April 2 - 11, 2009

Big Little Soldier Press Release Conference

Big Little Soldier finally had its first promotion. This was the first time I made a film using a crew entirely from Mainland China. The film is directed by Ding Cheng and the cast includes me, Leehom Wang, female lead Li Peng, Nan Han, male artist Steve Yoo Seung Jun, and my disciples, the New Seven Little Fortunes, plus many others.


The movie is based on a story set during the Warring States Period. I play a role as an old soldier and I kidnap a small general played by Leehom Wang. Many things happen during the process. You will see humor, action, and sorrow. Even though the two main roles of big soldier and the little general are set in an environment during the ancient Warring States Period, the storyline actually has very little connection with wars and battles. The war scenes are just like fabricated backgrounds. The main theme of the movie is peace.

There were actually three possible candidates to play the little general. They included Jaycee Fang, Daniel Wu, and Leehom Wang. Initially I had my mind fixed on Jaycee but then afterwards I thought that it would be very easy for father and son to laugh when filming scenes on the set together. So, I decided to place “righteousness before family” and not use my son Jaycee. I also wanted to select Daniel to play the role because I was the one who guided him into the industry, supporting and encouraging him. But we just worked on the Shinjuku Incident together and my wife Lin Feng Jiao was pushing for Leehom Wang. I even jokingly said to Leehom, “You have to thank Ms. Lin, Jaycee’s mom!”


Shooting at Shidu for Big Little Soldier

On the night after the press conference ended, we drove to a place called Shidu. As soon as we arrived at the hotel, I immediately went to sleep.

The following day, I finally made it to the set location. This was a place on the outskirts of Beijing with a view of the mountains and not very many people. The shapes of the mountains were quite strange and there was water below them. It was extremely beautiful. The area is in the process of doing some large scale construction and it’s already considered as a tourist spot. I think that in the future there will be many more people coming here to have fun because the facilities are always improving.


There are actually a lot of places in China that I think are very beautiful but it’s just that the facilities are insufficient. We have many beaches but we don’t have many hotels. When we have many hotels, we don’t have very good service. I remember when I went to Cannes; they had beautiful beaches, hotels, roads, skies, people, and food. We need to make our surroundings even more beautiful as well. I believe that when our facilities are all up to standard, China will become the largest tourist destination in the world.

At the set location, I saw many mountain goats climbing the mountains. I didn’t know that mountain goats really knew how to climb mountains. I took many photos, but regretfully, I can’t show them to you yet. Later when my company says that it’s okay for me to publish the photos, I’ll let you see them all.

The Wrap of Big Little Soldier

I simply cannot believe that the movie we’ve been filming for the past two months has finally come to an end. Of course, we couldn’t forget to open a bottle of champagne to celebrate the wrap of the film, and my disciples, the New Seven Little Fortunes, threw me and the director into the pool of water.

I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all of the production team. Over the past two months, each and every one of them worked particularly hard. From the first day till the very last day, they all worked very hard and they were all consistently professional. As their boss, there were several occasions when I asked them to rest for one day so then I could also rest for one day. However, they didn’t want to. We’ve all been working extremely hard every day, but it’s been very enjoyable. So I have to thank everyone in the production team; we were able to wrap today because of them. This was also my first time using an entire crew from China.

The work I had to do at the time was also very tiring. Every night I had discussions with the director until 2 o’clock in the morning. And then at around 5 or 6 o’clock in the morning, I started my new day of filming, finished work, took a shower, ate dinner, and then had discussions with the director again. This is what I did for two months. I guess you can say that it was extremely tiring and laborious but we completed shooting the film very smoothly.

To thank everybody for their two months of continuous hard work, I arranged to hold a celebratory party for them and I thought that I may as well incorporate it with my birthday party too.

That day, I received a lot of cash donations for my charitable foundation. The most heart-touching thing was that an actor who only played a very small role in the film donated his entire pay packet to my Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation. That day, I took a portion of the cash and used it as the prize for the cash prize draw. A lot of people who won the prize also donated it to my Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation. They all know not to buy me gifts for my birthday now. They can just give me cash and then donate it to my charitable foundation.

Big Little Soldier Review

We traveled to many different places around Yunnan to shoot this film including Yiliang, Yuanmou, and other areas. I visited quite a few cities and it allowed me to see so many different kinds of scenery. I saw a lot of things that looked good, and I also saw a lot of things that weren’t so good. But the green mountains and clear waters of Yunnan are all extremely amazing.

Throughout the filming, I’ve had my New Seven Little Fortunes with me. Through this experience, they now they know what it’s really like to make a film and they also know the true meaning of enduring hardships. Not only did they have to play a small role in the movie on the set, they also had to help the crew with anything they needed help with. They had to do the small jobs too. I wanted them to do everything. I think that if you want to do things successfully, you must first learn how to be an upright person. If you do a good job with being an upright person, you will then have the foundations of doing a good job with other things. If you’re not successful with being an upright person, the things you do will also be unsuccessful. That is why I think that it is very important to be an upright person. Being and upright person is exactly the same as being an artist. I’ve now asked all the staff in my company to be upright people and I’ve asked them to do their jobs well. In the past, I didn’t know how to be an upright person; I only knew how to do things well. I can’t say that I now know how to do a good job and be a better person but I can say that I’m still in the process of learning and trying my best.

I still can’t show the photos that I took. Later when I’m allowed to release the photos, I promise that I’ll show you as soon as I can. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your recent support with Shinjuku Incident. Big Little Soldier is an action black-comedy type movie, totally opposite from Shinjuku Incident. I played two totally different roles, and the genre of each movie is also totally different. But I intentionally wanted to do this because in the next two years, I want to film a different kind of Jackie Chan and I hope to show a different side of me to you all.

Shooting an Anti-Virus Software Advertisement

Today I did a photo shoot for the Kaspersky Anti-Virus software advertisement. I’ve become the spokesperson for this particular product because they agreed to be my biggest sponsor for the charity concert that I’m going to hold at the Bird’s Nest. While I was busy doing my work, my disciples were busy sleeping. Of course, I couldn’t miss this wonderful opportunity to take photos of them sleeping:



Luoyang Peony Festival

After I finished my work in Beijing, I was on the road again and drove to Luoyang. The staff workers told me that the drive would only take 4 hours. They lied to me. I had to drive for 7 hours before I reached Luoyang. I went to Luoyang to attend the opening ceremony for the 27th Peony Flower Festival.

As soon as I arrived at the ceremony location, I immediately began rehearsing. Apart from myself, I also brought along the New Seven Little Fortunes. I noticed a lot of security staff on the grounds. It honestly looked like they were prepared to face a daunting enemy!


I was one of the guest performers for the event. I sang two songs, “Believe in Yourself” and “Country.” This was the first time singing “Country” for everyone at a public event. If I put the title of the two songs together, it becomes “Believe in Yourself, Believe in Our Country.” I was extremely happy when I heard everyone cheer for me. I think there could have been two reasons why people cheered for me. One, because I sang very well; two, because the songs I sang were really good. I think the answer is definitely the second one. I was just joking about the first one. Ha ha ha!


This entire street was lined with peony flowers. By the time I noticed it, it was already too late for me to take any good photos.


Shooting an MV in the High Altitudes of Shanghai

After I drove to Luoyang and completed my performance at the event, I caught a flight back to Shanghai. It doesn’t matter where I go at the moment, as long as there is a performance of some sort, I will always bring my New Seven Little Fortunes with me. There are actually a total of 13 of them. I just take whomever is free. I hope to bring them out with me more often so that they have more opportunities to learn new things. This is a reason why I decided not to sing the theme song for Big Little Soldier and I let them sing it. I think that they are a very lucky bunch.


After I got off the plane, I stopped by to look at a plastic bottle recycling factory. Look at how many bottles there are! There are at least one hundred trucks that transport these bottles every day. I guess you can imagine how many plastic bottles are thrown away each day. Furthermore, what I saw today was only a situation in Shanghai. The estimated population of Shanghai is at least 30 million and there is already such a large amount of wasted plastic in the factory. I think that the amount for the entire country would be even more alarming!


We then drove to Chedun. Several years ago, I was in Chedun filming The Myth. Now, several years later, I’m back again at this film shooting base. This time I’m going to make a guest appearance in a film called Jian Guo Da Ye (Establishment of Our Country). The story is set in 1948 and I act as a journalist who interviews the appointed chairman of the revolutionary National Part at the time, Li Ji Shen. The film is co-directed by Han San Ping and Huang Jian Xin, and is part of a celebratory film for the 60th Anniversary of the establishment of People’s Republic of China. Apart from a guest appearance by me, there are also many other artists from China and Hong Kong who feature or make a guest appearance in this section of the film as well. I guess you can say that it’s a star studded film.


I filmed all the way through till 11 o’clock before finishing work, and then I went back to the hotel to get some rest.

Early the next morning, I saw the whole of Huangpu beach and it was so beautiful. I believe that China is continuously improving and in the not too distant future, I know that China will become even better and become even stronger. When I showed these photos to Fibe, she told me that she thinks the greenery work in China has improved a lot and the streets look very clean.

We went to the roof of the HSBC Bank to film an MV for a song called “Cheng Shi” (City). Well known director, Zhang Yi Bai, is directing this MV, hoping to present the beautiful images of the townspeople welcoming the World Expo. I’ve been appointed as the World Expo Goodwill Ambassador, and this song “Cheng Shi” is to commemorate the start of the one year countdown to the World Expo. I will try my best to promote and spread the news of the World Expo. And I also call upon every civilian in Shanghai that you can also be the host and be the “goodwill ambassador” for the World Expo. “Cheng Shi” is a very nice song to listen to and the lyrics are also very meaningful:

Cheng Shi
Lyrics: Wang Ping Jiu
Composer: Choi Joon Young (Korean, composer of theme song for The Myth)
Music Producers: Peter Kam, Chang Shi Lei

The sky is the home of the stars, a village where love never parts,
Sparkling brightness calls upon the moonlight, a distance near or far,
Stars form oceans in the sky, love that ignites the sea,
The darkness does not disorientate, pursuing the imaginations of astrology.
The vault of heaven, the sky of stars bearing light,
The shores of love, the horizon descends into the sea,
Above the heart, there are no walls of prevention,
The wings of dreams, ideal in ten thousand languages.
Spirit City the resonating sounds of starlit skies breathing,
Passing through the heavens of dreams, life loves radiance,
Spirit City the direction of the rising moon and sun,
Exceeding the surrounding walls of clouds, hope is strength.

The sky is the home of the stars, a village where love never parts,
Sparkling brightness calls upon the moonlight, a distance near or far,
Stars form oceans in the sky, love that ignites the sea,
The darkness does not disorientate, pursuing the imaginations of astrology.
The vault of heaven, the sky of stars bearing light,
The shores of love, the horizon descends into the sea,
Above the heart, there are no walls of prevention,
The wings of dreams, ideal in ten thousand languages.
Spirit City the direction of the rising moon and sun,
Exceeding the surrounding walls of clouds, hope is strength.
Spirit is the light of the city, the city is the heart of the spirit.

Spirit City the resonating sounds of starlit skies breathing,
Passing through the heavens of dreams, life loves radiance,
Spirit City the direction of the rising moon and sun,
Exceeding the surrounding walls of clouds, hope is strength.

People who have heard me sing this song have all said to me that the way I performed this song was different from the past. After listening to it, they felt younger. If you have time, listen and see if you agree with them as well.

While I was shooting the MV, I stood right next to the railing on the top floor of HSBC bank. I suddenly had the urge to do something naughty so I did a somersault. I think I gave everyone on the set a fright because a lot of them just stood there looking blank and some even squealed. Ha ha ha. That’s the type of person I am. If I come across something that looks difficult, the more I want to challenge myself. I think it’s very interesting.


After being busy for a period of time, it was time for everyone to rest again. It was lunchtime. Take a look at our lunch meals; everybody has their own meal, tea, and a banana. And the lyrics for “Cheng Shi” are accompanying us as well.

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