MCLC: Jackie Chan says HKers protest too much

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Kevin Carrico <kjc83 at cornell.edu>
Subject: Jackie Chan says Hkers protest too much
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Jackie Chan does it again.

Kevin

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Source: Wall Street Journal (12/13/12):
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/12/13/jackie-chan-says-hong-kong-pr
otests-too-much/

Jackie Chan Says Hong Kong Protests Too Much

Jackie Chan may be best known for his action-packed films and famed
ability to mix martial arts and comedy. But many in his hometown and
elsewhere are less than amused by the actor’s latest effort: an interview
in which he said Hong Kong should have more restrictions on its lively
protest scene.In an interview this week with the Guangzhou-based Southern
People Weekly, Mr. Chan said Hong Kong had become a “city of protest.”
While not fully democratic, the former British colony is famous for its
numerous demonstrations, including the annual July 1 pro-democracy march
that organizers said attracted 400,000 participants this year, as well as
smaller, near-daily protests spanning a wide range of issues.

“People scold China, they scold leaders, or anything else they like. They
protest against everything,” said Mr. Chan. “There should be rules to
determine what people can protest about and on what issues they can’t
protest about.”

Locals in Hong Kong took umbrage with his comments and pan-democrats and
political scientists immediately criticized the action star. In the city’s
Wan Chai district, a retired woman in her 70s, Lin Chun-yong, said she
demonstrates weekly on behalf of in support of Falun Gong, a spiritual
practice that is banned in China. She said Mr. Chan should stick to
beating up bad guys, not weighing in on politics.
“Unlike the mainland, Hong Kong is very free, which is a good thing,” Ms.
Lin said. “We have to protest to get journalists’ attention, and sometimes
we can’t get journalists’ attention and so we also have to protest.”

Other recent comments by Mr. Chan, who was a martial arts movie idol in
Hong Kong before moving on to star turns in Hollywood blockbusters, also
failed to endear him to the public. In 2009 at the Boao Forum for Asia in
China’s Hainan Province, in reply to a question about mainland censorship
of filming, Mr. Chan said, “I don’t know whether it’s better to have
freedom or to have no freedom. With too much freedom, it can get very
chaotic.” He also said that Chinese people “need to be controlled,”
sparking fury from Hong Kong and elsewhere. Mr. Chan later said the
remarks had been taken out of context.

Efforts to reach Mr. Chan through his publicist weren’t successful.

In this week’s interview, Mr. Chan also reflected at length on Hong Kong’s
time as a British colony before it returned to Chinese control in 1997.
“Under the British, it wasn’t that free. Would you hear so much gossipy
news then? Would you see so many protests on the street? No. The city was
very well-behaved. British people really suppressed us,” said Mr. Chan.

“We don’t like to be suppressed, we like freedom,” he said. “But you can’t
do whatever you like.”