2006
I didn’t know whether I should begin my trip to the Philippines because of the typhoon. I planned to go to the Philippines to attend the press conference of the coffee business I had invested in, but it seemed very dangerous to go now. But if I didn’t go I would cause economic loss to the organizers. My friend prepared a private jet for me but because it was too windy I still couldn’t start my trip for safety reasons. We reserved the private jet to be on stand-by in any case.
At around 5 p.m. I was still debating whether I should take off. Later on I discovered that if I decided to go with the private jet I would need three days to apply for entry permission. Upon hearing this I could go to bed with no more concerns. I slept until around 10 p.m. and my assistant Dorothy called me to let me know we could go now. A general in the Philippines found out that I was planning to go and gave me special permission to go. If I didn’t have to go I was just going to record a videoconference for the organizers to apologize to the audience there for not being able to attend due to the typhoon. However I had to immediately set off to the private jet airport to head off to the Philippines.
To the Philippines
After the private jet had taken off I immediately regretted it, because as the plane was flying it kept shaking. As we sat in the cabin all we could hear was the plane making ‘boom…boom…boom’ sounds. If you asked me whether I was scared I can only say that it was useless to be afraid as we were already on the plane. We could only choose to go to sleep and pretend we couldn’t hear or see anything. As we were sleeping we were suddenly awakened by a huge noise. After our nerves settled, we realized that the plane had successfully landed in the Philippines.
Upon my arrival I saw that there were a lot of people picking me up, including the army. Their welcoming ceremony took me by surprise: there were 8 police motorcycles, 4 police cars, and 4 fire engines. At first they requested that I would take a picture standing in front of the fire engines but because there were too many people, the police cars escorted me to the venue.
The way the police cars opened up the road was to drive in a zigzag, traveling in a number eight format. It was to ensure that the road would be traffic free and the police cars were diving left and right to open the road up, sometimes even turning the sirens on. Even though the local government did all this special arrangement for my convenience, it made me feel conflicted and guilty. Guilty because it was all done for my convenience at the expense of other people’s inconvenience, and I also felt conflicted because I understood that if they didn’t make this arrangement I would not be able to leave the Philippines tonight as scheduled. It is a double-edged sword situation, and I would like to say to the drivers who were affected that I am sorry and I hope you understand!
With the police cars escorting and leading us we finally arrived at the venue. We immediately had a simple announcement ceremony; officially announcing that the global coffee shop I invested in is now open in the Philippines. This coffee shop chain is called “Jackie Chan Java."
Many people have asked me why I wanted to be involved in the coffee business. There wasn’t any special meaning as I am interested in a lot of things. As long as the elements fall into place I will be able to make it work. I also think that language can be limiting but coffee is one of the few things with no boundaries, like film and music, which also have no boundaries. I know people who know me would be aware that I am always actively promoting Chinese culture. I have been given this chance and I hope that through the coffee I sell, not only would I allow people who like coffee to enjoy their beverage, but to also know that I am Chinese and show more interest in China. The Philippines is the first stop, and I plan to open up twenty coffee shops first, with Singapore and China being two countries that I am in negotiations with. Some people want to open up one or two coffee shops but I didn’t want that. Importing coffee is a problem, and if I have a few more coffee shops then it would be more economically and logistically sound to import a ton of coffee. If I only open up one shop I don’t know how much coffee I should be importing, and the shipping might cost more than the coffee itself! Anyway, all of this is still in discussion, and I will inform you of new developments as they take place.
