Jet Li, the Chinese kungfu star, has again become the center of attention, this time, not for his Best Actor prize at the 27th Hong Kong Film Awards or the world premiere of his latest film The Forbidden Kingdom co-starring Jacky Chan, but his efforts promoting the One Foundation, a charity fund he launched last April.
At a press conference in Beijing on April 17, Jet Li kept his hands folded in a Zen
gesture of thanks and said: "Film is my job but the One Foundation is my life".
He compared the foundation to a toddler still learning to walk.
"One Foundation was born on April 19 last year and now it is two days away from reaching his one-year birthday. He is stumbling to get on his own feet."
Recently, One Foundation agreed to join with Boao Forum for Asia 2008 to hold a charity forum every December in Beijing. In March, One Foundation aligned with the Huayi Brothers Film Corporation. The leading corporation in China's film industry promised to donate part of its movies' box office income to the fund over the next 10 years.
Jet Li's latest film The Forbidden Kingdom, which just held its world premiere on April 16, will be subject to this agreement. By April 15, donations had reached over 10 million yuan and the foundation invited Deloitte, one of the world's four major audit firms, to examine its accounts.
(China Daily April 22, 2008)