Chan: Chinese 'Need to Be Controlled'

We're not used to hearing much from Hong Kong-born Jackie Chan—we usually see him doing crazy stunts in action movies like Rush Hour. But now he's opened his mouth and set off a storm of controversy. Speaking yesterday to business leaders at the innocuous-sounding conference “Tapping into Asia's Creative Industry Potential,” Chan ranged well off topic, The Globe and Mail's Mark MacKinnon reports. Asked about censorship in the film industry, he said: “I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not. If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic.” Then came the money quote: “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.”