Statue of Yue Fei in the Yue Fei Temple, Hangzhou. The four Chinese characters on the plaque above the statue read huan wo he shan (simplified Chinese: 还我河山; traditional Chinese: 還我河山; pinyin: huán wǒ hé shān; literally "return my rivers and mountains"), or "return my territory".
Names (details)
Known in English as:	Yue Fei, Yueh Fei, Yo Fei, Yao Fei, Ngok Fei, Nawk Fai
Traditional Chinese:	岳飛
Simplified Chinese:	岳飞
Hanyu Pinyin:	Yuè Fēi
Wade-Giles:	Yüeh Fei
Gan:	Ngok5 Fi1
Cantonese:	Ngok[1] Fei[2]
Style name:	Pengju
Traditional Chinese:	鵬舉
Simplified Chinese:	鹏举
Hanyu Pinyin:	Péngjǔ
Wade-Giles:	P'eng-chü
Cantonese:	Paang4-geui2
Posthumous name(s):	Wumu, Zhongwu
Chinese:	武穆, 忠武
Hanyu Pinyin:	Wǔmù, Zhōngwǔ
Wade-Giles:	Wu-mu, Jung-wu
Cantonese:	Mou5-muk6, Jung1-mou5

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Yue Fei (March 24, 1103 – January 27, 1142), style name Pengju, was a military general during the era of the Southern Song Dynasty. His ancestral home was in Xiaoti, Yonghe Village, Tangyin, Xiangzhou, Henan (in present-day Tangyin County, Anyang, Henan). He is best known for leading the defense of Southern Song against invaders from the Jurchen-ruled Jin Dynasty in northern China, before being put to death by the Southern Song government.^[2] He was granted the posthumous name of Wumu by Emperor Xiaozong in 1169, and later granted the posthumous title of Prince of E (鄂王) by Emperor Ningzong in 1211. Widely seen as a patriot and national hero in China, since after his death, Yue Fei has evolved into a standard epitome of loyalty in Chinese culture.

Yue Fei’s biographies[link]

Biography of Yue Fei[link]

Yue Fei

A biography of Yue Fei, the Eguo Jintuo Zubian (鄂國金佗稡编), was written 60 years after his death by his grandson, the poet and historian Yue Ke (岳柯) (1183-post 1240).^[3][4][5] In 1346 it was incorporated into the History of Song, a 496-chapter record of historical events and biographies of noted Song Dynasty individuals, compiled by Yuan Dynasty prime minister Toktoghan and others.^[6] Yue Fei's biography is found in the 365th chapter of the book and is numbered biography 124.^[7] Some later historians including Deng Guangming (1907–1998) now doubt the veracity of many of Yue Ke's claims about his ancestor.^[8]

According to the History of Song, Yue Fei was named "Fei", meaning to fly, because at the time he was born "a large bird like a swan landed on the roof of his house".^[9]

The Story of Yue Fei[link]

Yue Fei's second biography, a wuxia novel titled Shuo Yue Quanzhuan (simplified Chinese: 说岳全传; traditional Chinese: 說岳全傳; pinyin: Shuō Yuè Quán Zhuàn; literally "Telling the Complete Biography of Yue Fei", was written by Qian Cai (錢彩), who lived sometime during the reigns of the Kangxi and Yongzheng (1661–1735) emperors of the Qing Dynasty.^[10] A dating symbol in its preface points either to the year 1684 or to 1744.^[1] It was banned during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. There are two main versions of this novel in existence. The original one had 80 chapters. There was an illustrated edition of this version published in 1912.^[11] The other version also had 80 chapters and was published during the reign of the Tongzhi Emperor (1861–1875). Starting in 1964 and finishing in 1995, Sir Yang Ti-liang, former Chief Justice of Hong Kong, current Chairman of the Hong Kong Red Cross, combined the first chapters of these works (in an attempt to weed out the overabundance of supernatural elements) to create a 79 chapter version with 961 pages, which he translated into English. It is currently sold under the title General Yue Fei (ISBN 978-962-04-1279-0).

Some people mistakenly take this novel to be historical fact when it is purely fiction.^[12] According to Sir Yang Ti-liang's introduction to his translation:

The work is a historical novel in form, but it is in fact based almost mainly on legends which were current amongst the common people for centuries. Indeed some of the events described there are nothing more than Qian Cai's own imagination.^[10]

Chronicle of Yue, Prince of E of Song[link]

The Song Yue E Wang Nianpu (simplified Chinese: 宋岳鄂王年谱; traditional Chinese: 宋岳鄂王年譜; pinyin: Sòng Yuè È Wáng Niánpǔ; literally "Chronicle of Yue, Prince of E of Song") was written by Qian Ruwen (钱汝雯) in 1924.^[11]

Birth and early life[link]

Several sources state that Yue was born into a poor tenant farmer's family in Tangyin County, Anyang prefecture, Henan province.^{[7][10][13][14]} According to the Shuo Yue Quanzhuan, the immortal Chen Tuan, disguised as a wandering priest, warned Yue Fei's father, Yue He (岳和), to put his wife and child inside a clay jar if the infant Yue Fei began to cry. A few days later, a young child squeezed Yue Fei's hand too hard and he began to cry. Soon, it began to rain and the Yellow River flooded, wiping out the village. Yue Fei's father held onto the clay jar as it was swept down the river, but eventually drowned. Although the much older Biography of Yue Fei also mentions the flood, it states Yue Huo survived. It reads,

After [the death of his teacher Zhou Tong], [Yue Fei] would offer sacrifices at his tomb. His father praised him for his faithfulness and asked him, "When you are employed to cope with the affairs of the time, will you then not have to sacrifice yourself for the empire and die for your duty?" (侗死，溯望設祭于其冢。父義之，曰：“汝為時用，其徇國死義乎。)^[6][7]

Yue Fei's father used his family's plot of land for humanitarian efforts, but after it was destroyed in the flood, the young Yue Fei was forced to help his father toil in the fields to survive. Yue received most of his primary education from his father. In 1122 Yue joined the army, but had to return home later that year after the death of his father.^[6] In ancient China, a person was required by law to temporarily resign from their job when their parents died so they could observe the customary period of mourning.^[15] For instance, Yue would have had to mourn his father's death for three years, but in all actually only 27 months. During this time, he would wear coarse mourning robes, caps, and slippers, while abstaining from silken garments.^[16] When his mother died in 1136, he retired from a decisive battle against the Jin Dynasty for the mourning period, but he was forced to cut the bereavement short because his generals begged him to come back.^[6]

Zhou Tong teaching Yue Fei archery.

Shuo Yue Quanzhuan gives a very detailed fictional account of Yue's early life. The novel states after being swept from Henan to Hubei, Yue and his mother are saved by the country squire Wang Ming (王明) and are permitted to stay in Wang's manor as domestic helpers. The young Yue Fei later becomes the adopted son and student of the Wang family's teacher, Zhou Tong, a famous master of military skills. (Zhou Tong is not to be confused with the similarly-named "Little Tyrant" in Water Margin.) Zhou teaches Yue and his three sworn brothers - Wang Gui (王贵), Tang Huai (湯懷) and Zhang Xian (張顯) - literary lessons on odd days and military lessons, involving archery and the eighteen weapons of war, on even days.

After years of practice, Zhou Tong enters his students into the Tangyin County military examination, in which Yue Fei wins first place by shooting a succession of nine arrows through the bullseye of a target 240 paces away. After this display of archery, Yue is asked to marry the daughter of Li Chun (李春), an old friend of Zhou and the county magistrate who presided over the military examination. However, Zhou soon dies of an illness and Yue lives by his grave through the winter until the second month of the new year when his sworn brothers come and tear it down, forcing him to return home and take care of his mother.

Yue eventually marries and later participates in the imperial military examination in the Song capital of Kaifeng. There, he defeats all competitors and even turns down an offer from Cai Gui (蔡桂), the Prince of Liang, to be richly rewarded if he forfeits his chance for the military degree. This angers the prince and both agree to fight a private duel in which Yue kills the prince and is forced to flee the city for fear of being executed. Shortly thereafter, he joins the Song army to fight the invading armies of the Jurchen-ruled Jin Dynasty.^[10]

The Yue Fei Biography states,

When [Yue] was born, a Peng flew crowing over the house, so his father named the child Fei [(飛 - "flight")]. Before [Yue] was even a month old, the Yellow River flooded, so his mother got inside of the center of a clay jar and held on to baby Yue. The violent waves pushed the jar down river, where they landed ashore ... Despite his family's poverty, [Yue Fei] was studious, and particularly favored the Zuo Zhuan edition of the Spring and Autumn Annals and the strategies of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi. (飛生時，有大禽若鵠，飛鳴室上，因以為名。未彌月，河決內黃，水暴至，母姚抱飛坐瓮中，衝濤及岸得免，人異之。-- 家貧力學，尤好【左氏春秋】、孫吳兵法。)^[7]

According to a book by martial arts master Liang Shouyu, "[A] Dapeng is a great bird that lived in ancient China. Legend has it, that Dapeng was the guardian that stayed above the head of Gautama Buddha. Dapeng could get rid of all evil in any area. Even the Monkey King was no match for it. During the Song Dynasty the government was corrupt and foreigners were constantly invading China. Sakyamuni sent Dapeng down to earth to protect China. Dapeng descended to Earth and was born as Yue Fei."^[17]

Martial training[link]

The Biography of Yue Fei states, "Yue Fei possessed supernatural power and before his adulthood, he was able to draw a bow of 300 catties and a crossbow of eight stone. [Yue Fei] learned archery from Zhou Tong. He learned everything and could fire with his left and right hands."^[7][18] Shuo Yue Quanzhuan states Zhou teaches Yue and his sworn brothers archery and all of the eighteen weapons of war. This novel also says Yue was Zhou's third student after Lin Chong and Lu Junyi of the 108 outlaws in Water Margin. The Chronicle of Yue, Prince of E of Song) says he studied the bow and military tactics under Zhou Tong and the spear under the spear master Chen Guang (陳廣). Before he was an adult, Yue could draw a bow of 300 catties and a crossbow of eight stones and could fire a bow with either his left or right hand.^[11][17][19] The E Wang Shi records, "When Yue Fei reached adulthood, his maternal grandfather, Yao Daweng (姚大翁), hired a spear expert, Chen Guang, to teach Yue Fei spear fighting."^[20][21]

Both the Biography of Yue Fei and E Wang Shi mention Yue learning from Zhou and Chen at or before his adulthood. The Chinese character representing "adulthood" in these sources is ji guan (Chinese: 及冠; pinyin: jí guàn; literally "conferring headdress"), an ancient Chinese term that means "20 years old" where a young man was able to wear a formal headdress as a social status of adulthood.^[22][23] So he gained all of his martial arts knowledge by the time he joined the army at the age of 19.^[7][19]

These chronicles do not mention Yue's masters teaching him martial arts style; just archery, spearplay and military tactics. However non-historical or scholarly sources state, in addition to those already mentioned, Zhou Tong taught Yue other skills such as hand-to-hand combat and horseback riding. Yet again, these do not mention any specific martial arts style. One legend says Zhou took young Yue to an unspecified place to meet a Buddhist hermit who taught him the Emei Dapeng qigong (峨嵋大鵬氣功) style. This is supposedly the source of his legendary strength and martial arts abilities.^[13][17] According to thirteenth generation lineage Tai He ("Great Harmony") Wudangquan master Fan Keping (范克平), a collector of rare martial arts manuals,^[24] Zhou Tong was a master of various "hard qigong" exercises.^[25][26]

Yue Fei's mother writes jin zhong bao guo on his back, as depicted in a "Suzhou style" beam decoration at the Summer Palace, Beijing.

Yue Fei's tattoo[link]

According to historical records and legend, Yue had the four Chinese characters jin zhong bao guo (simplified Chinese: 尽忠报国; traditional Chinese: 盡忠報國; pinyin: jìn zhōng bào guó; literally "serve the country with the utmost loyalty") tattooed across his back. The Biography of Yue Fei says after Qin Hui sent agents to arrest Yue and his son, he was taken before the court and charged with treason, but

Yue ripped his jacket to reveal the four brush-stroke characters of "serve the country with the utmost loyalty" on his back. This proved that he was clearly innocent of the charges. (飛裂裳以背示鑄，有“盡忠報國”四大字，深入膚理。既而閱實無左驗，鑄明其無辜。)^[7]

It does not comment when and who gave him the tattoo, though. Later fictionalizations of Yue's biography would build upon the tattoo. For instance, one of his earliest Ming era novels titled The Story of King Yue Who Restored the Song Dynasty (大宋中興岳王傳) states that after the Jurchen armies invaded China, young heroes in Yue's village suggest that they join the bandits in the mountains. However, Yue objects and has one of them tattoo the aforementioned characters on his back. Whenever others want to join the bandits, he flashes them the tattoo to change their minds.^[27]

The common legend of Yue receiving the tattoo from his mother first appeared in Shuo Yue Quanzhuan. In chapter 21 titled "By a pretext Wang Zuo swore brotherhood, by tattoos Lady Yue instructed her son", Yue denounces the pirate chief Yang Yao (杨幺) and passes on a chance to become a general in his army. Yue Fei's mother then tells her son, "I, your mother, saw that you did not accept recruitment of the rebellious traitor, and that you willingly endure poverty and are not tempted by wealth and status ... But I fear that after my death, there may be some unworthy creature who will entice you ... For these reason ... I want to tattoo on your back the four characters 'Utmost', 'Loyalty', 'Serve' and 'Nation' ... The Lady picked up the brush and wrote out on his spine the four characters for 'serving the nation with the utmost loyalty' ... [So] she bit her teeth, and started pricking. Having finished, she painted the characters with ink mixed with vinegar so that the colour would never fade."^[10]

The Kaifeng Jews, one of many pockets of Chinese Jews living in ancient China, refer to this tattoo in two of their three stele monuments created in 1489, 1512, and 1663. The first mention appeared in a section of the 1489 stele referring to the Jews' "Boundless loyalty to the country and Prince."^[28] The second appeared in a section of the 1512 stele about how Jewish soldiers and officers in the Chinese armies were "boundlessly loyal to the country."^[29]

Adult life[link]

Portrait[link]

The "Four Generals of Zhongxing" painted by Liu Songnian during the Southern Song Dynasty. Yue Fei is the second person from the left.

Southern Song era artist Liu Songnian (劉松年) (1174–1224), who was best known for his realistic works, painted a picture, "Four Generals of Zhongxing" (中興四將).^[30] The group portrait shows eight people — four generals and four attendants. Starting from the left: attendant, Yue Fei, attendant, Zhang Jun (張浚), Han Shizhong (韓世忠), attendant, Liu Guangshi (劉光世), and attendant.^[31]

According to history professor He Zongli of Zhejiang University, the painting shows Yue was more of a scholarly-looking general with a shorter stature and chubbier build than the statue of him currently displayed in his tomb in Hangzhou, which portrays him as being tall and skinny. Shen Lixin, an official with the Yue Fei Temple Administration, holds the portrait of Yue Fei from the "Four Generals of Zhongxing" to be the most accurate likeness of the general in existence.^[32]

Character[link]

Calligraphy written by Yue Fei

In his From Myth to Myth: The Case of Yüeh Fei's Biography, noted Sinologist Hellmut Wilhelm^[33] concluded that Yue Fei purposely patterned his life after famous Chinese heroes from dynasties past and that this ultimately led to his martyrdom.^[6] Apart from studying literature under his father Yue He (岳和), Yue Fei loved to read military classics. He favored the Zuo Zhuan commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals and the strategies of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi. Although his literacy afforded him the chance to become a scholar, which was a position held in much higher regard than the common soldiery during the Song Dynasty, Yue chose the military path because there had never been any tradition of civil service in his family. Therefore he had no reason to study Confucian classics in order to surpass the accomplishments of his ancestors or to raise his family's social status to the next level. His fourth generation ancestor, Yue Huan (岳渙), had served as a lingshi (令使) (essentially a low-level functionary),^[34] but he was never a full-fledged member of the civil service rank.^[35] A second theory is that he joined the military in the hopes of emulating his favorite heroes.^[6]

Scholars were always welcome in Yue Fei's camp. He allowed them to come and tell stories and deeds of past heroes to bolster the resolve of his men. This way he was able to teach them about the warriors that he had constructed his own life after. He also hoped that one of these scholars would record his own deeds so he would become a peer amongst his idols. He is recorded in saying that he wished to be considered the equal of Guan Yu and other such famous men from the Three Kingdoms period. Yue succeeded in this endeavor since later "official mythology" placed him on the same level as Guan Yu.^[6]

Yue was careful to conduct himself as the ideal Confucian gentleman at all times for fear that any misconduct would be recorded and criticized by people of later dynasties. However he had his faults. He had a problem with alcohol during the early part of his military career. Yue drank in great excess because he believed it fitted the image of heroes of old. However once he nearly killed a colleague in a drunken rage, the emperor made him promise not to drink any more until the Jurchen invaders had been driven away.^[6]

Family[link]

Yue Yun (岳雲), Yue Fei's eldest son

According to Shuo Yue Quanzhuan, Yue had five sons and one daughter. The History of Song records that Yue Yun (岳雲) (1119–1142) was adopted by Yue Fei at the age of 12^[36] whilst others claim he was his biological son;^[21] Yue Lei (岳雷), the second, succeeded to his father's post; Yue Ting (岳霆) was the third; Yue Lin (岳霖) was the fourth; and Yue Zhen (岳震), the fifth, was still young at the time of his father's death. Yue Yinping was Yue Fei's daughter. The novel states she committed suicide after her father's death and became a fairy in heaven. However, history books do not mention her name and therefore she should be considered a fictional character.^[21] Yue Fei married the daughter of Magistrate Li when he was 16 years old (1119).^[10] However, the account of his marriage is fictional.^[21]

The Biography of Yue Fei states that Yue left his ailing mother with his first wife while he went to fight the Jin armies. However she "left him (and his mother) and remarried."^[6] He later took a second wife and even discussed "affairs" pertaining to his military career with her. He truly loved her, but his affection for her was second to his desire to rid China of the Jurchen invaders. Her faithfulness to him and his mother was strengthened by the fear that any infidelity or lacking in her care of Lady Yue would result in reprisal.^[6]

Yue forbade his sons from having concubines, which he almost took one himself. Even though she was presented by a friend, he did not accept her because she laughed when he asked her if she could "share the hardships of camp life" with him.^[6] He knew she was liberal and would have sex with the other soldiers.^[6]

Though not mentioned in the memoir written by Yue Fei's grandson, some scholarly sources claim Yue had a younger brother named Yue Fan (岳翻). He later served in the army under his brother and died in battle in 1132.^[21]

Military record[link]

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A northern Chinese from a humble background, he participated in the Song Dynasty's attempt in 1122 to capture the 16 prefectures lost to the Jin Dynasty, and defended Kaifeng after the Jin armies withdrew in 1127. Yue moved south with other loyalist forces in 1129, and took an active part in during the Jin advance back across the Yangtze River that year. He continued to advance in rank, and to increase the size of his army as he repeatedly led successful offensives into northern China and suppressed rebellions within Song territory. Several other generals were also successful against the Jin Dynasty, and their combined efforts secured the survival of the Song Dynasty. Yue, like most of them, was committed to recapturing northern China.

Stone Lake: The Poetry of Fan Chengda 1126-1193 states, "...Yue Fei ([1103]-1141)...repelled the enemy assaults in 1133 and 1134, until in 1135 the now confident Song army was in a position to recover all of north China from the Jin Dynasty ... [In 1140,] Yue Fei initiated a general counterattack against the Jin armies, defeating one enemy after another until he set up camp within range of the Northern Song Dynasty's old capital city, Kaifeng, in preparation for the final assault against the enemy. Yet in the same year Qin [Hui] ordered Yue Fei to abandon his campaign, and in 1141 Yue Fei was summoned back to the Southern Song capital. It is believed that the emperor then ordered Yue Fei to be hanged."^[37]

Battle of Zhuxianzhen near Kaifeng in Henan where Yue Fei defeated the Jin army in 1140. Painting on the Long Corridor of the Summer Palace in Beijing.

Six methods for deploying an army[link]

Yue Ke (岳珂) states his grandfather had six special methods for deploying an army effectively:

Careful selection

He relied more on small numbers of well-trained soldiers than he did large masses of the poorly-trained variety. In this way, one superior soldier counted for as much as one hundred inferior soldiers. One example used to illustrate this was when the armies of Han Ching and Wu Xu were transferred into Yue's camp. Most of them had never seen battle and were generally too old or unhealthy for sustaining prolonged troop movement and engagement of the enemy. Once Yue had filtered out the weak soldiers and sent them home, he was only left with a meager thousand able-bodied soldiers. However, after some months of intense training, they were ready to perform almost as well as the soldiers who had served under Yue for years.^[6]

Careful training

When his troops were not on military campaigns to win back lost Chinese territory in the north, Yue put his men through intense training. Apart from troop movement and weapons drills, this training also involved them leaping over walls and crawling through moats in full battle garb. The intensity of the training was such that the men would not even try to visit their families if they passed by their homes while on movement and even trained on their days off.^[6]

Justice in rewards and punishments

He rewarded his men for their merits and punished them for their boasting or lack of training. Yue once gave a foot soldier his own personal belt, silver dinner ware, and a promotion for his meritorious deeds in battle. While on the reverse, he once ordered his son Yue Yun to be decapitated for falling off his horse after failing to jump a moat. His son was only saved after Yue's officers begged his mercy. There were a number of soldiers that were either dismissed or executed because they boasted of their skills or failed to follow orders.^[6]

Clear orders

He always delivered his orders in a simple manner that was easy for all of his soldiers to understand. Whoever failed to follow them were severely punished.^[6]

Strict discipline

While marching about the countryside, he never let his troops destroy fields or to pillage towns or villages. He made them pay a fair price for goods and made sure crops remained intact. A soldier once stole a hemp rope from a peasant so he could tie a bale of hay with it. When Yue discovered this, he questioned the soldier and had him executed.^[6]

Close fellowship with his men

He treated all of his men like equals. He ate the same food as they did and slept out in the open as they did. Even when a temporary shelter was erected for him, he made sure several soldiers could find room to sleep inside before he found a spot of his own. When there was not enough wine to go around, he would dilute it with water so every soldier would have a cup to drink from.^[6]

Death[link]

Front entrance to Yue Fei's tomb in Hangzhou (30°15′15.03″N 120°7′48.64″E / 30.254175°N 120.1301778°E / 30.254175; 120.1301778).

Imperial Order to General Yue Fei (賜岳飛手勅), Emperor Gaozong of Song, National Palace Museum, Taipei

In 1126, several years before Yue became a general, the Jurchen-ruled Jin Dynasty invaded northern China, forcing the Song Dynasty out of its capital Kaifeng and capturing Emperor Qinzong of Song, who was sent into captivity in Manchuria. This marked the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty under Emperor Gaozong.

Yue fought a long campaign against the invading Jurchens in an effort to retake northern China. Just when he was threatening to attack and retake Kaifeng, corrupt officials advised Emperor Gaozong to recall Yue to the capital and sue for peace with the Jurchens. Fearing that a defeat at Kaifeng might cause the Jurchens to release Emperor Qinzong, threatening his claim to the throne, Emperor Gaozong followed their advice, sending 12 orders in the form of 12 gold plaques to Yue Fei, recalling him back to the capital. Knowing that a success at Kaifeng could lead to internal strife, Yue submitted to the emperor's orders and returned to the capital, where he was imprisoned and where Qin Hui would eventually arrange for him to be executed on false charges.^[10]

There are conflicting views on how Yue died. According to The History of China: (The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations) and other sources, Yue died in prison.^[13][38] The Chronicle of Yue, Prince of E of Song says he was killed in prison.^[7] Shuo Yue Quanzhuan states he was strangled to death. It reads, "...[Yue Fei] strode in long steps to the Pavilion of Winds and Waves ... The warders on both sides picked up the ropes and strangled the three men [Yue Fei, Yue Yun, and Zhang Xian (張憲), Yue's subordinate] without further ado ... At the time Lord Yue was 39 years of age and the young lord Yue Yun 23. When the three men returned to Heaven, suddenly a fierce wind rose up wildly and all the fires and lights were extinguished. Black mists filled the sky and sand and pebbles were blown about."^[10]

The Secrets of Eagle Claw Kung Fu: Ying Jow Pai comments, "Finally, [Yue Fei] received the 'Twelfth Golden Edict' [from the emperor calling him back to the capital], which if ignored meant banishment. Patriotism demanded that he obey. On his way back to the capital he stopped to rest at a pavilion. Qin Hui anticipated Yue Fei's route and sent some men to lie in wait. When Yue Fei arrived, Qin's men ambushed and murdered him. Just 39 years old, Yue Fei like many good men in history, had a swift, brilliant career, then died brutally while still young."^[39]

According to A Chinese Biographical Dictionary, "[Father and son] had not been two months in confinement when Qin Hui resolved to rid himself of his enemy. He wrote out with his own hand an order for the execution of Yue Fei, which was forthwith carried into effect; whereupon he immediate reported that Yue Fei had died in prison."^[14] Meaning he had Yue and his son executed but reported they both died while in captivity.

Other sources say he was poisoned to death.^[40][41] Still, a great deal simply say he was executed, murdered, or "treacherously assassinated".^[42][43][44]

Kneeling Iron Statues[link]

Statues of Lady Wang (秦王氏) and Qin Hui (秦檜) at the Yue Fei Temple, Hangzhou

Statues of Moqi Xie (万俟卨) and Zhang Jun (張俊) at the Yue Fei Temple, Hangzhou

Shuo Yue Quanzhuan states after having Yue Fei, Yue Yun, Zhang Xian arrested under false charges, Qin Hui and his wife, Lady Wang (王氏), were sitting by the "eastern window", warming themselves by the fire, when he received a letter from the people calling for the release of Yue Fei. Qin was worried because after nearly two months of torture, he could not get Yue to admit to treason and would eventually have to let him go. However, after a servant girl brought fresh oranges into the room, Lady Wang devised a plan to execute Yue. She told Qin to slip an execution notice inside the skin of an orange and send it to the judge presiding over Yue's case. This way, Yue and his companions would be put to death before the emperor or Qin himself would have to rescind an open order of execution.^[10] This conspiracy became known as the "East Window Plot".^[45] A novel about this incident, titled Dong Chuang Ji (東窗記; "Tale of the Eastern Window"), was written during the Ming Dynasty by an anonymous writer.^[46]

When asked by Han Shizhong on what crime Yue had committed, Qin Hui replied, "Though it isn't sure whether there is something that he did to betray the dynasty, maybe there is." The phrase "perhaps there is" or "could be true" (Chinese: 莫須有; pinyin: mò xū yǒu, often mistranslated from Ancient to Contemporary Chinese as "you committed no crime") has entered the Chinese dictionary as an expression to refer to fabricated charges.^[47] For their part in Yue's death, iron statues of Qin Hui, Lady Wang, and two of Qin's subordinates, Moqi Xie (萬俟軼) and Zhang Jun (張俊), were made to kneel before Yue Fei's tomb (located by the West Lake, Hangzhou). For centuries, these statues have been cursed, spat and urinated upon by people. The original castings in bronze were damaged, but later were replaced by images cast in iron, but these were similarly damaged. However now, in modern times, these statues are protected as historical relics.^[48]

There is a poem hanging on the gate surrounding the statues that reads, "The green hill is fortunate to be the burial ground of a loyal general, the white iron was innocent to be cast into the statues of traitors."^[49]

According to one source, "In 1162 Emperor Xiaozong of Song restored his honours, and gave proper burial to his remains. A [tomb] was put up in his memory, and he was designated Zhongwu (忠武; "Loyal and Martial"). In 1179 he was canonized as Wumu (武穆)."^[14]

According to the novel Xi You Bu, a satire of Journey to the West, written in 1641 by the scholar Dong Ruoyu (also known as Dong Yue, 1620–1686), the Monkey King enthusiastically serves in hell as the trial prosecutor of Qin Hui. At one point, the Monkey King asks the spirit of Yue Fei if he would like to drink Qin's blood.^[46]

Talents[link]

Martial arts[link]

The two styles most associated with Yue are Eagle Claw and Xingyi boxing. One book states Yue created Eagle Claw for his enlisted soldiers and Xingyi for his officers.^[50] Legend has it that Yue studied in Shaolin Monastery with a monk named Zhou Tong and learned the "elephant" style of boxing, a set of hand techniques with great emphasis on qinna (joint-locking).^[39][51][52] Other tales say he learned this style elsewhere outside the temple under the same master.^[13] Yue eventually expanded elephant style to create the Yibai Lingba Qinna (一百零八擒拿 - "108 Locking Hand Techniques") of the Ying Sao (Eagle Hands) or Ying Kuen (Eagle Fist).^[39] After becoming a general in the imperial army, Yue taught this style to his men and they were very successful in battle against the armies of the Jin Dynasty.^[13] Following his wrongful execution and the disbandment of his armies, Yue's men supposedly traveled all over China spreading the style, which eventually ended right back in Shaolin where it began. Later, a monk named Li Quan (麗泉) combined this style with Fanziquan, another style attributed to Yue, to create the modern day form of Northern Ying Jow Pai boxing.^[39][53]

According to legend, Yue combined his knowledge of internal martial arts and spearplay learned from Zhou Tong (in Shaolin) to create the linear fist attacks of Xingyi boxing.^[13][54] One book claims he studied and synthesized Buddhism's Tendon Changing and Marrow Washing qigong systems to create Xingyi.^[55] On the contrary, proponents of Wudangquan believe it is possible that Yue learned the style in the Wudang Mountains that border his home province of Henan. The reasons they cite for this conclusion are that he supposedly lived around the same time and place as Zhang Sanfeng, the founder of t'ai chi; Xingyi's five fist attacks, which are based on the Five Chinese Elements theory, are similar to tai-chi's "Yin-yang theory"; and both theories are Taoist-based and not Buddhist.^[56] The book Henan Orthodox Xingyi Quan, written by Pei Xirong (裴锡荣) and Li Ying'ang (李英昂), states Xingyi master Dai Longbang

...wrote the 'Preface to Six Harmonies Boxing' in the 15th reign year of the Qianlong Emperor [1750]. Inside it says, '...when [Yue Fei] was a child, he received special instructions from Zhou Tong. He became extremely skilled in the spear method. He used the spear to create methods for the fist. He established a method called Yi Quan [意拳]. Mysterious and unfathomable, followers of old did not have these skills. Throughout the Jin, Yuan and Ming dynasties few had his art. Only Ji Gong had it. (于乾隆十五年为“六合拳”作序云：“岳飞当童子时，受业于周侗师，精通枪法，以枪为拳，立法以教将佐，名曰意拳，神妙莫测，盖从古未有之技也。)^[57][58]

Inside the grounds of Yue Fei's tomb and shrine in Hangzhou; the inscriptions at the far end read "Serve the country with the utmost loyalty".

The Ji Gong mentioned above, better known as Ji Jike (姬際可) or Ji Longfeng (姬隆丰), is said to have trained in Shaolin Monastery for ten years as a young man and was matchless with the spear.^[54] As the story goes, he later traveled to Xongju Cave on Mount Zhongnan to receive a boxing manual written by Yue Fei, from which he learned Xingyi. However, some believe Ji actually created the style himself and attributed it to Yue Fei because he was fighting the Manchus, descendants of the Jurchens who Yue had struggled against.^[59] Ji supposedly created it after watching a battle between an eagle and a bear during the Ming Dynasty.^[60] Other sources say he created it while training in Shaolin. He was reading a book and looked up to see two roosters fighting, which inspired him to imitate the fighting styles of animals.^[54][61][62] Both versions of the story (eagle / bear and roosters) state he continued to study the actions of animals and eventually increased the cadre of animal forms.^[54]

Several other martial arts have been attributed to Yue Fei, including Yuejiaquan (Yue Family Boxing), Fanziquan (Tumbling Boxing), and Chuojiao quan (Feet-Poking Boxing), among others.^[63][64][65] The "Fanzi Boxing Ballad" says: "Wumu has passed down the Fanziquan which has mystery in its straightforward movements." Wumu (武穆) was a posthumous name given to Yue after his death.^[14] One Chuojiao legend states Zhou Tong learned the style from its creator, a wandering Taoist named Deng Liang (鄧良), and later passed it onto Yue Fei, who is considered to be the progenitor of the style.^[63][66]

Besides martial arts, Yue is also said to have studied traditional Chinese medicine. He understood the essence of Hua Tuo's Wu Qin Xi (五禽戲 – "Five Animal Folics") and created his own form of "medical qigong’’ known as the Ba Duan Jin (八段錦 – "Eight Pieces of Brocade"). It is considered a form of Wai Dan (外丹 – "External Elixir") medical qigong.^[67] He taught this qigong to his soldiers to help keep their bodies strong and well-prepared for battle.^[68][69] One legend states that Zhou Tong took young Yue to meet a Buddhist hermit who taught him Emei Dapeng Qigong (峨嵋大鵬氣功). His training in Dapeng Qigong was the source of his great strength and martial arts abilities. Modern practitioners of this style say it was passed down by Yue.^[17]

Connection to Praying Mantis boxing[link]

According to Shuo Yue Quanzhuan, Lin Chong and Lu Junyi of the 108 outlaws in Water Margin were former students of Yue's teacher Zhou Tong.^[70] One legend states Zhou learned Chuojiao boxing from its originator Deng Liang (鄧良) and then passed it onto Yue Fei, who is sometimes considered the progenitor of the style.^[63] Chuojiao is also known as the "Water Margin Outlaw style" and Yuanyang Tui (鴛鴦腿 - "Mandarin Duck Leg").^[71] In chapter 29 of Water Margin, titled "Wu Song beats Jiang the Door God in a drunken stupor", it mentions Wu Song, another of Zhou's fictional students, using the "Jade Circle-Steps with Duck and Drake feet".^[72] A famous folklore Praying Mantis manuscript, which describes the fictional gathering of eighteen martial arts masters in Shaolin, lists Lin Chong (#13) as a master of "Mandarin ducks kicking technique".^[63] This creates a folklore connection between Yue and Mantis boxing.

Lineage Mantis master Yuen Man Kai openly claims Zhou Tong taught Lin Chong and Lu Junyi the "same school" of martial arts that was later combined with the aforementioned seventeen other schools to create Mantis fist.^[73] However, he believes Mantis fist was created during the Ming Dynasty, and was therefore influenced by these eighteen schools from the Song Dynasty. He also says Lu Junyi taught Yan Qing the same martial arts as he learned from Zhou Tong.^[74] Yuen further comments that Zhou Tong later taught Yue Fei the same martial art and that Yue was the originator of the mantis move "Black Tiger Steeling [sic] Heart".^[74]

Poetry[link]

At the age of 30, Yue supposedly wrote his most celebrated poem, "Man Jiang Hong" ("Entirely Red River"). This poem reflects the raw hatred he felt towards the Jurchen-ruled Jin Dynasty, as well as the sorrow he felt when his efforts to recoup northern lands lost to Jin were halted by Southern Song officials of the "Peace Faction". However, several modern historians, including Princeton University Prof. James T.C. Liu, believe certain phrasing in the poem dates its creation to the early 16th century, meaning Yue did not write it.^[75]

Posterity[link]

Among the Yue Fei's descendants there was Yue Zhongqi zh:岳钟琪, the minister of defence (兵部尚書, Bingbu Shangshu) and general governor of Shanxi and Gansu province during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng.

Modern references[link]

A Republic of China propaganda poster. The four Chinese characters read huan wo he shan.

The ROCS Yueh Fei (FFG-1106), a Cheng Kung-class guided-missile frigate of the Republic of China Navy, is named after Yue.

See also[link]

Poetry portal

• Media about Yue Fei
• History of the Song Dynasty
• Yue Fei Temple
• Tomb of Yue Fei

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Yue Fei

• (Chinese) "History of the Song" Chinese Wikipedia entry
• (Chinese) 470 volume version of the "History of the Song"
• (Chinese) "The Story of Yue Fei"
• (Chinese) "Yue Fei's Biography" from the History of the Song
• Works by Yue Fei at Project Gutenberg
• "精忠报国 Utmost Loyalty to the Country", a famous chinese song related to Yue Fei

v t e Song Dynasty topics Architecture Culture Economy Emperors History Society Technology Book:Song Dynasty Category:Song Dynasty Portal:China Commons:Song Dynasty

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
Chinese name	成龍 (Traditional)
Chinese name	成龙 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Chéng Lóng (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Sing4 Lung4 (Cantonese)
Birth name	Chan Kong-sang 陳港生 (Traditional) 陈港生 (Simplified) Chén Gǎngshēng (Mandarin) Can4 Gong2 Sang1 (Cantonese)
Ancestry	Linzi, Shandong, China
Origin	British Hong Kong
Born	(1954-04-07) 7 April 1954 (age 58) Victoria Peak, Hong Kong
Other name(s)	房仕龍 (Fong Si-lung) 元樓 (Yuen Lou) 大哥 (Big Brother)
Occupation	Actor, martial artist, director, producer, screenwriter, action choreographer, singer, stunt director, stunt performer
Genre(s)	Cantopop, Mandopop, Hong Kong English pop, J-pop
Years active	1962–present
Spouse(s)	Lin Feng-jiao (1982–present)
Children	Jaycee Chan (born 1982)
Parents	Charles and Lee-Lee Chan
Influences	Bruce Lee Buster Keaton Harold Lloyd
Awards Hong Kong Film Awards Best Film 1989 Rouge Best Action Choreography 1996 Rumble in the Bronx 1999 Who Am I? Professional Spirit Award 2004 Golden Horse Awards Best Actor 1992 Police Story 3 1993 Crime Story Golden Rooster Awards Best Actor 2005 New Police Story MTV Asia Awards Inspiration Award 2002 Other awards MTV Movie Awards 2002 Best Fight (Rush Hour 2) 1999 Best Fight (Rush Hour) 1995 Lifetime Achievement Award Shanghai International Film Festival 2005 Outstanding Contribution to Chinese Cinema

Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE^[1] (born Chan Kong-sang, 陳港生; 7 April 1954) is a Hong Kong-born Chinese^[2] stuntman, actor, and director whose perilous acrobatic stunts and engaging physical humour made him an action-film star in Asia and helped to bring kung fu movies into the mainstream of American cinema. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts. Jackie Chan has been acting since the 1960s and has appeared in over 100 films.

Chan has received stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As a cultural icon, Chan has been referenced in various pop songs, cartoons, and video games. An operatically trained vocalist, Chan is also a Cantopop and Mandopop star, having released a number of albums and sung many of the theme songs for the films in which he has starred. In addition to acting, Chan pursued a career in the Hong Kong music industry, releasing a number of original albums beginning in 1984. He founded the Jackie Chan Charitable Organization in 1998, which, among other projects, offers scholarships to Hong Kong youths, and he worked as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.

Early life[link]

Chan was born on 7 April 1954, in Hong Kong, China as Chan Kong-sang, to Charles and Lee-Lee Chan, refugees from the Chinese Civil War. He was nicknamed Paopao (Chinese: 炮炮, literally meaning "Cannonball") because the high-energy child was always rolling around.^[3] Since his parents worked for the French Consul in Hong Kong, Chan spent his formative years within the grounds of the consul's residence in the Victoria Peak district.^[4]

Chan attended the Nah-Hwa Primary School on Hong Kong Island, where he failed his first year, after which his parents withdrew him from the school. In 1960, his father immigrated to Canberra, Australia, to work as the head cook for the American embassy, and Chan was sent to the China Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School run by Master Yu Jim-yuen.^[4][5] Chan trained rigorously for the next decade, excelling in martial arts and acrobatics.^[6] He eventually became part of the Seven Little Fortunes, a performance group made up of the school's best students, gaining the stage name Yuen Lo in homage to his master. Chan became close friends with fellow group members Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, the three of them later to be known as the Three Brothers or Three Dragons.^[7]

At the age of 8, he appeared with some of his fellow "Little Fortunes", in the film Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962), with Li Li Hua playing his mother. Chan appeared with Li again the following year, in The Love Eterne (1963) and had a small role in King Hu's 1966 film, Come Drink with Me.^[8] In 1971, after an appearance as an extra in another Kong Fu film, A Touch of Zen, Chan began his adult career in the film industry, initially signing to Chu Mu's Great Earth Film Company.^[9] At the age of 17, he worked as a stuntman in the Bruce Lee films Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon under the stage name Chan Yuen Lung (Chinese: 陳元龍).^[10] He received his first starring role later that year, in Little Tiger of Canton, which had a limited release in Hong Kong in 1973.^[11] Due to the commercial failures in his early ventures into films and trouble finding stunt work, in 1975 Chan starred in a comedic adult film, All in the Family, which features Jackie Chan's first and possibly only nude sex scene filmed to date. It is also the only film he has made to date that did not feature a single fight scene or stunt sequence.^[12]

Chan joined his parents in Canberra in 1976, where he briefly attended Dickson College and worked as a construction worker.^[13] A fellow builder named Jack took Chan under his wing, earning Chan the nickname of "Little Jack" which was later shortened to "Jackie" and the name Jackie Chan stuck with him ever since.^[14] In addition, in the late 90s, Chan changed his Chinese name to Fong Si-lung (Chinese: 房仕龍), since his father's original surname was Fong.^[14]

Film career[link]

Early exploits: 1976–1979[link]

In 1976, Jackie Chan received a telegram from Willie Chan, a film producer in the Hong Kong film industry who had been impressed with Jackie's stuntwork. Willie Chan offered him an acting role in a film directed by Lo Wei. Lo had seen Chan's performance in the John Woo film Hand of Death (1976) and planned to model him after Bruce Lee with the film New Fist of Fury.^[9] His stage name was changed to Sing Lung (Chinese: 成龍, also transcribed as Cheng Long,^[15] literally "become the dragon") to emphasise his similarity to Bruce Lee, whose stage name was Lei Siu-lung (Chinese: 李小龍, meaning "Little Dragon"). The film was unsuccessful because Chan was not accustomed to Lee's martial arts style. Despite the film's failure, Lo Wei continued producing films with similar themes, resulting in little improvement at the box office.^[16]

Chan's first major breakthrough was the 1978 film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, shot while he was loaned to Seasonal Film Corporation under a two-picture deal.^[17] Under director Yuen Woo-ping, Chan was allowed complete freedom over his stunt work. The film established the comedic kung fu genre, and proved to be a breath of fresh air for the Hong Kong audience.^[18] Chan then starred in Drunken Master, which finally propelled him to mainstream success.^[19]

Upon Chan's return to Lo Wei's studio, Lo tried to replicate the comedic approach of Drunken Master, producing Half a Loaf of Kung Fu and Spiritual Kung Fu.^[14] He also gave Chan the opportunity to co-direct The Fearless Hyena with Kenneth Tsang. When Willie Chan left the company, he advised Jackie to decide for himself whether or not to stay with Lo Wei. During the shooting of Fearless Hyena Part II, Chan broke his contract and joined Golden Harvest, prompting Lo to blackmail Chan with triads, blaming Willie for his star's departure. The dispute was resolved with the help of fellow actor and director Jimmy Wang Yu, allowing Chan to stay with Golden Harvest.^[17]

Success of the action comedy genre: 1980–1987[link]

Willie Chan had become Jackie's personal manager and firm friend, and has remained so for over 30 years. He was instrumental in launching Chan's international career, beginning with his first forays into the American film industry in the 1980s. His first Hollywood film was Battle Creek Brawl in 1980. Chan then played a minor role in the 1981 film The Cannonball Run, which grossed US$100 million worldwide. Despite being largely ignored by audiences in favour of established American actors like Burt Reynolds, Chan was impressed by the outtakes shown at the closing credits, inspiring him to include the same device in his future films.

After the commercial failure of The Protector in 1985, Chan temporarily abandoned his attempts to break into the US market, returning his focus to Hong Kong films.^[16]

Back in Hong Kong, Chan's films began to reach a larger audience in East Asia, with early successes in the lucrative Japanese market including The Young Master (1980) and Dragon Lord (1982). The Young Master went on to beat previous box office records set by Bruce Lee and established Chan as Hong Kong cinema's top star. With Dragon Lord, he began experimenting with elaborate stunt action sequences,^[20] including a pyramid fight scene that holds the record for the most takes for a single scene with 2900 takes,^[21] and the final fight scene where he performs various stunts, including one where he does a back flip off a loft and falls to the lower ground.^[22]

Chan produced a number of action comedy films with his opera school friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The three co-starred together for the first time in 1983 in Project A, which introduced a dangerous stunt-driven style of martial arts that won it the Best Action Design Award at the third annual Hong Kong Film Awards.^[23] Over the following two years, the "Three Brothers" appeared in Wheels on Meals and the original Lucky Stars trilogy.^[24][25] In 1985, Chan made the first Police Story film, a US-influenced action comedy in which Chan performed a number of dangerous stunts. It was named the "Best Film" at the 1986 Hong Kong Film Awards.^[26] In 1987, Chan played "Asian Hawk," an Indiana Jones-esque character, in the film Armour of God. The film was Chan's biggest domestic box office success up to that point, grossing over HK $35 million.^[27]

Acclaimed sequels and Hollywood breakthrough: 1988–1998[link]

In 1988 Chan starred alongside Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao for the last time to date, in the film Dragons Forever. Hung co-directed with Corey Yuen, and the villain in the film was played by Yuen Wah, both of whom were fellow graduates of the China Drama Academy.

In the late 1980s and early 90s, Chan starred in a number of successful sequels beginning with Police Story 2, which won the award for Best Action Choreography at the 1989 Hong Kong Film Awards. This was followed by Armour of God II: Operation Condor, and Police Story 3: Super Cop, for which Chan won the Best Actor Award at the 1993 Golden Horse Film Festival. In 1994, Chan reprised his role as Wong Fei-hung in Drunken Master II, which was listed in Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies.^[28] Another sequel, Police Story 4: First Strike, brought more awards and domestic box office success for Chan, but did not fare as well in foreign markets.^[29] Jackie Chan rekindled his Hollywood ambitions in the 1990s, but refused early offers to play villains in Hollywood films to avoid being typecast in future roles. For example, Sylvester Stallone offered him the role of Simon Phoenix, a criminal in the futuristic film Demolition Man. Chan declined and the role was taken by Wesley Snipes.^[30]

Chan finally succeeded in establishing a foothold in the North American market in 1995 with a worldwide release of Rumble in the Bronx, attaining a cult following in the United States that was rare for Hong Kong movie stars.^[31] The success of Rumble in the Bronx led to a 1996 release of Police Story 3: Super Cop in the United States under the title Supercop, which grossed a total of US $16,270,600. Jackie's first huge blockbuster success came when he co-starred with Chris Tucker in the 1998 buddy cop action comedy Rush Hour,^[32] grossing US$130 million in the United States alone.^[17] This film made a star of Jackie Chan, in Hollywood. As a publicity stunt, Jackie also wrote his autobiography in collaboration with Jeff Yang entitled I Am Jackie Chan.

Fame in Hollywood and Dramatization: 1999–2007[link]

In 1998, Chan released his final film for Golden Harvest, Who Am I?. After leaving Golden Harvest in 1999, he produced and starred alongside Shu Qi in Gorgeous a romantic comedy that focused on personal relationships and featured only a few martial arts sequences.^[33] Chan then helped create a PlayStation game in 2000 called Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, to which he lent his voice and performed the motion capture.^[34] He continued his Hollywood success in 2000 when he teamed up with Owen Wilson in the Western action comedy Shanghai Noon which spawned the sequel Shanghai Knights (2003). He reunited with Chris Tucker for Rush Hour 2 (2001) which was an even bigger success than the original grossing $347 million worldwide. He experimented with special effects with The Tuxedo (2002) and The Medallion (2003) which were not as successful critically or commercially. In 2004 he teamed up with Steve Coogan in the big-budget loose adaptation of Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days.

Despite the success of the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon films, Chan became frustrated with Hollywood over the limited range of roles and lack of control over the film-making process.^[35] In response to Golden Harvest's withdrawal from the film industry in 2003, Chan started his own film production company, JCE Movies Limited (Jackie Chan Emperor Movies Limited) in association with Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG).^[17] His films have since featured an increasing number of dramatic scenes while continuing to succeed at the box office; examples include New Police Story (2004), The Myth (2005) and the hit film Rob-B-Hood (2006).^[36][37][38]

Chan's next release was the third installment in the Rush Hour series: Rush Hour 3 in August 2007. It grossed US$255 million.^[39] However, it was a disappointment in Hong Kong, grossing only HK$3.5 million during its opening weekend.^[40]

New experiments and change in style: 2008–present[link]

Filming of The Forbidden Kingdom (released in 2008), Chan's first onscreen collaboration with fellow Chinese actor Jet Li, was completed on 24 August 2007 and the film was released in April 2008. The film featured heavy use of effects and wires.^[41][42] Chan voiced the character Master Monkey in the DreamWorks Animation film, Kung Fu Panda, released in June 2008, appearing with stars Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie.^[43] In addition, he has assisted Anthony Szeto in an advisory capacity for the writer-director's film Wushu, released on 1 May 2008. The film stars Sammo Hung and Wang Wenjie as father and son.^[44]

In November 2007, Chan began filming Shinjuku Incident, a dramatic role featuring no martial arts sequences with director Derek Yee, which sees Chan take on the role of a Chinese immigrant in Japan.^[45] The film was released on 2 April 2009. According to his blog, Chan discussed his wishes to direct a film after completing Shinjuku Incident, something he has not done for a number of years.^[46] The film is expected to be the third in the Armour of God series, and has a working title of Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac. Chan had completed shooting the movie and will be released on 12.12.12.^[47] Because the Screen Actors Guild did not go on strike, Chan started shooting his next Hollywood movie The Spy Next Door at the end of October in New Mexico.^[48] In The Spy Next Door, Chan plays an undercover agent whose cover is blown when he looks after the children of his girlfriend. In Little Big Soldier, Chan stars, alongside Leehom Wang in a non-martial arts comedy movie based on the Warring States Period.

On 22 June 2009, Chan left Los Angeles to begin filming The Karate Kid, a remake of the 1984 original, in Beijing.^[49] The film was released in America on 11 June 2010 and sees Chan's first dramatic American film. In the film, he plays Mr. Han, a kung fu master and maintenance man who teaches Jaden Smith's character, Dre, kung-fu so he can defend himself from school bullies. In Chan's next movie, Shaolin, he plays the cook of the temple instead of one of the major characters.

Jackie Chan's 100th film 1911 was released on 26 September 2011. He is the co-director, executive producer, and lead star of the movie.^[50] While Chan has directed over ten films over his career, this is his first directorial work in over ten years, since Jackie Chan's Who Am I? in 1998. 1911 premiered in North America on 14 October.^[51]

Jackie Chan won the Favorite Buttkicker award at the Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards in 2011 for The Karate Kid.^[52] While at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Chan announced that he was retiring from action films citing that he was getting too old for the genre. He later clarified that he would not be completely retiring from action films, but would be performing fewer stunts and taking care of his body more.^[53]

Stunts[link]

Jackie Chan has performed most of his own stunts throughout his film career, which are choreographed by the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. He has stated in interviews that the primary inspiration for his more comedic stunts were films such as The General directed by and starring Buster Keaton, who was also known to perform his own stunts. Since its establishment in 1983, Chan has used the team in all his subsequent films to make choreographing easier, given his understanding of each member's abilities.^[54] Chan and his team undertake many of the stunts performed by other characters in his films, shooting the scenes so that their faces are obscured.^[55]

The dangerous nature of his stunts makes it difficult for Chan to get insurance, especially in the United States, where his stunt work is contractually limited.^[55] Chan holds the Guinness World Record for "Most Stunts By A Living Actor", which emphasizes "no insurance company will underwrite Chan's productions, in which he performs all his own stunts".^[56] In addition, he holds an unrecognised record for the most number of takes for a single shot in a film, having shot over 2900 retakes for a complex scene involving a Jianzi game in Dragon Lord.^[57]

Chan has been injured numerous times attempting stunts; many of them have been shown as outtakes or as bloopers during the closing credits of his films. He came closest to death filming Armour of God, when he fell from a tree and fractured his skull. Over the years, Chan has dislocated his pelvis and broken his fingers, toes, nose, both cheekbones, hips, sternum, neck, ankle and ribs on numerous occasions.^[58][59] Promotional materials for Rumble in the Bronx emphasized that Chan performed all of the stunts, and one version of the movie poster even diagrammed his many injuries.

Filmography and screen persona[link]

Jackie Chan at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

Jackie Chan created his screen persona as a response to Bruce Lee, and the numerous imitators who appeared before and after Lee's death. In contrast to Lee's characters, who were typically stern, morally upright heroes, Chan plays well-meaning, slightly foolish regular guys (often at the mercy of their friends, girlfriends or families) who always triumph in the end despite the odds.^[14] Additionally, Chan has stated that he deliberately styles his movement to be the opposite of Lee's: where Lee held his arms wide, Chan holds his tight to the body; where Lee was loose and flowing, Chan is tight and choppy. Despite the success of the Rush Hour series, Chan has stated that he is not a fan of it since he neither appreciates the action scenes in the movie, nor understands American humour.^[60]

In recent years, the aging Chan grew tired of being typecast as an action hero, prompting him to act with more emotion in his latest films.^[61] In New Police Story, he portrayed a character suffering from alcoholism and mourning his murdered colleagues.^[62] To further shed the image of Mr. Nice Guy, Chan played an anti-hero for the first time in Rob-B-Hood starring as Thongs, a burglar with gambling problems.^[63]

Television work[link]

In 2000, Chan hosted a fictionalized version of himself in the animated series Jackie Chan Adventures, which ran until 2005.^[64]

In July 2008, the BTV reality television series entitled The Disciple (simplified Chinese: 龙的传人; traditional Chinese: 龍的傳人, lit. "Disciple of the Dragon") concluded. The series was produced by, and featured Jackie Chan. The aim of the program was to find a new star, skilled in acting and martial arts, to become Chan's "successor" and student in filmmaking. Contestants were trained by Jackie Chan Stunt Team members Alan Wu and He Jun and competed in various fields, including explosion scenes, high-altitude wire-suspension, gunplay, car stunts, diving, obstacles courses etc. The regular judges on the program were He Ping, Wu Yue and Cheng Pei Pei. Guest judges include Stanley Tong, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The "Finals" began on 5 April 2008, with 16 contestants remaining, and concluded on 26 June 2008. Amongst those in attendance were Tsui Hark, John Woo, Ng See Yuen and Yu Rongguang.

The winner of the series was Jack Tu (Tu Sheng Cheng). Along with runners up Yang Zheng and Jerry Liau, Tu is now set to star in three modern Chinese action films, one of which was scripted by Chan, and all three will be co-produced by Chan and his company JCE Movies Limited. The films will be entitled Speedpost 206, Won't Tell You and Tropical Tornado and will be directed by Xie Dong, Jiang Tao and Cai Rong Hui. All 16 finalists will be given the opportunity to work on the films, or to join the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. Production on the first film is due to begin in September 2008. In addition, the finalists will be given roles in a forthcoming BTV action series.^[65][66][67]

Music career[link]

Jackie Chan had vocal lessons whilst at the Peking Opera School in his childhood. He began producing records professionally in the 1980s and has gone on to become a successful singer in Hong Kong and Asia. He has released 20 albums since 1984 and has performed vocals in Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Taiwanese and English. He often sings the theme songs of his films, which play over the closing credits. Chan's first musical recording was "Kung Fu Fighting Man", the theme song played over the closing credits of The Young Master (1980).^[68] At least 10 of these recordings have been released on soundtrack albums for the films.^[62][69] His Cantonese song Story of a Hero (英雄故事) (theme song of Police Story) was selected by the Royal Hong Kong Police and incorporated into their recruitment advertisement in 1994.^[70]

Chan voiced the character of Shang in the Chinese release of the Walt Disney animated feature, Mulan (1998). He also performed the song "I'll Make a Man Out of You", for the film's soundtrack. For the US release, the speaking voice was performed by B.D. Wong and the singing voice was done by Donny Osmond.

In 2007, Chan recorded and released the song "We Are Ready", the official one-year countdown song to the 2008 Summer Olympics. He performed the song at a ceremony marking the one-year countdown to the 2008 Summer Paralympics.^[71]

The day before the Beijing Olympics opened, Chan released one of the two official Olympics albums, Official Album for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – Jackie Chan's Version, which featured a number of special guest appearances.^[72] Chan, along with Andy Lau, Liu Huan and Wakin (Emil) Chau, performed "Hard to Say Goodbye", the farewell song for the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.^[73]

Image and celebrity status[link]

Jackie Chan has received worldwide recognition for his acting, having won several awards including an Innovator Award from the American Choreography Awards and a lifetime achievement award from the Taurus World Stunt Awards.^[74] He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars.^[75] Despite considerable box office success in The Northsouth Territories, Chan's American films have been criticised with regard to their action choreography. Reviewers of Rush Hour 2, The Tuxedo, and Shanghai Knights criticised the toning down of Chan's fighting scenes, citing less intensity compared to his earlier films.^[76][77][78] The comedic value of his films is questioned; some critics stated it can be childish at times.^[79]

Jackie Chan's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Chan is a cultural icon, having been referenced in Ash's song "Kung Fu", Heavy Vegetable's "Jackie Chan Is a Punk Rocker", Leehom Wang's "Long Live Chinese People", as well as in "Jackie Chan" by Frank Chickens, and television shows Celebrity Deathmatch and Family Guy. He has been the inspiration for manga such as Dragon Ball (including a character with the alias "Jackie Chun"),^[80] the character Lei Wulong in Tekken and the fighting-type Pokémon Hitmonchan.^[81][82][83] In addition, Jackie Chan has a sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi Motors. As a result, Mitsubishi cars can be found in a number of Jackie Chan films. Furthermore, Mitsubishi honoured Chan by launching Evolution, a limited series of cars which he personally customised.^[84][85][86]

A number of video games have featured Jackie Chan. Before Stuntmaster, Chan already had a game of his own, Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu, released in 1990 for the PC-Engine and NES. In 1995, Chan was featured in the arcade fighting game Jackie Chan The Kung-Fu Master. In addition, a series of Japanese Jackie Chan games were released on the MSX by Pony, based on several of his films (Project A, Project A 2, Police Story, The Protector and Wheels On Meals).^[87]

Chan has always wanted to be a role model to children, remaining popular with them due to his good-natured acting style. He has refused to play villains and has almost never used the word "fuck" in his films (He's only said that word in two films, The Protector and Burn, Hollywood, Burn), but in Rush Hour, in an attempt to be "cool" and imitate his partner Carter, who said "What's up, my nigga?" to a club of black men, he said the same thing when Carter was in another room and they all attacked him, so he had to pull out his fighting skills to beat them down and escape.^[88] Chan's greatest regret in life is not having received proper education,^[89] inspiring him to fund educational institutions around the world. He funded the construction of the Jackie Chan Science Centre at the Australian National University^[90] and the establishment of schools in poor regions of China.^[91]

Chan is a spokesperson for the Government of Hong Kong, appearing in public service announcements. In a Clean Hong Kong commercial, he urged the people of Hong Kong to be more considerate with regards to littering, a problem that has been widespread for decades.^[92] Furthermore, in an advertisement promoting nationalism, he gave a short explanation of the March of the Volunteers, the national anthem of the People's Republic of China.^[93] When Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005, Chan participated in the opening ceremony.^[94] In the United States, Chan appeared alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in a government advert to combat copyright infringement and made another public service announcement with Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca to encourage people, especially Asians, to join the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.^[95][96]

Construction has begun on a Jackie Chan museum in Shanghai. Work began in July 2008, and although it was scheduled to be completed on October 2009, construction continues as of January 2010.^[97]

Controversies[link]

During a news conference in Shanghai on 28 March 2004, Chan referred to the recently concluded Republic of China presidential election, 2004 in Taiwan, in which Democratic Progressive Party candidates Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu were re-elected as President and Vice-President as "the biggest joke in the world."^[98] Chan's comments were criticized by Parris Chang, a Taiwanese legislator and senior member of the DPP, who called for the government of Taiwan to take punitive steps against Chan for his comments, such as banning his movies and barring him the right to visit Taiwan.^[99] Some 50 police and security personnel were required to separate protesters from Chan, as they were attempting to spit at him when he arrived at Taipei airport for a charity sponsored by cable TV channel TVBS on 18 June 2008.^[100] Chan insisted that his remarks were not intended to insult the people of Taiwan.^[101]

Jackie Chan at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival

Referring to his participation in the torch relay for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chan spoke out against demonstrators who disrupted the relay several times attempting to draw attention to a wide-ranging number of grievances against the Chinese government, including China's human rights record and the political status of Taiwan. He warned that he would lash out against anyone planning to stop him from carrying the Olympic Torch, saying, "Demonstrators better not get anywhere near me." In addition, Chan felt that the protesters were publicity seekers. "They are doing it for no reason. They just want to show off on the TV," he said. "They know, 'if I can get the torch, I can go on the TV for the world news'." Chan felt the country was trying to improve and the Olympics is a chance for the country to open up and learn from the outside world and vice versa. "We are not right about everything. Things are getting better in China but we can change and are changing. We want to learn from the rest of the world as well as teach others about our ways and our culture."^[102]

On 18 April 2009, during a panel discussion at the annual Boao Forum for Asia titled "Tapping into Asia's Creative Industry Potential," Chan said "...in the 10 years after Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule, I can gradually see, I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not."^[103] Chan went on to say, "If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic." He also 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." Chan however complained about the quality of Chinese goods, saying, "...a Chinese TV might explode."^[104] but refrained from criticizing the Chinese government for banning his 2009 film Shinjuku Incident.^[105] Chan's comments prompted an angry response from some legislators and other prominent figures in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Hong Kong Legislator Leung Kwok-hung said that Chan "insulted the Chinese people. Chinese people aren't pets."^[106] The Hong Kong Tourism Board stated that it had received 164 comments and complaints from the public over Chan's remarks.^[107] A spokesman for Chan told reporters that the actor was referring to freedom in the entertainment industry rather than Chinese society at large and that certain people with "ulterior motives deliberately misinterpreted what he said."^[108]

On 24 August 2010, Jackie Chan tweeted about the botched rescue operation on the Manila hostage crisis that left 8 Hong Kong tourists dead. Although saddened by the news, he also tweeted "If they killed the guy sooner, they will say why not negotiate first? If they negotiate first, they ask why not kill the guy sooner?"^{[109][110][111][112]} Chan's comments caused outrage in Hong Kong. Several anti-Jackie Chan groups were set up on Facebook with tens of thousands of supporters. Some fellow actors and directors told local newspapers that they were also upset by his remarks. Chan reportedly has business interests in the Philippines. He issued a statement on 27 August 2010 apologizing for his comments and claiming that his assistant who helped him post the tweets had misunderstood the meaning of his original message.^[113]

Entrepreneurship and philanthropy[link]

In addition to his film production and distribution company, JCE Movies Limited, Jackie Chan also owns or co-owns the production companies JC Group China, Jackie & Willie Productions^[114] (with Willie Chan) and Jackie & JJ Productions.^[115]

Chan has also put his name to Jackie Chan Theater International, a cinema chain in China, co-run by Hong Kong company Sparkle Roll Group Ltd. The first—Jackie Chan-Yaolai International Cinema—opened in February 2010, and is claimed to be the largest cinema complex in China, with 17 screens and 3,500 seats. Chan expressed his hopes that the size of the venue would afford young, non-commercial directors the opportunity to have their films screened. 15 further cinemas in the chain are planned for 2010, throughout Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, with a potential total of 65 cinemas throughout the country proposed.^[116][117]

In 2004, Chan launched his own line of clothing, which bears a Chinese dragon logo and the English word "Jackie", or the initials "JC".^[118] Chan also has a number of other branded businesses. His sushi restaurant chain, Jackie's Kitchen, has outlets throughout Hong Kong, as well as seven in South Korea and one in Hawaii, with plans to open another in Las Vegas. Jackie Chan's Cafe has outlets in Beijing, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and the Philippines. Other ventures include Jackie Chan Signature Club gyms (a partnership with California Fitness), and a line of chocolates, cookies and nutritional oatcakes. He also hopes to expand into furniture and kitchenware, and is also considering a branded supermarket.^[119] With each of his businesses, a percentage of the profits goes to various charities, including the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation.

Chan is a keen philanthropist and a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, having worked tirelessly to champion charitable works and causes. He has campaigned for conservation, against animal abuse and has promoted disaster relief efforts for floods in mainland China and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.^{[5][120][121]} In June 2006, he announced the donation of half his assets to charity upon his death, citing his admiration of the effort made by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to help those in need.^[122] On 10 March 2008, Chan was the guest of honour for the launch, by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, of the Jackie Chan Science Centre at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University in Canberra. Jackie Chan is also a supporter of the Save China's Tigers project which aims at saving the endangered South China Tiger through breeding and releasing them into the wild; he is currently an ambassador for this conservation project.^[123] Chan has many historic artifacts, such as old door frames from 2000 years ago. He also owns the Jinricksha Station in Singapore.

19 January 2011 Jackie Chan joins U.S. President Barack Obama for the welcome of President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao to the White House state dinner.

In April 2008, Jackie Chan was invited for the audio launch of an Indian film, entitled Dasavathaaram (2008) in Chennai (Madras), where he shared the dais with Indian celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan, Mammootty and Kamal Hassan. Though he did not understand a word of Tamil, Chan was touched by the Indian community's love for him and his films, and was impressed with the movie Dasavathaaram, expressing a keen interest in working with the star of the film, Kamal Hassan. Hassan himself reciprocated the desire to work with the action superstar, urging Chan to keep his promise of working with him on a possible film project.

Following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Chan donated RMB ¥10 million to help those in need. In addition, he is planning to make a film about the Chinese earthquake to raise money for survivors.

In response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Jackie Chan and fellow Hong Kong-based celebrities, including American rapper Jin, headlined a special three-hour charity concert, titled Artistes 311 Love Beyond Borders, on 1 April 2011 to help with Japan's disaster recovery effort,^[124] where Jackie Chan addressed the victims of the earthquake and tsunami by saying: "You will not be alone, we will be by your side".^[125] The concert raised over $3.3 million dollars in just three hours for disaster relief.^[126]

Chan also holds guest lectures at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Art of Fudan University, Shanghai.

The Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation[link]

Founded in 1988, the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation offers scholarships and active help to Hong Kong's young people through a variety of worthy causes. Over the years, the foundation has broadened its scope to include provision of medical services, aid to victims of natural disaster or illness, and projects where the major beneficiaries are Hong Kong people or organizations. Major donation projects of The Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation:

• The Jackie Chan Gymnasium at Lingnan University
• The Jackie Chan Challenge Cup Intercollegiate Invitation Tournament
• The Jackie Chan Family Unit, Hong Kong Girl Guides Association Jockey Club Beas River Lodge
• The Jackie Chan Whole Person Development Center
• Renovation of the Bethanie Site, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
• Medical Funding in mainland China (Operation Smile)^[127]
• Medical Donation in Hong Kong (Queen Mary Hospital, SARS Relief)
• Support for the Performing Arts
• Youth Development Programs

The Dragon's Heart Foundation[link]

The Dragon's Heart Foundation was founded in 2005 to fulfill the desperate needs of children and the elderly in remote areas of China. Since 2005, the Dragon's Heart Foundation has built over a dozen schools, provided books, fees, and uniforms, and has raised millions of dollars to give much-needed educational opportunities for the poor. In addition, the Dragon's Heart Foundation provides for the elderly with donations of warm clothing, wheelchairs, and other items. Jackie often travels to the remote locations to attend groundbreakings or school openings, and to lend support and encouragement.

Awards and nominations[link]

• American Choreography Awards^[128]
• 8th American Choreography Innovator Awards - Won
• Asia-Pacific Film Festival
• 1993 Asia-Pacific Film Lifetime Achievement Award - Won
• 2005 Asia-Pacific Film Special Jury Award - Won
• International Indian Film Academy Awards
• 2000 Special Award for Global Impact - Won
• Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
• 1999 Favorite Duo - Action/Adventure (for Rush Hour) - Won
• 2001 Favorite Action Team (for Shanghai Noon) - Nominated
• Cinequest Film Festival
• 1998 Maverick Spirit Award - Won
• Daytime Emmy Awards
• 2002 Performer In An Animated Program (for Jackie Chan Adventures) - Nominated
• Fant-Asia Film Festival
• 1997 Best Asian Film (for Drunken Master II) - Won (shared with Chia-Liang Liu)
• Golden Horse Film Festival
• 1992 Best Actor (for Police Story 3: Super Cop) - Won
• 1993 Best Actor (for Zhong an zu) - Won
• Golden Phoenix Awards
• 2005 Outstanding Contribution Award - Won
• Golden Rooster Awards
• 2005 Best Actor (for New Police Story) - Won
• Hollywood Film Festival
• 1999 Actor of the Year - Won
• Hong Kong Film Awards
• 1983 Best Action Choreography (for Dragon Lord) - Nominated (shared with Hark-On Fung and Yuen Kuni)
• 1985 Best Actor (for Project A) - Nominated
• 1986 Best Director (for Police Story) - Nominated
• 1986 Best Actor (for Police Story) - Nominated
• 1986 Best Actor (for Heart of Dragon) - Nominated
• 1989 Best Picture (for Rouge) - Won
• 1990 Best Actor (for Miracles) - Nominated
• 1993 Best Actor (for Supercop) - Nominated
• 1994 Best Actor (for Crime Story) - Nominated
• 1994 Best Action Choreography (for Crime Story) - Nominated
• 1996 Best Actor (for Rumble in the Bronx) - Nominated
• 1996 Best Action Choreography (for Rumble in the Bronx) - Won
• 1997 Best Actor (for Dragon Lord) - Nominated
• 1999 Best Actor (for Who Am I?) - Nominated
• 1999 Best Action Choreography (for Who Am I?) - Won
• 2000 Best Action Choreography (for Gorgeous) - Nominated (shared with Jackie Chan Stunt Team)
• 2005 Best Actor (for New Police Story) - Nominated
• 2005 Professional Achievement Award - Won
• 2006 Best Original Film Song (for The Myth) - Nominated (shared with Choi Jun Young, Wang Zhong Yan, and Hee-seon Kim)
• 2006 Best Action Choreography (for The Myth) - Nominated (shared with Stanley Tong, Tak Yuen)
• 2007 Best Action Choreography (for Robin-B-Hood) - Nominated (shared with Chung Chi Li)
• 2010 Best Film (for Shinjuku Incident) - Nominated
• Hundred Flowers Awards
• 2006 Best Actor (for New Police Story) - Nominated
• Kids' Choice Awards
• 2002 Favorite Male Movie Star (for Rush Hour 2) - Nominated
• 2002 Favorite Male Action Hero (for Rush Hour 2) - Won
• 2003 Favorite Movie Actor (for The Tuxedo) - Nominated
• 2003 Favorite Male Butt Kicker (for The Tuxedo) - Won
• 2011 Favorite Butt Kicker (for The Karate Kid) - Won
• Montreal World Film Festival
• Grand Prix des Amériques - Won
• MTV Movie Awards
• 1995 Lifetime Achievement Award - Won
• 1996 Best Fight (for Rumble in the Bronx) - Nominated
• 1997 Best Fight (for Police Story 4: First Strike) - Nominated
• 1999 Best Fight (for Rush Hour) - Nominated (shared with Chris Tucker)
• 1999 Best On-Screen Duo (for Rush Hour) - Won (shared with Chris Tucker)
• 2002 Best On-Screen Team (for Rush Hour 2) - Nominated (shared with Chris Tucker)
• 2002 Best Fight (for Rush Hour 2) - Won (shared with Chris Tucker)
• 2003 Best On-Screen Team (for Shanghai Knights) - Nominated (shared with Owen Wilson)
• 2008 Best Fight (for Rush Hour 3) - Nominated (shared with Chris Tucker and Sun Mingming)
• People's Choice Awards
• 2008 Favorite On Screen Match-up (for Rush Hour 3) - Nominated (shared with Chris Tucker)
• 2011 Favorite On-Screen Team (for The Karate Kid) - Nominated (shared with Jaden Smith)
• 2011 Favorite Action Star - Won
• Shanghai International Film Festival
• 2005 Outstanding Contribution to Chinese Cinema - Won
• Teen Choice Awards
• 2002 Film - Choice Chemistry (for Rush Hour 2) - Nominated (shared with Chris Tucker)
• 2008 Choice Movie Actor: Action Adventure (for The Forbidden Kingdom) - Nominated
• Walk of Fame
• 2002 Motion Picture - Won (Star on the Walk of Fame)
• World Stunt Awards
• 2002 Taurus Honorary Award - Won