Mar 31, 2011
Jackie Chan Takes Action
by Christopher Shay
Jackie Chan knows how to make a commotion.
In 2004, he called the re-election of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian “the biggest joke in the world,” drawing Taiwanese ire that lasted for years. Two years ago in mainland China he remarked that he “wasn’t sure if it’s good to have freedom or not,” leading to the formation of a Facebook group calling for him to be shipped to North Korea. And last August, he created so much controversy with a tweet about the Manila hostage crisis that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead—Hong Kongers accused him of siding with the Philippine police—that the actor, a Hong Kong native, had to issue a public apology.
“In the old days, I might get angry when they write some wrong things,” an alive-and-well Mr. Chan said Wednesday. “I don’t care anymore.” (Though he said the Twitter hoax—he joined a string of celebrities, from Bill Cosby to Justin Bieber, to have been a victim of a death rumor—did affect his friends: “Everybody called me,” he said. “My friend was crying.”)
Now the martial-arts star is trying to draw more-positive attention: He’s organizing “Love Without Borders,” a three-hour charity concert to benefit the Salvation Army and those affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The April 1 event, on which Mr. Chan is spending one million Hong Kong dollars (US$130,000) of his own money, will feature actors and singers from across Asia, including singer Alan Tam and Chinese-American rapper Jin. The entrance fee to the concert, held at Victoria Park, is HK$20, but people can donate more. All proceeds go to the Salvation Army.
The concert is not just about raising money, Mr. Chan says: It aims to unite the region in sending a message of encouragement to the people of Japan—“helping neighbors,” he calls it.
“It tells them that the whole of Asia, the whole world cares,” he says. The theme song written for the concert, “Succumb Not to Sorrow,” was inspired by a work of early-20th-century poet Miyazawi Kenji about the strength of the Japanese people in the face of hardship.
Love Without Borders may be the largest fund-raiser, but it’s certainly not the only one. Among the many others: ”Pray for Japan,” Sunday at Discovery Bay Plaza, featuring local performers like Jing Wong, the Sun Eskimos and 31G; a charity show at TakeOut Comedy Club, also Sunday, with proceeds from the HK$200 tickets going to the Red Cross; and a benefit concert by 11-year-old rock-guitar prodigy Yuto Miyazaki for Japan Society’s Earthquake Relief Fund, April 14 at the Four Seasons.
Mr. Chan, 56, has been involved in charity work for 25 years, since a near-death experience during the filming of “Armour of God” in Yugoslavia in 1986. Attempting to jump from a castle to a tree, he instead fell head-first onto rocks and suffered a brain hemorrhage that required surgery.
While he recovered, Mr. Chan says, he realized he was just doing “movie, movie, movie,” and told himself, “I should do something else.” So in 1988 he started the Jackie Chan Foundation to fund scholarships, initially in Hong Kong and later in Japan and Hawaii as well.
Mr. Chan says he’s also paid for the construction of 24 schools in Sichuan to replace those destroyed in the 2008 earthquake—and got a thank-you letter Tuesday from 700 students at one of them.
“You do something that makes you sleep well,” he says. “I am not a superman, but I do what I can.”