Kong Demao, a 93-year-old descendant of Confucius and renowned calligrapher, has given her stamp of approval to Chow Yun-fat's impersonation of her ancestor.
The wheelchair-bound Kong, a 77th-generation descendant of the great man, recently visited the set of "Confucius" and greeted Chow thus: "Here comes Confucius!" A flattered Chow replied immediately: "I am only Chow Yun-fat."
Kong calls herself a fan of Chow's films and watched his performance on the set.
"His Confucius is convincing and the setting is faithful to history," she says. "I think this would be a good film to promote Confucius' thoughts across the world."
The calligrapher also wrote out the film's title and gave the piece to the crew as a gift.
Kong is still a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top advisory body to the Chinese government and a vice director of the China Confucius Foundation, an academic organization on the philosopher.
(China Daily June 10, 2009)
