Jackie Chan: Chinese People Need To Be Controlled

BOAO, China — Action star Jackie Chan said Saturday he's not sure if a free society is a good thing for China and that he's starting to think "we Chinese need to be controlled."

Chan's comments drew applause from a predominantly Chinese audience of business leaders in China's southern island province of Hainan.

The 55-year-old Hong Kong actor was participating in a panel at the annual Boao Forum when he was asked to discuss censorship and restrictions on filmmakers in China. He expanded his comments to include society.

"I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said. "I'm really confused now. If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic."

Chan added: "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want."

The kung fu star has not been a vocal supporter of the pro-democracy movement in his hometown of Hong Kong. Since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997, voters have not been allowed to directly elect their leader. Several massive street protests have been held to demand full democracy, but Beijing has repeatedly said Hong Kong isn't ready for it.

The theme at Saturday's panel discussion was "Tapping into Asia's Creative Industry Potential," and Chan had several opinions about innovation in China.

He said that early in his career, he lived in the shadow of the late martial arts star Bruce Lee. He said that during his first foray into Hollywood, he struggled to establish his own identity, so he returned to Hong Kong. After spending 15 years building his reputation in Asia, Chan finally got rediscovered by Hollywood, he said.

Chan said the problem with Chinese youth is that "they like other people's things. They don't like their own things." Young people need to spend more time developing their own style, he added.

The action hero complained that Chinese goods still have too many quality problems. He became emotional when discussing contaminated milk powder that sickened tens of thousands of Chinese babies in the past year.

Speaking fast with his voice rising, Chan said, "If I need to buy a TV, I'll definitely buy a Japanese TV. A Chinese TV might explode."

Comments

[toggan]

Too bad...There goes Rush Hour 4.

[RoseMerry]

I love his comedy. It appears he is not a very smart man and not one who is not greatly concerned about freedom. I will not vote for him.

But I love to laugh at him. He *is* funny.

[G FORCE]

WONT BE WATCHING ANY MORE OF HIS FILMS!

[nomoneynoworries]

It's good to see that this sort of discussion is allowed to go on in China.Maybe not all of what he said has been quoted?He could have done a lot more for his people if he praised where praise is due,and criticised where criticism is due.We all buy Chinese goods.we have had contamination,but we have also had contamination in western produced goods.Regulations seem to be about the same to me.There will always be people looking for a fast buck in any business.

[Amalek]

Actually there is a fairly open discussion of issues in China. The government is thin skinned, so Fox News style attacks are definitely not allowed. The government, like all governments, wants to stay in power. They seem to understand that their hold on power is based on keeping most people pretty happy. They have done that by making economic conditions better. When times are good people don't want revolution. The key gripes right now are about pollution and product safety. The milk fiasco scared the government good, and they have really cracked down. Pollution is tough - hard to grow as fast as they need yet also clean up. But don't count them out. China recently decided it will dominate the electric car business - and it will. One party rule is effective for progress, as long as the party in place does not favor one segment of the population. So far they have balanced this well. Democracy tends to swing too violently - first we have eight years of policies that shift all the wealth to the rich, and now we will have eight years shifting wealth back to the poor. I think the jury is still out on which approach to government works best.

[AN2009]

I highly doubt the Chinese will "dominate" the electric car sector. When the Brilliance BS6 sedan was released, the Chinese bragged about the greatness of their technical knowledge in cars. However, the car failed a European crash test with zero stars earned. When the sedan was modified and renamed the BS4 in 2009, it failed the European crash test again with zero stars earned. It's obvious that Japan and Europe have the advantage in making cars so lets stop exaggerating China's capabilities.

[MichaelMcKLA]

Chan added: "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want."

OK...this is a problem?

[egal]

The Chinese culture brainwashes its citizens to believe very different things than what ours does. Basically, it teaches deference to males, to father figures in family in general, and to the government as the ultimate father figure in particular.

Normal brain signaling and processing (the same in healthy infants across cultures) deviate farther toward submission, self-deprecation, not meeting eyes nor focusing on the foreground (particularly people), and preference to be told what to do and restricted in freedoms as the Chinese person ages.

Basically, they're programmed to prefer being downtrodden, to desire sacrificing on behalf of the nation, to subject themselves to being ground under the heels of authority figures, and to enjoy being submissive to the purported needs of the community.

Any culture promotes specific societal interests and mores: China's just happens to exacerbate the feudalistic societal type's natural trampling upon of the lower class and individual worht that might lead to seeking of rights or privilege.

[coultersnemesis]

But i don't get it--isn't Communism supposed to help set FREE the "proletariat"??Why are there 'rich business men' in a Communist country? After all these years, why aren't the peasant getting their fair share? What a popy-cock revolution that is, Marx would be sad :/

[Amalek]

You are correct that there are differences between Chinese and American culture, but your pejorative interpretation is dead wrong. If you want to really understand this, look at the work of Geert Hofstede. His work shows that the principle difference between Chinese and Americans is that American's are highly individualistic while Chinese are highly collective. In fact the Americans are off the chart as the most individualistic society on earth. The Chinese are not the most collective, but far on the other side of the curve.

Chinese values, rooted in centuries of Confucian thought, center on the responsibility of the individual to family and society. This leads to the values you point out - sacrifice on behalf of the nation, submission to authority and to the needs of the community. As we saw in the tea parties last week, those values aren't shared by a segment of Americans.

Don't be so quick to conclude that the Chinese willingness to submit to authority means they are abused. Is it possible they actually like it that way? Yes, they are different than Americans, but do they need to be like Americans to be happy? Are Americans happy? I'd venture that the Chinese on average are happier than Americans today.

As to your premise that Chinese teach deference to males, you misread the public face of Chinese. Yes, in public the male is given great deference. At home, he is treated like a dog and the woman is king - much like everywhere

[egal]

Err, basically, the Chinese culture teaches them to be unwarrantedly afraid of individual empowerment and dangerously obedient to the upper classes and government.

[coultersnemesis]

isn't this counter to the ideal of com muni sm? Why are there still upper-class and business men and poor peasants and slave wagers in a comm un ist country? I thought comm unism is supposed to uplift the working class and empower them, not make them even more servile.

[coultersnemesis]

Chinese 'businessmen' in a 'communist' country?--oh please!! They are the biggest fake communist country ever. They are capitalist already, exploiting the poor and feeding them contaminated food and educating their young in shoddy buildings that collapse in earthquakes. OF COURSE the business people are happy--the strong state protects monopoly and profits and censors criticism. Communism>? More like fascism. China has lost its way--open the floodgates!

[KarateKid]

So how does that make them any different from us? Tell the prisoners at Gitmo.

[Lochmon]

Mr. Chan, the Chinese government's method of controlling population rests, in the end, upon their ability to take people directly from a courtroom to a yard where they are immediately shot in the head... and then the next of kin have often been charged a fee for the costs of the process.

Is that really what it takes to have a stable Chinese population?

[avocados]

Easy for him to say, doesn't he live in LA?

[coultersnemesis]

lol

[dumbunny]

Clearly democracy is always the answer, right? Bringing democracy to Iraq was Bush's goal, and Mission Accomplished -- democracy flowered in the desert, and the war paid for itself with oil proceeds.

If the Chinese government became a democracy, the global impact of China's corporate interests allowed to run wild in the power vacuum that this would immediately create makes me shudder. I don't know about Jackie Chan's political acumen, but thinking that dropping the D-bomb on arbitrary third world countries will always make things better is idiotic.

[muypolitico]

He is an actor/businessman whose main market is in China. I am sure he does not want to say anything that could get Chinese censors to interfere with his movies. Same with Jet Li.

[sedum]

I get the impression that Chan thinks that there are only two countries on the planet. The occupants of both really need to look further.

[vesaversa1]

JAKIE IS RICH THE MAJORITY OF CHINESE ARE POOR SO OF COURSE HE WOULD THINK THIS .

[Nanningyan]

he was not always rich. He has seen it from both sides and, as seen on Ellen, He still holds the Chinese level of frugality. His opinion is valid from a Chinese point of view and while most of the western world sees it differently it is not for us to say.

[jimmyjones22]

Yeah, god forbid Chinese people be free to "do what they want." I mean, who knows what would happen if people could do whatever they want! I know I want to be told how to eat, sleep, who to marry or sleep with, petty much everything. Freedom is slavery, or so I've heard...

[protagonia]

"it is not for us to say."??

Oh yes it is. It is anyone's right to say, our opinions included.

[cycle3man]

I guess we really knew and know very little about Jacky.

Here he is living in both worlds and he thinks martial law is a better way to rule a society.

[deepfreezevideo]

Television sets don't explode unless they're in a movie.
Stick with what you know Jackie.
HINT: It has nothing to do with freedom.
This much we found out today.

[RRonin]

I used to be a HUGE fan of Jackie Chan. He was the greatest physical comedian since Buster Keaton. I know he's getting too old to do the wild physical stuff anymore, but this is just sad.

[coultersnemesis]

maybe he is looking to join the politburo soon?