Jackie has just returned from a charity mission to China which raised millions of dollars for the elderly and for disabled children. His first stop was the city of Nanjing where he paid a visit to an elderly center, donating fans to the residents and enjoying a short singing performance. His next stop was the Operation Smile Medical Mission Nanjing Center, which was celebrating its anniversary. The center was founded in 2001 through donations from the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation and the Sheen Hok Charitable Foundation. Operation Smile is a not-for-profit, volunteer medical services organization that provides reconstructive facial surgery to needy children and adults. Jackie has been involved with Operation Smile for many years.
The Jackie Chan and His Friends 2006 concert was held at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center in Nanjing on the evening of June 24th. Jackie was joined by other popular performers such as Zhou Bi Chang, Zhou Hui, Po Shu, Zhang Na La, Sha Bao Liang, and the VC Girls Zhang Lei and Li Yue Ying. Jackie told a wildly cheering crowd of over 40,000 people that he was there to raise money for charity and that he would probably make mistakes and forget the words to the songs but that he hoped the audience would forgive him and enjoy themselves anyway. And enjoy themselves they did. Throughout the concert they waved banners and lights and occasionally sang along with the performers. Donations poured in and money raised by ticket sales and sponsors amounted to millions.
After the Nanjing concert, Jackie flew to the northern city of Harbin where he was greeted at the airport by hundreds of people, including a uniformed marching band and schoolchildren holding flowers. He spent the afternoon and evening of June 25th rehearsing and meeting with reporters, thanking them for their coverage of all of his charity events.
The second concert, which was held at the Harbin International Convention and Sports Center on the evening of the 26th, was attended by nearly 50,000 people and 3,000 police officers. Jackie thanked everyone for coming and apologized in advance for any mishaps that might occur during the concert. He mentioned that his heart was in the right place, but that didn't help him remember the lyrics to so many songs. Jackie was joined by such popular performers as Zhang Hong Liang, Qi Qin, and the enormously talented VC Girls, who flew from Nanjing to Harbin to attend the second concert.
During the concert, Jackie spoke of a young girl who had traveled 2 hours by train to Harbin and left a note at the hotel, describing how Jackie had influenced her to devote her life to charity work. The note was given to one of Jackie's staff and the girl and her parents were invited to the concert. Jackie spoke to her from the stage, telling her that it was wonderful that she wanted to devote her life to charity, but that she must finish her schooling first and then concentrate on charity work. The girl was led onstage where she spoke to Jackie about his influence on her life. She promised to finish school before devoting time to charity.
Also attending the Harbin concert were children from a local school for the deaf and from a nearby orphanage. When the children presented Jackie with a portrait of his mother, he was moved to tears.
Final numbers are not available yet, but the two concerts have generated millions of dollars for the elderly and for disabled children.
Jackie Becomes Appeal Patron of Save China's Tigers
In a show of support for the highly endangered Chinese Tiger, Jackie had his face painted with stripes in its honor for a campaign to halt the killing of these animals.
At a press conference in Hong Kong, Jackie helped launch the campaign on the afternoon of June 29th.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment