tell you a little more about it. Albert Yeung and I co-founded this charitable foundation in August, 2004. We both invested a capital fund of USD $1.7 million and with the official approval from the PRC Ministry of Civil Affairs, we established the Jackie Chan and Albert Yeung Charitable Foundation. The main purpose of this foundation is to help and support the needs of elderly people, children, women, and the less fortunate in China. Over the years the foundation has developed and begun many different types of compassionate rescue plans, established and improved China’s social welfare benefits and public welfare equipment, and attracted more people to be aware of philanthropy in China, advancing the development of public welfare needs.

Since the establishment of this foundation, the trust has provided financial aid of USD $144,000 to Baoding City in Hebei Province and established the Jackie Chan and Albert Yeung Charitable Foundation Children’s Welfare Home, and invested USD $144,000 so orphans who suffer from congenital heart disease and other disabled children could receive surgery and suitable medical treatment. Funding for the charitable foundation comes from a range of sources including the money I earn from doing advertisements, a portion of profit from my joint venture property investment business with Albert Yeung, a portion of profit from Mr. Yeung’s investments in filmmaking, the income from movie premieres, plus other sources. What I wanted to do the most was to go to the devastated area, comfort the disaster victims and offer some moral support. I want them to know that people all over the world are concerned for them. I really want to do something to help them. To all the victims who are suffering from this devastating disaster, stay strong. You must fight hard and overcome the rough patch on this tough journey. I know USD $1.4 million doesn’t mean much to the victims who have just lost everything in this devastating disaster. I just hope that by doing this, I can set an example so other people can follow my footsteps and somehow do something to help the disaster victims. I think right now a lot of people are starting to take action to help the people affected by the earthquake. Everyone is making an effort by either donating money or offering assistance with rescue efforts.

I plan on doing some other fundraising events very soon and I’ve already started making arrangements for these to take place. In the meantime, I hope everyone can kindly open your hearts and try your best to reach out a helping hand because love has no boundaries and we should do what we can by donating money if we have money or offering our services if we can help with relief work. Being able to help one person means one less person has to suffer.

In here, I’d like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude and thank the leaders of the country and all the frontline people who have been rescuing and helping disaster victims. Without your hard work and industrious efforts, the amount of money we raise would be useless. Please keep up your wonderful work. We will always be morally supporting you and the disaster victims.

Text and photos ©2008 The JC Group. All Rights Reserved.

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May 12 - 13 (星期一至二)

 

打假：

          來到北京，馬上換上海關的制服，因為這一次我要為北京海關拍攝一個有關‘打假’的宣傳照和短片。現在有很多外國人到中國旅行，除了觀光之外，還買一些冒牌錶、皮具和衣服等等，海關已經逮捕了很多人了。我相信沒有人買，自然沒有人生產，因為這都是市場的供求問題，沒有求，那有人願意供。

          我為了幫助中國海關打擊這些違法行為，做了海關大使，呼籲市民不要買‘假貨’。第一天拍了一整天的照片，第二天開始拍短片。

 

四川地震：

          第一天拍攝非常順利，可是在第二天拍攝宣傳短片的途中，突然感到場景有些震動，我以為是工作人員大力踏步令地板震動，原來並不是，是地震！當時我都不知道是什麼一回事，直到晚上我才知道四川發生了非常嚴重的地震。

          原來四川汶川發生中國30年來最強烈的8級地震，至少約一萬人死亡，當局估計在重災區汶川仍有一萬人活埋。

          四川省軍區幾個小分隊，合共三百多人，徒步跋涉，已於中午十二點抵達震中汶川縣，展開救災工作，但當地因正下大雨，阻礙救援工作。而在下午三時再發生強烈餘震。震央汶川現時交通中斷，沒有通信及電力，聯絡十分困難。國務院總理溫家寶要求，務必要在今晚十二時前打通通往震中災區的道路，全面開展抗震、救人工作。當地官員表示，汶川縣映秀鎮、臥龍特別行政區、三江鄉、漩口鎮等地約六萬人自地震發生以來與外界無任何聯繫。

          據新聞報導所知，地震造成四川、甘肅    、陜西、重慶、雲南、山西、貴州、湖北八省市共9219人死亡。倒塌房屋五十餘萬間。中國地震台網中心報導說目前四川地震餘震起伏還存在，還有可能發生較強餘震。

 

四川人民加油：

          當我知道地震災情嚴重，心情十分沉重，只想著可以做些什麼幫他們？正藉我的朋友楊受成都在北京，我馬上跟他商議，我們的基金是否可以立即起動？

          於是，第二天早上，我們去民政部，以成龍楊受成公益慈善基金捐出一千萬賑災。本來我想帶頭找藝人做一些籌款賑災活動，但是我擔心讓我來做需要八到十天時間才能成事。

          談起我和楊受成的公益慈善基金是在2004年8月成立的，由我們兩人捐助1200萬元人民幣為創始基金，經國家民政部政部批准成立。基金會基金主要用於幫助和支持中國有關老人、婦女、兒童、貧困人員等需要幫助的人群，開展多種愛心救助計畫，建立和改善中國社會福利和公益設備，吸引更多的人關心慈善事業，促進中國公益事業的發展。

　　基金會成立以來，已資助河北省保定市100萬元並成立成龍、楊受成公益慈善基金兒童福利院、開展了助醫專案，投入100萬元為先天性心臟病孤兒以及其他的殘疾兒童進行手術治療、並將啟動助學項目和社區環保專案，讓更多急需幫助的人得到幫助。而基金的來源有來自我的廣告費、我跟楊受成合作的地產生意的部份收益、或是楊先生投資拍電影的部份收益、電影首映的收入等等。

          現在，我最想做的事情就是去安撫災民，讓他們知道各界的人都關注他們，很想做點事情幫他們，災民要堅強，努力走過這一段艱辛的路。我知道一千萬對災民來說只是杯水車薪，只希望能做到一個帶頭的作用，相信現在有很多人都在起動做一些事情幫助災民，無論是國家、人民和不同的機構都會出錢或是出力。

          我打算跟著會起動另一些活動，仍在進行中，希望大家本著血濃於水，可以的話盡力伸出援手，有錢出錢，有力出力，幫到一個就是一個。

          我要在這裡感謝國家的領導，所有在前線搶救災民的各個單位的人，沒有你們的努力，我們籌多少錢都是白費的，請你們繼續努力，我們一直為你們和災民打氣：「四川的人民，前線的同胞，請加油！」

 

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