International Chinese star Jackie Chan is going to hold a charity concert at Beijing National Stadium, the main Beijing Olympic venue which is popularly known as the Bird’s Nest.
Jackie Chan at the press conference (Image from Baidu (Cn))
Jackie and the concert promoter held a press conference on April 1st to announce the news; the concert is scheduled to run on May 1st and would be the first major non-sport event to be held at the stadium.
Themed as “Descendant of the Dragon: Jackie Chan and Friends”, it’s expected that a few big names will be invited for the concert, with Jackie Chan taking the lead.
[Update] Among the confirmed invited guests are Korean star Rain, pop group Suju-M and Zhang Liyin. Other
Jackie Chan has confirmed that he will star in the remake of box office hit “The Karate Kid”. The popular actor will star as a karate master who helps a teenager to stand up to high school bullies.
The role (known as Mr Miyagi) was original played by late Pat Morita in the 1984 film, which earned him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.
The teenage protagonist (by Ralph Macchio in 1984) will be played by Jaden Smith, Will Smith’s son.
The remake is a co-production between Columbia Pictures and state-run China Film Group; filming is scheduled to start in Beijing this summer.
The Mr Miyagi role was a classic… it’s a tough one for Jackie (or anyone else) to emulate. I have a feeling though, that they would switch the film from karate to Chinese martial arts oriented instead… “The Kungfu Kid” perhaps?
Matthias Steiner of Germany was the men’s +105kg weightlifting champion on Tuesday. When I first saw the picture, I thought of how romantic this guy was… I only knew a day later that the woman in the picture was his wife Susann, who died in a car accident last year, and it sparked plenty of emotions…
Matthias with his gold medal and a photo of his late wife (Image via Beijing2008)
This will probably be the most memorable Beijing Olympics’ photo for me… it draws love, sadness, romance, pride, commitment and loyalty. If I am a woman I would probably fall in love with this guy.
Besides “You and Me” the official theme song, there are a dozen of two other theme songs that are endorsed by the Beijing Games organiser. I have shared “Beijing Welcomes You” and “Olympics in Beijing” previously; here are a few more that’s worth mentioning…
Sun Nan & Zhang Hui Mei – Forever Friends
“Forever Friends” (永远的朋友), composed by Italian composer Giorgio Moroder and Chinese pianist Kong Xiangdong. The English lyrics are helped by Michael Kunze, while Chinese lyrics by Huang Xiaosheng.
This is my favourite candidate for the official theme song. Moroder, having wrote the popular “Hand in Hand” (theme song for Seoul Olympics 1988), certainly understand what makes a good theme song. It might not be the nicest song among all, but I think it’s the best that fits the occasion.
Sharing here is the Chinese version sang by Chinese singer Sun Nan and Taiwanese star Zhang Hui Mei; the English version is sang by Sun Nan and Hong Kong singer Coco Lee…
Visa Olympics commercial, featuring Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan, with Chinese basketball star Yao Ming having a cameo role in the end.
This is one of the earliest TV commercials related to the Beijing Games; started showing in late 2006 if not mistaken. Video below is the full version of the commercial…
Music video of “Smile Again”, a song from I L♥ve Asia project by Korean celebrities to raise funds for Sichuan earthquake victims in China.
The song is produced by Korean singer-producer JYP in collaboration with Chinese superstar Jackie Chan; participating celebs include Jo Sung-mo, Park Yong-ha, Gan Mi-yeon, Chae Yeon, Kim Yuna, Han Ji-hye, Wonder Girls, Lee Jung-hyun, Kim Dong-wan, Kim Ah-joong, Shin Hye-sung, Kim Tae-hee, Han Hye-jin, Jeon Hye-bin, Jang Nara, Battle, Brown Eyed Girls and J-Lim etc.
Over 500 Chinese artists joined hands in a fundraising concert on June 1 in Hong Kong and managed to collect close to HK$35 millions (~ USD4.5mil) for the Chinese quake victims.
The 8-hour-marathon-concert was initiated by Hong Kong pop star Andy Lau as part of the “Artistes 512″ fund raising campaign, and was participated by artists from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, including big names like Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, Leon Lai, Jacky Cheung, Tony Leung, Jay Chou, A-mei, Kelly Chen, Sammi Cheng, Lin Chi Ling, Sun Nan and Ritchie Ren etc.
Hundreds of artists took part in the concert (Image from Xinhuanet)
Jackie Chan has confirmed that he will star in the remake of box office hit “The Karate Kid”. The popular actor will star as a karate master who helps a teenager to stand up to high school bullies.
