“… In my personal life I'm a very traditional Chinese person, and when you promise a girl something you need to do it. Also, in a lot of Asian audiences, and probably American too, the man wants to see the action movie, he's begging the girl to go see an action movie. But this time, I really want the girl to say, come on man, let's go see the movie. Because, remember your promise. I think the man needs to be honest, take a little responsibility. Whatever you do. That's my personal thought...
I am a parent, I have a daughter fourteen months old, sometimes I walk with her in the mall and I see a lot of kids three years old, five years old, they say "hey, Jet Li, kungfu, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah!" So, I suddenly think, uh oh, maybe I need to take some responsibility to answer that. I'm a father too. I say, I want to remind you, this is an art movie, for adults. You need to take the responsibility also because you need to decide how old your children are, and what to do. Maybe you watch it yourself, see the movie first, and see is it too violent, too hardcore, don't take your children. Every parent, they need to take the responsibility also.
You cannot make one film and make everybody happy. You make a PG movie, and your hardcore fans say, it's too soft. But in this film, I really want to talk about some message through this film. It really depends on what’s your focus. Next year I've decided to do a situation comedy...
Ten years ago I promised my wife… if we have a baby I'll stop my working, and be with you until the baby is born… You can always create a good movie, but your life; you take care of your baby or wife. In your whole life you can find a lot of successful scripts, work with successful people. But in life, you need to really take responsibility to your family. And I thought that was more important than the movie...
When I was seventeen I made my first film, called The Shaolin Temple. I was already successful in all of Asia, wherever I went everybody knew me. Sometimes you feel at peace, sometimes you want to be alone. But right now I become Buddhist, and I study Buddhism. It's a good thing if you can make people happy, whether they're a little boy or an adult. When they see you they are so happy, they smile, you will be proud. If I can make them happy, I can spend more time talking with them in the mall, wherever I go, that's fine…
I think you really need to understand American culture, because everybody you meet says very nice things to you - you are great, you are brilliant, you’re amazing - I want to know is this true, or are they being polite? I really want to know, so I make my website to talk to the audience. They tell me the truth, they say, I like you in this, I don't like you in this. It's important. Because American people are so polite...
Richard Nixon asked me after I did a Kung Fu demonstration, ‘do you want to become my bodyguard when you grow up?’ I say, ‘nope. I don't want to protect one person, I want to protect a billion people.’... When I was working in Shaolin there were no monks, only 3 monks, and they had just finished the Cultural Revolution. Not a lot of people knew about the Shaolin Temple. After the movie came out it became very popular. A lot of tourists, a lot of martial arts schools. Remember, I'm just a normal guy, I'm lucky, learning martial arts. Now I’m lucky making films. One day I will retire. Just lucky.
I remember when I was young, I really wanted to promote martial arts. In the 1970s I already had traveled to different countries, doing demonstrations. In the 1980s I started by making one movie. My eyes just opened. I saw a lot of people watching the movie, and they started liking the martial arts. Then I said, why not just continue making movies, and through the movies give out more information. I really want the martial arts to help the people…
I'm not a good director. But I did produce nine movies in Hong Kong, and this I would like to do. I like to come up with a good story, and find a good writer to write it. Then you get the right people. Nobody can do everything. For action movies, you can use martial arts to talk about love, maybe use martial arts to talk about what kind person you can call a hero. Through different kinds of angles you can see martial arts. I think when you talk about religion, Buddhism is one kind of religion, and when you talk about religion you study it because you want to study what kind of person you are …
You can't just teach teenagers what is right, what is wrong. I want to share with them, and let them choose what is good or bad. But a movie is only two hours, you cannot talk about a lot of ideas in one film. I just finished a TV show called The Invincible, and it focused on people needing to work together, they need to help each other. When you’re angry at somebody, even when you punch somebody, the bad energy comes out, you make that person become bad. If you love him first, you want to change him. Even the movement, the love energy comes out. So you want to talk about a different way, different levels. In the beginning, first, you say here's martial art, and they say, Oh, I'm interested in martial arts because you can kick somebody's ass. But then you want to talk about more. I will make another film that talks about a monk in NY, a monk from Tibet that goes to NY. It's more focused on the next level...
The television show talks about a different angle to see the martial arts. It's a similar thing with the gun. The bad guy uses a gun to become bad. The good guy uses a gun to become good. The martial art, physical movement doesn't represent anything. You represent how to use the martial art. If you can use it to help people understand, then it's better...
The outside always changes, the studios, the producers. But you have to think about it. You have to think about the situation outside your body. You think they’re tough, they're tough. If you think it’s easy, it's easy. It really depends on what's your point of view. What you want to get. You want to get famous? You want to become rich? What do you want to get? If I think, I only want to work, do my best, that's it. You give me more money, more fame, it's OK. You don’t give it to me, I go home. That's very easy. Just relax. Enjoy life. Do your best.” ~ Kung Fu Magazine
His Holiness Karmapa received a visit from actor Jet Li. Li was an internationally renowned Wu Shu champion of China as a teenager, and has appeared in some 30 movies.
~ “Jet Li (born Li Lianjie) is a Chinese film actor, film producer, martial artist, and retired Wushu champion who was born in Beijing. He is a naturalized Singaporean citizen. Li is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. His master is Lho Kunsang. In 1987, Li married Huang Qiuyan, with whom he has two daughters. They divorced in 1990. Since 1999, he has been married to Nina Li Chi (born Li Zhi), a Shanghai-born, Hong Kong-based actress. He has two daughters with her also.
According to Li, everything he has ever wanted to tell the world can be found in three of his films: the message of ‘Hero’ is that the suffering of one person can never be as significant as the suffering of a nation; ‘Unleashed’ shows that violence is never a solution; and ‘Fearless’ tells that the biggest enemy of a person is himself. Li thinks that the greatest weapon is a smile and the largest power is love.
Li said that he believes the essence of martial arts is not power or speed but inner harmony… Li believes that Wushu is not primarily for self-defense and instead of trying to play the hero. ‘People should think about peaceful resolutions of conflicts and call the police if necessary. A gun outdoes years of martial arts training in a split second. Like I've said many times before, it is important to differentiate between movies and reality. The hero in movies may be able to knock the gun off his opponent and save the day, but in real life – probably that is not the case.’ He has also stated that he has never had to use his martial arts skills in a real life fight and he does not wish to, either.” ~ Wikipedia
“… Jet had been educated to think: "China is good. Everything in China is good." and "The Western countries are decadent societies. Everything about America is evil." When he actually found himself walking around in this Western country however, he couldn't help but notice how different everything was from China -- and not necessarily in a bad way. None of the students dared say the words -- "Hey, it's pretty nice here!" -- but everybody was thinking it......................................................................................................................................
The last stop and climax of their U.S. tour was Washington D.C., where a select few from their team performed their wushu routines on the White House lawn. After the performance, they were introduced to the American dignitaries and posed with them for official pictures. As Jet remembers, President Richard Nixon stood with one of his female teammates, and Jet stood next to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. At one point, Nixon turned towards him and said, "Young man, your kung fu is very impressive! How about being our bodyguard when you grow up?"...............................
"No, " Jet blurted out. "I don't want to protect any individual. When I grow up, I want to defend my one billion Chinese countrymen!"
People were stunned. There was an uncomfortable silence. Nobody had expected him to give that kind of an answer-least of all Jet. Kissinger was the one who finally broke the silence. "Heavens, such a young boy and he already speaks like a diplomat!" It wasn't until a few days later, when they were wrapping up their visit in the States with a dinner at the embassy that somebody showed them that their visit to the White House had made the New York Times, complete with picture and headline. The article described the entire exchange, and went on to wonder what kind of educational methods they were using in Red China if even the youngest representatives were trained to reply with such nationalist fervor..............................................................
The Chinese government, naturally, had no problems with the answer Jet had given President Nixon. They praised him highly. What a clever boy to give such a patriotic answer! Once again, he'd earned a perfect score.............................................................
Everybody's main focus was the National Games, which were being held in Beijing… The very first move he made was an accident. He sliced himself with his broadsword and cut a big gash on the side of his head. Funny thing was, he had no idea... His head felt very warm and wet, and he seemed to be perspiring heavily. The more he jumped and kicked, the more he seemed to sweat. Drops were running into his eyes, flying everywhere. “How strange,” he thought.
From a very young age, it had been drilled into him that he could not use physical pain as an excuse to affect his performance. Not even a broken bone could justify it - and under that logic, a little blood was no reason at all. The drive to continue performing was automatic. Years of inflexible training builds will; when you're truly tested, it serves you well. On the other hand, if you are always allowed to stop training whenever you feel discomfort, you will find it too easy to give yourself permission to quit.
So he finished his form, saluted, and ran off the platform. Three or four of his female teammates were standing there, and they were all crying. Somebody clapped a towel on his head. When he looked down, he saw that half of his uniform had been dyed red with blood. He was crimson from the shoulder down to the pant leg. When he saw all that blood, he let out a surprised little yelp. Almost fainted! They rushed him to the hospital, where he got stitched up. Then they took him back to the sports school to recuperate. His coaches told him that the final round was coming up in three days. But the doctor had warned him that under no circumstances could the stitches be removed before a full week had passed...........................................................
The day of the competition arrived. The doctor asked if they planned to keep his bandages on during his performance? No, he couldn't do that - it would affect his balance. Did he want to forfeit the competition? No, he didn't want to do that either. So he wore his bandages all the way to the competition arena. When he arrived, everybody was watching him very carefully........................................................................
At this point, the lessons he had learned three years earlier from training on the broken ankle served him well. He focused deep down. Nothing mattered except his form.
He walked up to the platform and ripped off the bandage. A nurse was standing by with disinfectant and a syringe. "Immediately after you finish," she told him, "come over here so he can clean your wound and cover it up again." The cut hadn't healed yet, and they were all afraid that the exposure to sweat and dirt might get it infected. Sure enough, as soon as he finished the form, he ran down, pulled down his pants to get an injection, then let the nurse sponge and re-bandage him!
His winning first place caused quite a sensation, because he was so young. He was only 12 years old, and the other two medalists were in their mid- to late twenties. During the awards ceremony, as he stood on the top step of the podium, he was still shorter than the 2nd and 3rd place medalists. It must have been quite a sight. The national anthem began to play. As he stood there, listening, he began to feel overcome with emotion. He hadn't really realized the impact of winning a national title the year before, when he was 11. This time, though, he suddenly wanted to start crying.................
"This medal is for you, mom! You didn't raise me in vain! Without your sacrifices, I couldn't have made it to this point!" he thought. The events of the last few days - the injury, his mom's reaction, competing against the adults - all started swimming in the ocean of his mind, and his eyes filled with tears. Jet says he doesn’t remember ever feeling that way again, standing on a podium, but he certainly did that time.................................
He won a total of five gold medals in the national championships for 5 consecutive years, from 1974 to 1979. In 1979, Li received his highest achievement in martial arts when he was crowned Gold Champion at the Chinese National Martial Arts Competition. To this date no other man has won more titles. During this stage of his life, he acquired the nickname "Jet" for his blazing speed.”
"Fearless is not the overblown action spectacle that some of the advertisements would lead you to believe. This is definitely a plot-driven movie with a genuine message and a purpose. While the film may be a bit heavy handed and melodramatic in delivering this message at times, it nonetheless remains strong because the characters are easy to relate to and are likeable. Jet Li is able to play both sides of his character (the brash and arrogant young man that he is in the beginning, and the much wiser and understanding man he becomes half way through) with a sense of believability, making him a character that is easy for the audience to get behind."
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