Save China's Tigers

I got back to Hong Kong from Harbin yesterday, and today I attended the "Save China's Tiger" activity as their Appeal Patron.


I have acted as Conservation Ambassador for many different kinds of animals, and had tried to help rescue many different species such as elephants, rhinoceros, and pandas. I have always liked tigers because tigers have very elegant bodies. When I was young I heard many stories about tigers, such as "Wu Song Fights the Tiger." I think tigers are the king of animals and should be able to live in the forest freely. I think if some animals become extinct, it would be a huge regret for the human race.The reporter asked what humans could do for tigers. I believe that Chinese are too superstitious in their belief of tigers' medical value, and there are products such as Tiger Bone Wine, Tiger Medicine, and Tiger Cream. When I was young I used to use Tiger Bone Wine when in fact a lot of medicine can be made using advanced technology. Some people say that eating the gallbladder of a bear is good for you when in fact they are all marketing strategies from merchants. I remembered watching how tigers are brutally killed in documentaries, with their bones taken to be ground into power. I really don't understand why there are still people who want to kill tigers, and want to use tiger bones to make wine or grinding it into powder to make medical creams. It is extremely inhumane. I know that most of the Tiger Bone Wine is actually fake medicine made with pig's bones and dog's bones. I would want to take this chance to urge the public to protect nature and animals facing extinction.



Real Motivation Behind Donating Money

Even though today's theme is "Protect China's Tigers" a lot of reporters were asking questions that had nothing to do with tigers. Recently stock market guru Warren Buffett will donate nearly 85% of his wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the reporters naturally asked me whether I would follow their footsteps. To be honest, I have donated money already, and I already established a will seven years ago to divide my wealth into two. One half will be donated to the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation, and the other half will be given to my son Jaycee and my wife. Some properties will also be given to charity for things such as construction of schools. I was not influenced by Gates or Buffett to donate money. My work as an artist takes me all around the world and I have to do some dangerous stunts. Life can be unpredictable so I made some arrangements in advance. Even though I am not an extremely rich man I still don't want to see stories in newspapers where families fight over a car, money, or property and end up in court. I don't want to see father and son, or mother and child, or brothers and sisters, or in-laws and cousins turn into enemies over money. I know that this wouldn't happen in my family but it's better to be safe than sorry, and so I have made the appropriate arrangements. This is the real motive behind why I decided to donate money seven years ago.


拯救中國虎：
剛剛昨天從哈爾濱回港，今天以榮譽贊助人身份出席‘拯救中國虎國際基金會’的活動。
我擔任過不同的保護動物大使，以前曾試過幫助拯救不少動物，如大象、犀牛及熊貓。我一向喜歡老虎，老虎的身體好優雅，小時候也聽過不少有關老虎的故事，如‘武松打虎’。我覺得老虎是萬獸之王，應在森林中逍遙自由地生活，不應關在籠中。我想，若某些動物絕種，是人類非常遺憾的事。
記者問人類可以為老虎做些什麼？我認為中國人實在太迷信老虎的藥用價值，常有什麼虎骨酒、虎藥和虎膏等，自己小時受傷也曾搽虎骨酒，其實很多藥可用高科技製成。又有些人說食熊膽有益，全是商人的宣傳手法。我曾從記錄片中看到老虎慘被殺害，骨頭還被拿去磨粉，對老虎實在有必要加強保護。中國華南虎目前只剩不到三千隻，難以明白何以還有人要殺害老虎，以老虎骨浸酒磨粉做藥膏，極不人道。我知道坊間的虎骨酒，其實是以豬骨及狗骨造成的假藥酒，我在此呼籲大眾要保護大自然及瀕臨絕種的動物。



捐錢的真正動機：
雖然今天的主題是‘保護老虎’，但是很多記者反而沒有問老虎的事，反而問其他的問題，今次也沒有例外。由於最近股神巴菲特捐出85%身家作給蓋茨的慈善基金，記者自然問我會不會效法他們？老實說，我有捐錢，但是早於七年前我已立了平安紙（即是遺囑），將身家一分為二，一半分給成龍慈善基金，另一半留給兒子祖名及太太林鳳嬌，還有些物業都是捐作慈善用途，建設學校等等，並不是受蓋茨或是巴菲特的影響才捐錢的。皆因我做藝人，很多時會穿梭世界各地，或是做一些危險動作，有些事是不能預測得到的，所以我預早做了一些安排。雖然我不是超級富豪，但是我也不希望在報章上看到的爭產事件，例如為一輪車、一筆錢或是一個物業而對駁公堂，父子、母子或是兄弟姊妹、兄嫂或是叔侄會因財反目成仇，這都是我不願見到的。我心知這些事情在我的家庭裡應該不會發生，但是防患未然，我都做了適當的安排，這就是我於七年前決意捐款的動機了。

Photos: ©2006 The JC Group. All Rights Reserved.