JULY 19-24, 2008

Since I returned to Hong Kong last week, I have been quite busy and the time has gone by quickly. I had this same feeling when I met the New Police Story crew while filming the road safety PSA a few weeks ago. They reminded me that it’s been four years since we filmed NPS. Four years gone by in a flash. I thought about this and wondered why the time seems to go by so quickly lately.

While I've been back in Hong Kong, I've been taking my dogs for rides in my new truck. Jonesie and JJ sit in the bed of the pickup and stick their noses up into the air while I drive; I think they look quite cute. (Don’t worry; they won’t jump out because I have them tied to a harness.) I think Jonesie enjoys the rides more than JJ, who sits down most of the time and doesn’t seem as interested in all the smells and sights of Hong Kong.

I think it’s interesting that these two dogs who are brothers are so different in personality. They’ve been together since they were born and even when they were tiny puppies, Jonesie was the dominant one. It’s the same now that they are two years old; Jonesie is the daredevil, while JJ is careful and hesitant. You might remember that when the two dogs ran away from my house a few months ago, it was Jonesie that took us longer to find. Someone suggested that of the two dogs, Jonesie is more like me and that’s why I’m more strict with him. JJ is so gentle and when Jonesie bullies him, I feel it’s my responsibility to remind him in a very stern voice to be kinder to his brother. However, all my talking to Jonesie about his behavīor doesn’t seem to have much affect on him; he’s still pushy. I can't put my hands on JJ to pet him without Jonesie immediately coming between us and demanding all my attention.

After talking about JJ and Jonesie, I was reminded of how little they were when they first arrived and I asked my webmaster to find some old photos for you to see:

Jonesie and JJ in the summer of 2006

Jonesie is the one squirming around. See how calm JJ is?

Summer of 2007, fighting over the same toy.

Summer of 2008. I taught the dogs to sit with a treat on their noses until I give them a signal to eat it.

Here I'm giving JJ the command to stay down. He's so sensitive! Look at the face he gives me in return:

Jonesie, on the other hand, does this:

or this:

Celebrating the Olympics and Chinese Culture

On Wednesday afternoon I had to attend the taping of a special television program which featured different aspects of Chinese culture combined with a celebration of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As a Goodwill Ambassador for the Olympics, I take my duties very seriously and do whatever I can to support all the events and celebrations. It is my hope that China will be a successful host for the Games and introduce people from all over the world to Chinese culture.

I drove my own car to the television studio; I find driving very relaxing and whenever I have the chance I like to take the wheel. On the way there, Kath (my webmaster) grabbed the opportunity to have my undivided attention and spoke to me in a steady stream of Mandarin. I can’t say her Chinese was perfect, but I am happy with her progress. I gave her a thorough review of her performance and helped her correct several problems with her grammar and pronunciation. I told her that she should listen to Mandarin songs to pick up more vocabulary and teach her mouth to form the words and expressions. I think she appreciated this, and I could hear her mumbling to herself in Mandarin when our conversation was over. Actually, I encourage everyone I meet to learn Mandarin since Chinese is spoken by over a billion people; more people speak Mandarin than any other language on Earth.

On the ride to the television studio, I found out that some fans recently organized their own small Jackie Chan fan meetings – one in Austria and one in England - and I was quite pleased to hear that they not only had a lot of fun but that they raised some money for my Build a School for a Dollar project. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my fans for their ongoing support of both me and my charities.

A long time ago when I was first becoming famous, I found out that some fans from Japan came to Hong Kong and stayed in the houses of other fans - everyone together! This was when I realized how important my fan clubs were; they provided a network for fans to meet each other, get together, and make friends. I think that if people of different nationalities took the time to get to know each other, there would be no more prejudice and hatred. Some fans from different countries have even gotten married after meeting through the clubs. As the years went by, the Internet changed a lot of things and eventually there was no need for individual fan clubs for fans to get information and make connections.

Our discussion about fans and fan clubs led to talk of official fan parties and that reminded me that I am overdue for hosting a fan gathering. I like to hold these every few years and I did have an idea for a fan tour this summer; in fact we’d begun planning it, but because of the Olympics and then the earthquake, we decided to put those plans on hold. Actually, my dream is to hold a fan party in Beijing and I think that I will do that next year, probably in October or November when the weather is cooler. I would like to take my fans on a tour of some of the Olympic venues and maybe even visit the Great Wall together. Of course these ideas are tentative; I will let you know when we come up with a plan. During our discussion, I was told that fans would like to hear me perform some songs at a fan gathering. I said that I didn't know many songs in English and was happy to hear that my non-Chinese-speaking fans listen to my songs in Mandarin!  Well, if everyone can forgive me forgetting the lyrics, then I will think about this for the next party.

As you know, I have recorded several songs since the Sichuan earthquake in the hopes that I can help give moral support and comfort to the victims. I’ve made these songs available on my website and I hope that everyone will enjoy them and remember that although the earthquake took place two months ago, the agony and suffering continue. It will take many years to rebuild the devastated areas and even longer for people to recover from the trauma. While thinking about these songs, I thought it would be interesting for someone to translate a few of them into English. I think that “Shengsi Bu Li” and “Believe in Yourself” would be the best choices and if anyone has a pleasing translation, send it to me and maybe someday I’ll sing it!

We arrived at the television station and after signing my name to the welcoming board, I went backstage to a dressing room to practice a new version of “We Are Ready” which I had to sing for the show’s finale. When it was time for the taping to begin, I took my seat and immediately my table was surrounded by photographers. After a few minutes, I noticed that the director of the show was signaling for the beginning of the taping, so I asked the photographers to clear the area so that he could proceed. I thought nothing of this at the time, but was surprised when a report appeared in a newspaper the next day with a headline that read something like “Impatient Jackie” and talked about my refusal to speak to the press or pose for photos because of my grumpy mood. Actually, I was in a fine mood and was quite happy to attend this event and to sit for photos. Anyway, my only choice is to laugh at things like this, otherwise I’d spend all my time being irritated and that’s good for no one. 

See all the photographers surrounding my table.

The show was quite colorful and entertaining, and I was surprised and honored when I received two awards for my work in promoting the 2008 Olympics. I mean it from the bottom of my heart when I say that I would do my Olympic Ambassador work even if no one ever gave me an award or certificate of appreciation.

Since I’ve been back in Hong Kong I’ve been doing a lot of driving and one thing I noticed was that many drivers seem to be very impatient. On the way home from the studio, I slowed down to allow someone to pass in front of me and the driver behind me began beeping and waving his arms angrily in the air. However, if I hadn’t slowed down to let the car through, that driver would be the one to be angry rather than the guy behind me! Ha ha! We have an expression in Chinese that means that sometimes no matter which choice you make, you lose.

Bye Bye Hong Kong

On Thursday morning I had to wake up early to prepare for my departure from Hong Kong. I am going to Beijing and I have many things that I want to bring with me, so there was a lot of packing to do. Once we were finished, I loaded Jonesie and JJ into the back of the truck for the ride to the airport. Of course they are not coming with me to Beijing, but they enjoy riding in the truck so much that I like to take any opportunity to give them some fun. We took some photos to show you:

This is Jonesie. JJ is laying down in the bed of the truck.

Jonesie and JJ are two years old now.

One last hug and then off to Beijing.

In my last diary I showed you a picture of a boy I met at a concert and I asked you to guess how old he is. If you guessed that he is SIX YEARS OLD you would be correct! Look at how big he is!

He's only six years old!

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