Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Jackie Chan

  • Loves the Chinese Communist Party He says wants to become a Chinese Communist

  • Party member!

  • But does the Party want him?

  • Welcome to China Uncensored.

  • I'm Chris Chappell.

  • World-famous martial artist and actor Jackie Chan is making a desperate plea to the Chinese

  • Communist Party.

  • “I'm honoured to be a Chinese person.

  • But I'm also envious of you Chinese Communist Party members.

  • I just feel like the CCP is truly too great.

  • For every promise that the CCP makes, it doesn't even take a century, but only decades to become

  • reality.

  • I want to be a Chinese Communist Party member.

  • Thank you all.”

  • [applause]

  • Yes, he wants to be a Chinese Communist Party member.

  • Please, oh please, let him in!

  • And while Jackie Chan's bootlicking would embarrass even Smithers , he may not even

  • be good enough for the CCP.

  • Which I'll get to later.

  • But first, I'd like to say that Jackie Chan used to be cool.

  • Here he is singing at the Concert for Democracy in China.

  • It was held in Hong Konghis hometownto support the Tiananmen Square student protesters

  • in Beijing.

  • That was just one week before the tanks rolled in.

  • And here Chan is in Taiwan in 1992, receiving one of the ten Outstanding Chinese Youth Special

  • Awards, and shaking hands with Taiwan's first democratically elected president, Lee

  • Tung-hui .

  • It doesn't seem like Jackie Chan would've been the type to support the Chinese Communist

  • Party.

  • But that all started to change after the 1997 transfer of Hong Kong to Chinese rule.

  • Then, Chan seemed to transform himself from a proud Hong Konger, into a proud Chinese

  • nationalist.

  • And in that weird brainwashed way, where he conflates being ethnically Chinese with loving

  • the Chinese Communist Party.

  • This next clip is from 2009, when Jackie Chan was invited to speak at a cross-strait symposium

  • as Hong Kong's tourism ambassador.

  • Is having freedom good?

  • Or is not having freedom good?

  • Really, I get those confused.

  • Too much freedom and you become like what Hong Kong is today: chaotic.

  • Not to mention they're becoming like Taiwan: Also chaotic.

  • Uh, I've slowly begun to think that us Chinese people need to be controlled.”

  • According to Chan, both Hong Kong and Taiwan are just too free.

  • Like pets without a leash!

  • They're in desperate need of control.

  • They need the warm, loving iron fist of the Chinese Communist Party!

  • By the way, Chan's whole thing about countries with too much freedom beingchaotic

  • is straight out of Communist Party propaganda.

  • In 2013, Chan was appointed to join the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

  • Appointments are often used as a way to boost celebrities' egos while making the Party

  • look like it's open to outside ideas.

  • Hint: It's not.

  • Unlike America.

  • A place where a celebrity can push for criminal justice reform.

  • And actually get it done.

  • In China, it's the opposite.

  • The Communist Party gives people high-up positions as a way to control them.

  • And the Party is not open to constructive criticism.

  • This year, Jackie Chan was also given membership to Hong Kong's newly reformed Election Committeewhere

  • a group of unelected people get to participate in a rigged election to determine the next

  • leader of Hong Kong.

  • Chan is also a Vice Chairman of the China Film Association, which refers to itself as

  • an important force for the prosperity and development of socialist literature and art

  • and the construction of a strong socialist cultural country.”

  • And by development and construction, they mean endorsing censorship.

  • Here's an interview Jackie Chan did with CGTN in August 2019—as the anti-Chinese

  • Communist Party protests were raging in Hong Kong.

  • 0:38 I have visited many countries, and I can say, our country has been rapidly developing

  • in recent years.

  • I feel pride in being Chinese wherever I go, and the 'Five-starred Red Flag' is respected

  • everywhere around the world.

  • 1:06 Hong Kong and China are my birthplaces and my home.

  • China is my country, I love my country, I love my home.

  • So what was Chan doing in June of that year when the Hong Kong protests were happening?

  • He was drinking tea in Taiwan, promoting his new album.

  • And he claimed he did not know anything about the Hong Kong protests while he was there.

  • But what Jackie Chan seems to have forgotten is that his success as a movie star is not

  • thanks to the Chinese Communist Party.

  • It's thanks to Hong Kong's freedoms.

  • I'll explain after the break.

  • Welcome back.

  • Jackie Chan was born in Hong Kongback when it was a British territory.

  • And that's where his career took off.

  • Hong Kong's political and economic freedom made it one of the world's most flourishing

  • filmmaking industriesespecially for martial arts films.

  • For decades, Hong Kong was the world's second largest motion picture exporter.

  • Jackie Chan began his career in Hong Kong films in the 60s and 70s.

  • In 1980, he starred in his first Hollywood film.

  • That movie may have been dumb, but it was his big break.

  • After that Chan's career took offthanks to the freedoms of Hong Kong, and eventually

  • America.

  • And at the time, the film industry in China was just pushing out boring propaganda films.

  • Unlike now, when some of them are interesting propaganda films.

  • This article from 1991 says: “From the point of view of the studios, an important advantage

  • of [China's] political films is that no matter how awful they are, they make money

  • because the great majority of tickets are bought in bulk by offices and factories.

  • Employees are encouraged to see the films during normal work hours.”

  • So while Jackie Chan was filming classics like the thrillingPolice Storyand

  • the jam-packedDrunken Mastermainland China was pouring all its money into films

  • about the Communist Party like theCreation of a World”, andMao Zedong and His Son”.

  • So why on earth would Jackie Chan want to join the Chinese Communist Party?

  • I don't know.

  • But it does seem the Chinese Communist Party hesitates to have Jackie Chan join.

  • I mean, he might not be good for the Party's image.

  • Which is sad, because their bar is real low.

  • On the business end, Chan is what Chinese people call a broom star an old term for a

  • comet.

  • It means that Chan is bad luck.

  • Whatever product he endorses, ends up failing miserably.

  • He's promoted Chinese computer brand Xiaobawang , and also the VCD player brand Aiduo . Never

  • heard of those?

  • That's because Xiaobawang filed for bankruptcy, and Aiduo's boss was put in prison for embezzlement.

  • But maybe that's just a coincidence.

  • Those Chinese manufacturers would have fallen on their own.

  • Jackie Chan even said it himself.

  • When I buy a television, I definitely go for the Japanese TV

  • China's TV's will explode!

  • Chinese products are just not trustworthy.

  • Whoops.

  • That won't get you in to the Communist Party, Jackie.

  • Chan also ran promotions for BaWang shampoo, which later was found to have carcinogens.

  • Chan was also the spokesperson for Yujia real estate.

  • But in September 2020, two of his Beijing luxury condos developed by Yujia were seized

  • and auctioned because Yujia hadn't paid its debts.

  • Plus, the boy band Jackie Chan manages is a total flop.

  • So needless to say, Jackie Chan isn't very good at non-movie stuff.

  • But the biggest backlash from critics of Chan's wish to join the Chinese Communist Party cite

  • his embarrassing personal life.

  • Many have said on social media that he has cheated on his wife and that his son has

  • used drugs, both of which would disqualify him from [Party] membership.”

  • If adultery and drug use actually disqualified people from the Chinese Communist Party...there

  • would be a lot fewer Chinese officials.

  • Anyway, one of the biggest scandals with Jackie Chan is his extramarital affair with Hong

  • Kong actress Elaine Ng.

  • They had a daughter together, but Elaine had to raise her all by herself.

  • Chan allegedly refused to pay child support at the time.

  • The other scandal happened in 2014, police raided Chan's homethe same one that later

  • got seized and auctioned.

  • Jackie's legitimate son, Jaycee Chan, was found with 100 grams of marijuana.

  • The penalty for drugs in China is severe.

  • Jaycee pleaded guilty for sheltering others to use drugs and ended up spending six months

  • in jail.

  • And Jackie Chan didn't even show up at his son's trial.

  • I understand why Jackie Chan was embarrassed.

  • After all, the Chinese government had appointed Chan as theirAnti-drug ambassadorback

  • in 2009.

  • Clearly, that was another non-movie thing he wasn't good at.

  • But weirdly, even after all of that, Chan still manages to be a Chinese icon.

  • He even took center stage at the 100 anniversary of the CCP.

  • .

  • A dark past of corruption and failure, but he still looks good when he performs?

  • Maybe he is a good fit for the Chinese Communist Party!

  • And now it's time to answer a question from a member of the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army,

  • fans who support us and our efforts to expose the truth about the Chinese Communist Party,

  • by contributing through crowd funding website Patreon.

  • jessie santiago asks, “Is the US and the rest of the world paying attention?

  • Is the US taking steps?”

  • That question in response to my recent episode China's First Space Walk Hides a Dark Secret

  • .

  • Basically, the Chinese space program is run by the People's Liberation Army.

  • That's right, not a civilian organization like NASA.

  • Not even a private company run by an evil super villain like SpaceX.

  • .

  • The Communist Party's military.

  • That's a huge danger to democracies around the world.

  • Advanced weapons at China's military bases can fire warheads that smash satellites

  • and can shoot laser beams that have a potential to blind arrays of delicate sensors.”

  • And so the question was, is the US paying attention?

  • Well, some in the intelligence and military sectors have been sounding alarm bells for

  • years.

  • Not too much was done.

  • But the Trump Administration's Space Force was partly an attempt to turn things around.

  • The Space Force currently has bipartisan support in Congress and in all likelihood, the Biden

  • Administration will continue it.

  • Last year, the Space Force unveiled its first weapon, a satellite jammer.

  • So in many ways, space warfare has already begun.

  • But the US is only just beginning to play catch up.

  • Thanks for your question and your support Jessie.

  • And a big thank you to everyone who supports China Uncensored on Patreon.

  • We could not do this show without you.

  • So thank you for joining us in the fight to expose the Chinese Communist Party to the

  • world.

  • If you're interested in joining, head over to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored.

  • You'll get a bunch of cool perks, including the chance to have me answer your question

  • on the show!

  • Once again I'm Chris Chappell, see you next time.

Jackie Chan

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it