December 16, 2011

Jackie Promotes Foreign Exchange Studies

On December 14, Jackie invited a group of Chinese and American students to visit him on the set of his new film Chinese Zodiac. The students are participating in a program called Americans Promoting Study Abroad (APSA) and were in town for a special art week and charity concert. The concert, which will take place in Beijing later this week, is co-sponsored by the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation. Because Jackie is filming and can not attend the concert, he invited the students for a visit instead.

The Americans Promoting Study Abroad (www.apsaglobal.org) aims to increase awareness and support for study abroad programs for Americans in China and are doing it with support from the 100,000 Strong Initiative (www.state.gov/100Kstrong). The 100,000 Strong Initiative was announced by President Obama on his first trip to China in 2009 and launched by Secretary of State Clinton last year. It aims to increase the number of American students studying in China by 100,000 in four years. The Chinese government and State Councilor Liu Yandong are major supporters of this Initiative.