Diary

It’s been a couple of weeks since the end of the fan club tour and the Jackie Chan International Action Film Week in Datong. The first thing I want to say is, a BIG heartfelt ‘Thank You’ to all the fans from all over the world who traveled the distance to attend my fan club tour. I know the tour wasn’t perfect and I ask for your forgiveness and compassion if things didn’t go as planned. I hope those of you who attended had an enjoyable time! My staff have been telling me about all the wonderful stories fans have been sending in, and your videos about the trip. Thank you thank you thank you! Honestly, without your continuous support over the many years, I wouldn’t be where I am today. And I hope I can keep going, make more movies for you to watch, sing more songs for you to listen!

 

July 16-18, 2019

Before going to Datong, I was so happy and amazed at my wonderful staff. They spent days preparing and packing all the gift bags for every fan! I wanted to make sure that every fan who was coming to China would feel welcomed by the bag of goodies. Inside the pack included 4 T-shirts (in case fans didn’t bring enough clothes to wear), 4 specially designed wrist bands (so fans know they’re part of the tour), a light wind jacket (just in case fans get cold), a rain coat (in case it starts to rain in Datong), a silk scarf (souvenir), a cap (in case it’s really sunny when they visit the tourist attractions), a face towel (to wipe away the sweat), a set of environmentally friendly stainless steel straws (to help save the environment from straws), a pair of sandals (to wear at leisure), a dragon logo popsocket (quite handy for mobile phones), and some random momento gifts. I just hope that all my fans have a fun and enjoyable trip.

 

 

 

July 19-20, 2019 –  Datong and Deshengbao  

I arrived into Datong late in the afternoon and was welcomed by the local officials.  They updated me with how Datong has progressed since the last time I was here, also for my Jackie Chan International Action Film Week event.

 

Early the next day, I had a charity visit and forum to attend at ‘Deshengbao’ (得勝堡) – literally meaning ‘Victory Fort’. Deshengbao is an ancient walled fortress almost on the border with Inner Mongolia. This 16^th-century landmark is part of the Great Wall and many of its houses inside the village are built with the bricks from the Great Wall.

Organizers arranged for me to travel from Datong city to Deshengbao by helicopter, so I could experience an aerial view of the beautiful city.

 

 

After landing at the fortress, I was welcomed by so many local villagers who were waiting to see me on the side. I was then taken on a tour around the fort, through the fortress gate, and visited a local resident who was still living in the brick houses. We sat down, enjoyed a cup of tea, and talked about how he spent most of his life protecting and conserving the lovely history of Deshengbao. He even used the bricks from his own house to re-build the crumbling parts of Great Wall.

 

 

After chatting with the local resident, we walked out to the main street and tasted some of the many local foods that the villagers had prepared. I tried the noodles and pancakes and cucumbers and eggs… wow, so many yummy things to try. But there were just too many. I got full very fast.

 

 

After touring the fortress, I attended the “Star Lights Campaign on Poverty Conservation: Conservation of The Great Wall” forum. We discussed on how we can help eliminate poverty and the things we can do to preserve our history, like the Great Wall in Deshengbao.

 

 

 

July 22, 2019 – Visiting the Huang Hua Fields

I woke up early in the morning and prepared for another day of charity, visiting the Huang Hua (Yellow Flower) Fields in Tangjiabao Village. We drove for about 45 minutes into the outskirts of Datong. When I arrived at Tangjiabao Village, I noticed the familiar fields of Huang Hua. I’m not sure if you remember but I visited the Huang Hua villages last year when I was in Datong, helping eliminate poverty by encouraging local production of products such as the Huang Hua. This year, I have noticed how the facilities, size of the Huang Hua fields, production lines and factories have greatly improved since my last visit, which made me very happy.

 

 

After visiting the Huang Hua fields, local officials took me on a quick tour of the Huang Hua factory nearby.

 

 

For those of you who don’t know what is ‘Huang Hua’, basically it’s the Yellow Flower of the vegetable which can be cooked as a vegetable and has been historically used for medicinal purposes. I know my fans who attended the Datong Fan Club Tour were gifted some Huang Hua to take home as a souvenir, and many have asked how to eat it! I’ll ask one of my staff to write some instructions on how to use/eat the Yellow Flower.

 

While visiting the Huang Hua factory, I noticed quite a few other local products that are well known to Datong, such as fresh Goji berries, melon, tomatoes, even mountain ram. I truly hope that the increase in production will help fight the battle against poverty. Of course, I saw so many local village people waiting for me outside, lining along the sides of the roads. I’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to all the local people for coming out to see me that day!

 

 

July 25, 2019 – Fan Club Meeting

After attending a meeting and forum by the lakeside in the afternoon, I made a surprise entrance to see my fans at the 2019 International Fan Club Meeting in Datong. Did you enjoy my entrance on a jet-boat on the Wenying Hu? My heart was pumping so fast with excitement because I could hear all my fans cheering and shouting and I just wanted to see my fans!

 

 

The fan club meeting was set by the lakeside in front of an ancient fortress, which looked so beautiful from the boat. As I got off the boat and walked up the steps towards the stage, I could hear everybody chanting “Jackie! Jackie! Jackie!…” And then as soon as I saw my fans, everyone started screaming! And I couldn’t stop smiling! The happiness and excitement I felt was uncontrollably and so amazing. I know that fans from over 45 different countries travelled very long distances to see me in China. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say again a very big “thank you” to every single fan who came to the fan club party. I was so happy to see you, and of course I must say “sorry” if things didn’t turn out how you expected. As there were so many people taking part in this tour, my staff tried their best to make the best arrangements for you. Thank you for your patience, your mutual understanding, and your tolerance towards others. I truly hope you had a great time, and I hope we can meet again soon.

 

 

I’m very grateful to see so many familiar faces who have been with me all these years, through wind and rain, and are still with me today. You have no idea how much your support means to me. Without you, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

 

I just hope everyone enjoyed the evening!

 

 

 

July 26, 2019 – Forum at Yungang Grottoes

I attended another forum for the Action Film Week, this time at a very beautiful historical location called the Yungang Grottoes. It’s hard to find the words to describe the place. Have a look at some photos below and see what you think.

 

 

The topic of the forum was The Mergence and Breakthrough of Action Films. Event organizers invited actors and directors from all over the world! Including actor Adrian Brody (Dragon Blade), director Martin Campbell, Tsui Hark, Japanese actor Yasuki Kurata.

 

 

 

July 27, 2019 Closing Ceremony

Time goes by so fast. When I woke up in the morning, I suddenly realized that tonight was the closing ceremony for my Action Film Week. My staff had told me that my fans will be attending the closing ceremony as well. Some of them were lucky enough to walk the red carpet representing their country!

 

 

This year, the closing ceremony was held at the Datong Sports Stadium. So many friends came in support of the event, including Leehom Wang, Jonathan Lee, Emil Chau, Crystal Liu, Stanley Tong, Eric Tsang, and many many others. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the guests who attended the event, and a big congratulations to all the winners.

 

 

July 28, 2019 – Farewell with Fans, Back to Beijing.

After waking up, taking a quick shower and eating a little breakfast, I had to rush to the airport and fly back to Beijing. But of course, before heading to the airport, I wanted to say goodbye to my fans before leaving Datong. I asked my staff, “where are they right now?” My fans didn’t know I was going to see them to say goodbye, it was a little surprise. We managed to arrive in time for a big group photo.

 

 

Although it was farewell for now, but I’ll make sure that we’ll see each other again very soon! A very big thank you to all the fans who traveled across the world to see me. I love you all so much!

 

I’d also like to thank my staff for helping us make the fan club tour happen. I know they spent nearly a year in preparations – the difficult task of organizing fans from all corners of the world; making sure that everything was done fairly without being bias; and as numbers to the event were limited, my staff had the grueling mission of drawing the lucky attendees out of the several thousand fans who registered their interest.

 

Till we meet again…..

 

Text and Photos © 2019 The JC Group
All Rights Reserved

There are two dates in every year that I’m most “afraid” of. One of those dates is New Year, the other is my birthday.  When those days come, I receive so many messages and I’m always overloaded with well wishes from everyone. It puts me under a lot of pressure. Today is like any other day and it’s work as usual in the editing room.

This is my birthday cake! Ha ha! Even though I don’t like celebrating my birthday, but I still have to say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all your birthday wishes. I also have some special news that I’d like to share with my fans: this year in July, the 5th Annual International Jackie Chan Action Movie Week will be held in Datong, Shanxi. Not only will there be films from various parts of the world participating in the event, action stunts representatives from all over the world will also be invited to attend. I also managed to obtain a small bonus for everyone and would like to invite my fans to attend the awards ceremony as well! If you’d like to take part this summer, please go to my official website: jackiechan.com/scrapbook for more details and fill out the form. I’ll be waiting for you in Datong. Happy Birthday to Me!

 

Text and Photos © 2019 The JC Group
All Rights Reserved

 

我每年最“怕”就是两个日子，一个是生日，一个是过年，每当这时候大家的祝福就会像潮水一般涌过来，让我压力很大。今天要在剪辑房过啦，就是我的生日蛋糕哈哈！虽然不爱过生日，但还是要感谢大家，所以有个好消息跟影迷们分享：今年7月将会在山西大同举办第五届成龙国际动作电影周，我为大家准备了一点小福利，现场会专门预留座位给来自全世界的影迷朋友们，邀请大家来现场参加颁奖礼和很多有趣的活动，就当在大同我们一起过生日啦！想参与这个动作电影人大聚会的影迷朋友们可以去我的官方网站了解具体情况，我等着大家的到来！
http://jackiechan.com/scrapbook

 

To me, protecting the environment is equally important as making films. Last year in May, my “Jackie Chan Environmental Protection, Art Exhibition and Museum” opened at the Ancient Residence Garden in Bangbu, Anhui. Now, after many months of preparation, I’m pleased to see my exhibition at The Leonardo Museum in Salt Lake City, Utah. I hope to bring the concept of environmental protection, recycling, re-using and re-designing all over the world. And I hope each and every one of us can also become a “Green Hero”.

 

Text, Photos and Video © 2019 The JC Group
All Rights Reserved

I’d like to take this opportunity to say a big “thank you” to all my fans who travelled from all over the country just to come see me in New Jersey and New York. I hope you enjoy reading my book, Never Grow Up. Not only are the stories inside entertaining, but I also hope they can be inspiring. I’ve seen many media reports describing my book as “extremely honest”, which is true. I won’t say that this book is absolutely amazing, but at least I can say that I truthfully faced my past and I wanted to share my experiences with you.

 

I was so cold in New York and I felt bad for all the fans who had to line up outside to wait. But seeing the smiles on their faces was just heart-warming.

Thank you so much for your support and coming out on such a cold day. It was so good to see you. Love you all!

 

Text and Photos © 2019 The JC Group
All Rights Reserved

June 19, 2018

Today is our last day filming in China for “My Diary” (Wo De Ri Ji).  Soon, we’ll be changing locations and will continue shooting overseas. Before heading to the airport, I had to open all the letters, gifts and donations from my fans. I can see that my fans have put a lot of heart into these gifts. Thank you so much! I’ve opened them all. I was surprised to see so many photos of myself; some I’ve already forgotten about. I will treasure all these gifts as they’re very memorable. A heartfelt thank you to all my fans! Love you all.

July 10, 2018

We’ve been filming in Prague over the past few weeks and we’ve finally wrapped for “My Diary” (Wo De Ri Ji). I’d like to take this opportunity to say ‘thanks’ to the entire production crew for their hard work and efforts. Now I’m heading to the airport for my next stop – Datong in Shanxi. I have to rush back to China for my 4^th Annual Jackie Chan Action Movie Week opening ceremony.

 

 

July 17, 2018

After holding a few meetings in Beijing, I finally arrived at Datong. Datong is such a beautiful city. I instantly fell in love with the culture and historical buildings here. It’s like going back to ancient China; the buildings are so well preserved. Words simply cannot describe the beauty in front of my eyes.

 

 

July 19, 2018

I was so busy with the opening ceremony yesterday, I didn’t get a chance to see how I performed until now.

Last night was the opening ceremony for my 4^th Annual Jackie Chan Action Movie Week. This year, we decided to hold the week of events in Datong, Shanxi province. Datong is a lovely city with many ancient architectural buildings and structures still standing.

We decided to hold a concert for the opening ceremony, and I invited close friends Emil Chou, Sun Nan, Chang Shilei, Tia Ray, Ekin Cheng, Jordan Chan, Michael Tse, Chin Ka Lok, Jerry Lamb, and also a new boyband group called Le Hua Qi Zi NEXT. I sang a mixture of old and new songs, and I only just had a chance to play back the songs I sang yesterday. But I realised that I made a lot of mistakes.

The venue was huge and during rehearsals, I heard a lot of feedback in my earphone while on stage. Technicians spent all afternoon trying to fix the issue. Luckily, everything was ready for the opening ceremony.

As many of my fans already know, usually at the end of any event, I would ask the audience to pick up their own rubbish and squash all empty water bottles before putting it in the bin; and if the water bottles aren’t empty, take them outside and water the plants before squashing the bottle and putting it in the bin. I’d like to take this opportunity to say a big “thank you” to all my fans for your continual support and leaving the venue so clean.

 

July 19, 2018

Today was another busy day. In the morning, I attended a discussion forum to start off the Jackie Chan Action Movie Week.

During the forum, called “’Long’ (translated as ‘dragon’) Movies – 40 Years of Jackie Chan Films”, I was happy to talk with many professionals and students in the field, and we discussed many things such as the current situation of Chinese action movies, the future of the Chinese film industry, and how we can develop it more internationally. For me, I think the most important thing when doing anything is to always do your best; just do what you’re supposed to do. As a filmmaker, we show do what filmmakers should do. Jackie Chan is so little compared to an entire country. So, what I truly hope for is that every person in the film industry fully utilises their own power and influences to help the Chinese film industry break out and do something positive.

After the discussion forum, I gave a copy of my book, “Hai Wei Zhangda Jiu Laole” (Growing Up Before Growing Old) to everyone who attended. I hope that the new generation of action filmmakers can be inspired from reading about over 50 years of my experience in the film industry.

 

July 20, 2018

I woke up very early this morning because we had to leave at 8:30am to a place called Xiping Zhen in Datong. My staff had arranged for us to go to the local village and help plant Huang Hua (yellow flowers).

 

As soon as we arrived at the village, I was so happy because I saw many locals came out to welcome me. Local officials were very kind and explained the local agricultural lifestyle. I wanted to try their work so I changed into their specialised working clothes and shoes, attached an empty carry bag for my harvest, and went out to the fields with the farmers and started picking the yellow flowers. Even the local workers said that I was a fast learner and picked the flowers like a natural.

While I was picking the flowers, I said to my staff that charity work is not just about donating money, we need to fully understand what the local people are doing, how they are doing it, and what they need. We should use our influences to motivate the local people to develop and progress, and help improve their lifestyle!

After picking some yellow flowers in Xiping Zhen, I jumped into the car and rushed to our next stop, Shenxi Village in Huyuan County, to visit the poverty stricken local villagers. I first went to visit 2 particular families whom my staff said were extremely poor. The first couple were so poor that they didn’t have enough money to visit the doctor and became very sick. I asked how their health was doing and wanted to know more about their current situation, and gave them a small donation.

I gave electric wheelchairs to other local villagers who were in poverty because of their disability, and taught them how to use it. I didn’t have much time but did my best to visit as many families as possible.

Before I left the village, I told them that they have big support from our country, and small support from people like us. Helping you and the poor is not just for show! We and the entertainment industry is doing our best to help all of you!

It was a very hot day but the enthusiasm and excitement from the local village people was even more heart-warming for me! There were so many people lined on the sides of the roads, it was like a sea of people everywhere. I waved to them and shouted out greetings, and also reminded everyone to be careful! My staff later told me that the locals told them how the village has never been so lively and that the entire village has been excited since the night before! An elderly also said, “I never imagine that I’d be able to see the “real” Jackie Chan during my lifetime!”

After visiting the poverty-stricken families, I rushed back to the hotel and continued with doing media interviews. Some reporters asked, what left the deepest impression on me today. I replied, “My deepest impression from today was seeing the smiles on the faces of the local villagers.” Previously when my Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation did charity work visiting many different areas in poverty, the places we visited were really poor, their homes only consisted of 4 walls. Today when I visited the local families, I saw most houses had TVs, nearly everyone had a job, and the locally grown produces were very nice to eat. Seeing how everyone was happy made me even happier! I hope I can help these people and make their lives even better.

I guess because I’m getting older, I’m slowly realising how time is actually very precious. Every time I make a movie, it’s actually one less movie for me to make in my lifetime. That’s why even though my knee is in pain, I don’t want to stop or take time off to fix it. And I hope I can use less time to do more charity, and use every possible opportunity to do more charity. I’d like to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you to Datong for giving me this opportunity to help so many people today.

 

July 21, 2018

Today was another busy day. I attended an event in the afternoon with many well-known artists and directors in the entertainment industry such as Huang Xiaoming, Wu Siyuan, Chin Ka Lok, and Ding Sheng, as well as representatives from production companies and local Datong officials.

During the event, we discussed many things about making movies, the film industry, and how we can better develop the relationship between film and cities. I took the opportunity to share a little about my 56 years of experience in the industry. I remember when I filmed the first Police Story movie, I pretty much shot all the places around Hong Kong. Every year, many of my fans from all over the world would come to visit Hong Kong and try to find the places where I filmed. After filming Hong Kong, I decided to go out and start filming around the world. In the movie Who Am I, the building in Rotterdam where I jumped and slid down the side has now become a tourist attraction! That building is now quite famous. Many people would especially stop and take photos.

For me, I can easily fall in love with a city because of a movie. So, I hoped to take this opportunity to use the power of tradition and culture, to show the beauty of China and its cities to the world.

After attending the forum, I rushed to my next event… performing local noodle making! I’m not sure if you remember the movie where I made hand-made noodles (Mr. Nice Guy). Its been that long since I made fresh long noodles like that. I had a lot of fun and it brought back many happy memories.

 

July 22, 2018

Time goes by so fast – at a blink of an eye, the Jackie Chan Action Movie Week has come to its last day. The closing ceremony was also an awards ceremony, but what touched me the most was a special performance by 33 members of my JC Stunt Team. They specially choreographed an act called “I’m a Stuntman” (Wo Shi Dongzhuo Ren), bringing to life what it’s like for a stuntman on the set of a movie, performing jaw dropping stunts on the stage, using their own bodies to crash through glass windows, twice jumping off a 6.5m high platform without any safety measures, and everything was shown live! Watching their performance, so many memories flashed back in my mind and I was moved to tears.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my JC Stunt Team, thank all movie makers and stuntmen in the film industry, and I’d like to pay tribute to these wonderful people who are usually not known on screen because it’s your hard work and beautifully choreographed action that brings additional life to the silver screen! Thank you!

 

Text and Photos ©2018 The JC Group
All Rights Reserved