October 17, 2008
On the last day of the Dragon's Heart charity trip to the Henan Province of China, we arose early because our team had a lot to do before we departed for the airport and not much time to do it. We met in Jackie's suite so we could leave together and although many of us had been up late the night before, everyone was punctual and ready to go. We even had some time to spare so we watched a little bit of the news on television then gathered our bags and headed downstairs. We filled one van with all of our luggage and sat together in the second van. Today we would be attending the dedication ceremony for another Dragon's Heart school.
The Dragon's Heart team (minus X Lee, who took the photo) on the way to our last event of the Henan trip.
The view from inside the van. Look at all the people!
When we arrived at the school grounds we were greeted by what can only be described as complete mayhem. There were hundreds or maybe thousands of men, women, and children lining the streets waiting for Jackie to make an appearance. There were people standing on boxes, cars, fences, rooftops, and just about anywhere else you can imagine. When we got out of the van the crowd pushed forward at the same time and it was all that the police could do to keep them back. Thanks to their skill, Jackie safely made it through the grounds of the school to the little stage that had been set up.
After waving hello to the massive crowd of students, teachers, and parents that was assembled in front of him, Jackie was presented with flowers and the traditional red scarf. It's always fun to watch Jackie's facial expression when someone is pinning something onto his clothing - - he looks apprehensive and more than a little nervous that the pin will end up poking him in the chest during the procedure. As you probably know, Jackie hates needles and I suppose that is why he always looks a little hesitant when someone - usually a youngster with shaking hands - is pinning something on him!
Once everything settled down, Jackie was treated to a performance by the students. There was singing and dancing and of course lots of smiles. While this was going on, I walked through the crowds to say hello to the children. I was surprised to note that none of these youngsters were afraid of me; most seemed perfectly comfortable to have a foreigner in their presence. It was when some of them spoke to me in careful English that I realized they must have a foreign teacher and therefore they were not scared at all. One group of children showed me a beautiful paper-mâché heart they'd made for Jackie. They told me how much they loved Uncle Jackie and how happy they were that he came to their town to visit them. The children were so excited that they could barely stand still while they talked. They hopped up and down and their smiles spread across their faces from ear to ear.
Jackie watches the performance.
Students proudly show off the paper heart they made for Jackie.
Jackie looks at the paper heart.
Signing the plaque.
After Jackie signed the new school plaque, he went to the podium and spoke to the children. He told them that when he was a child, he did not have a proper education and that it was something he was always ashamed of. He said that he was very happy to be able to help them get a new school and asked them to study hard so that when they grew up they could be proud of themselves.
It's always a little sad to hear Jackie talk about his lack of formal education because it's something that he is acutely embarrassed about. When he was a very young child, he was put into a Chinese opera school where he learned many things, but had no formal academic training. As a result, when he left the school at age 17, he could neither read nor write. However, you should know that Jackie eventually taught himself to read and write not only Chinese, but also some English. Jackie may not have much formal education, but he is highly intelligent and of course you all know what a hard worker he is. I think that if you put together all of the knowledge Jackie's acquired over his lifetime, it would certainly be equal to or greater than a modern college education.
When he was done talking to the students, Jackie walked over to the area which was set up for the formal groundbreaking. He and some local officials threw the ceremonial shovels full of dirt which represented the beginning of the building process. When Jackie returns to this area next year or sometime in the future, there will be a beautiful modern school where on this day there was just a dusty, empty lot.
Before we left, the local officials and teachers asked Jackie to pose for some photos with them. When he was finished, Jackie had an idea for another photo - - he wanted to have the photographers all stand on the stage and take a picture of him with the audience behind him. Jackie cleared the flower pots off the edge of the stage and at the count of three, everyone waved and cheered for the photo.
It was just at this moment that my camera's memory card chose to run out of space. Actually, I can't blame the camera - it was all my fault. I had taken so many photos of the children that I didn't notice I'd filled up the memory card. I was mortified; how could I be so careless? After the photos were taken and we were getting ready to leave, Jackie took one look at my face and knew that something was wrong. I told him what had happened and he said to me, "Don't worry! We'll do it again." Much to my delight and appreciation, he went right back up to the edge of the stage and told the audience that we were going to take one more photo. I quickly inserted a new memory card into my camera and because of Jackie's kindness, you get to see a few really neat pictures:
Here's a small video of Jackie organizing the group for a photo:
When we finished with the last photos, we headed toward the vans and to our surprise, so did everyone else. The bodyguards told us to "Run!" and that's what we did. We ran as fast as we could from the stage to the van, trying to keep ahead of the hundreds of people - many of them children - who were basically chasing us. It wasn't a frightening situation; actually we were all laughing at this point because we felt so silly stumbling towards the vans juggling our equipment and all of the gifts and flowers that had been given to Jackie by the students. We finally made it inside the van and we were instantly surrounded by people screaming and waving goodbye to Jackie. Of course he waved back and shouted out the window for everyone to be careful.
I thought you would be interested to see a little video of what it looked like from inside the van that day:
As we pulled away, our team let out a collective sigh of relief that the mad dash had been accomplished successfully. It was then that someone noticed that we were once again missing X Lee. Often he will stay behind to film footage of the fans waving or the van pulling away. Today there was such a massive crowd of people that no one could see him. We searched frantically for him in the crowds and finally someone spotted him up ahead (now you know why the Dragon's Heart team wears colors like pumpkin orange), calmly waiting for the van to pick him up. We approached him and with some effort we were able to yank him into the car.
Another Dragon's Heart trip comes to an end. Jackie always spends time thinking about how he can make future charity trips even more productive.
We settled in for the hour and a half drive to the airport. As he always does, Jackie asked me my opinion of the trip. He likes to get feedback because he's always trying to think of ways to make the trips better. I told him that in all honesty I thought things had gone very well. I reminded him that despite the threat of a worldwide recession hanging over everyone's heads, people had been extremely generous at the auctions and a lot of money had been raised. I also told him that his physical presence at the schools, the elderly home, and the poor people's houses had been tremendously uplifting and exciting for everyone. I said that I'd never seen people smiling so much in my entire life. Jackie's face broke into a wide grin; he was delighted to hear about the happiness he'd brought to these people that he cares so deeply about. With a satisfied sigh, he leaned back in his chair, covered up his eyes, and promptly fell asleep.
We arrived at the airport and split off into different groups. Jackie would be returning to Beijing with X Lee and the rest of us would be flying to Shenzhen where we would be met by cars for the drive back to Hong Kong. At the airport we ran into several of the Disciple folks. I spent a little time talking to them and was surprised to discover that they had been to all of the events we'd attended in the past 4 days. I was shocked - - I only saw them once and that was on the first day of the trip when I'd run into Jerry in a crowd at the school dedication. Although I'd seen the group at the hotel, I never saw them again at any of the events. They told me that they'd been given strict instructions to stay far away from Jackie for security reasons and they'd been following us in a separate van. I told them that they'd done a very good job of staying away from Jackie; I'd never even seen them!
The Disciple crew at the airport.
These are the reporters and videographers who traveled with us.
We said our final goodbyes and headed to the lounge to await our flight. In one week's time, Jackie would be returning to Hong Kong to prepare for our trip to America to begin filming The Spy Next Door.
Coming up next in the Scrapbook section: On the Road With Jackie Chan: Filming in New Mexico plus interviews and more crew introductions.
On the last day of the Dragon's Heart charity trip to the Henan Province of China, we arose early because our team had a lot to do before we departed for the airport and not much time to do it. We met in Jackie's suite so we could leave together and although many of us had been up late the night before, everyone was punctual and ready to go. We even had some time to spare so we watched a little bit of the news on television then gathered our bags and headed downstairs. We filled one van with all of our luggage and sat together in the second van. Today we would be attending the dedication ceremony for another Dragon's Heart school.
The Dragon's Heart team (minus X Lee, who took the photo) on the way to our last event of the Henan trip.
The view from inside the van. Look at all the people!
When we arrived at the school grounds we were greeted by what can only be described as complete mayhem. There were hundreds or maybe thousands of men, women, and children lining the streets waiting for Jackie to make an appearance. There were people standing on boxes, cars, fences, rooftops, and just about anywhere else you can imagine. When we got out of the van the crowd pushed forward at the same time and it was all that the police could do to keep them back. Thanks to their skill, Jackie safely made it through the grounds of the school to the little stage that had been set up.
After waving hello to the massive crowd of students, teachers, and parents that was assembled in front of him, Jackie was presented with flowers and the traditional red scarf. It's always fun to watch Jackie's facial expression when someone is pinning something onto his clothing - - he looks apprehensive and more than a little nervous that the pin will end up poking him in the chest during the procedure. As you probably know, Jackie hates needles and I suppose that is why he always looks a little hesitant when someone - usually a youngster with shaking hands - is pinning something on him!
Once everything settled down, Jackie was treated to a performance by the students. There was singing and dancing and of course lots of smiles. While this was going on, I walked through the crowds to say hello to the children. I was surprised to note that none of these youngsters were afraid of me; most seemed perfectly comfortable to have a foreigner in their presence. It was when some of them spoke to me in careful English that I realized they must have a foreign teacher and therefore they were not scared at all. One group of children showed me a beautiful paper-mâché heart they'd made for Jackie. They told me how much they loved Uncle Jackie and how happy they were that he came to their town to visit them. The children were so excited that they could barely stand still while they talked. They hopped up and down and their smiles spread across their faces from ear to ear.
Jackie watches the performance.
Students proudly show off the paper heart they made for Jackie.
Jackie looks at the paper heart.
Signing the plaque.
After Jackie signed the new school plaque, he went to the podium and spoke to the children. He told them that when he was a child, he did not have a proper education and that it was something he was always ashamed of. He said that he was very happy to be able to help them get a new school and asked them to study hard so that when they grew up they could be proud of themselves.
It's always a little sad to hear Jackie talk about his lack of formal education because it's something that he is acutely embarrassed about. When he was a very young child, he was put into a Chinese opera school where he learned many things, but had no formal academic training. As a result, when he left the school at age 17, he could neither read nor write. However, you should know that Jackie eventually taught himself to read and write not only Chinese, but also some English. Jackie may not have much formal education, but he is highly intelligent and of course you all know what a hard worker he is. I think that if you put together all of the knowledge Jackie's acquired over his lifetime, it would certainly be equal to or greater than a modern college education.
When he was done talking to the students, Jackie walked over to the area which was set up for the formal groundbreaking. He and some local officials threw the ceremonial shovels full of dirt which represented the beginning of the building process. When Jackie returns to this area next year or sometime in the future, there will be a beautiful modern school where on this day there was just a dusty, empty lot.
Before we left, the local officials and teachers asked Jackie to pose for some photos with them. When he was finished, Jackie had an idea for another photo - - he wanted to have the photographers all stand on the stage and take a picture of him with the audience behind him. Jackie cleared the flower pots off the edge of the stage and at the count of three, everyone waved and cheered for the photo.
It was just at this moment that my camera's memory card chose to run out of space. Actually, I can't blame the camera - it was all my fault. I had taken so many photos of the children that I didn't notice I'd filled up the memory card. I was mortified; how could I be so careless? After the photos were taken and we were getting ready to leave, Jackie took one look at my face and knew that something was wrong. I told him what had happened and he said to me, "Don't worry! We'll do it again." Much to my delight and appreciation, he went right back up to the edge of the stage and told the audience that we were going to take one more photo. I quickly inserted a new memory card into my camera and because of Jackie's kindness, you get to see a few really neat pictures:
Here's a small video of Jackie organizing the group for a photo:
When we finished with the last photos, we headed toward the vans and to our surprise, so did everyone else. The bodyguards told us to "Run!" and that's what we did. We ran as fast as we could from the stage to the van, trying to keep ahead of the hundreds of people - many of them children - who were basically chasing us. It wasn't a frightening situation; actually we were all laughing at this point because we felt so silly stumbling towards the vans juggling our equipment and all of the gifts and flowers that had been given to Jackie by the students. We finally made it inside the van and we were instantly surrounded by people screaming and waving goodbye to Jackie. Of course he waved back and shouted out the window for everyone to be careful.
I thought you would be interested to see a little video of what it looked like from inside the van that day:
Another Dragon's Heart trip comes to an end. Jackie always spends time thinking about how he can make future charity trips even more productive.
We settled in for the hour and a half drive to the airport. As he always does, Jackie asked me my opinion of the trip. He likes to get feedback because he's always trying to think of ways to make the trips better. I told him that in all honesty I thought things had gone very well. I reminded him that despite the threat of a worldwide recession hanging over everyone's heads, people had been extremely generous at the auctions and a lot of money had been raised. I also told him that his physical presence at the schools, the elderly home, and the poor people's houses had been tremendously uplifting and exciting for everyone. I said that I'd never seen people smiling so much in my entire life. Jackie's face broke into a wide grin; he was delighted to hear about the happiness he'd brought to these people that he cares so deeply about. With a satisfied sigh, he leaned back in his chair, covered up his eyes, and promptly fell asleep.
We arrived at the airport and split off into different groups. Jackie would be returning to Beijing with X Lee and the rest of us would be flying to Shenzhen where we would be met by cars for the drive back to Hong Kong. At the airport we ran into several of the Disciple folks. I spent a little time talking to them and was surprised to discover that they had been to all of the events we'd attended in the past 4 days. I was shocked - - I only saw them once and that was on the first day of the trip when I'd run into Jerry in a crowd at the school dedication. Although I'd seen the group at the hotel, I never saw them again at any of the events. They told me that they'd been given strict instructions to stay far away from Jackie for security reasons and they'd been following us in a separate van. I told them that they'd done a very good job of staying away from Jackie; I'd never even seen them!
The Disciple crew at the airport.
These are the reporters and videographers who traveled with us.
We said our final goodbyes and headed to the lounge to await our flight. In one week's time, Jackie would be returning to Hong Kong to prepare for our trip to America to begin filming The Spy Next Door.
Text, photos, and video © 2009 Katharine Schroeder / The JC Group
All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved
Coming up next in the Scrapbook section: On the Road With Jackie Chan: Filming in New Mexico plus interviews and more crew introductions.
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posted on Thursday, Jul 01, 2010
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