The post (or ‘article’ if you want to call it that) truly speaks volumes as to the kind of person Jacky is (which of course us fans don’t need reassurance of, since we already know full well what kind of person he is…LOL) and hopefully helps non-fans and those who don’t know Jacky very well (not too many, I would think?) understand why he is so respected and revered in the industry [by both industry insiders as well as fans alike].
The other reason why I wanted to share this post is because it also gives a bit of insight into how tabloid magazines (the ones in HK at least) generally operate and reinforces why we, as audiences / the general public, should always think twice before believing anything reported in a tabloid / gossip magazine. I’m sure most long-time followers of HK entertainment know how ‘bad’ the tabloid atmosphere is in HK – the overwhelming presence of so many tabloid magazines as well as the fact that year after year we continue to see / hear about paparazzi ‘crossing the line’ when reporting on a story (among other things) is proof enough of how pervasive the situation is in HK. The description of HK tabloid reporters’ ‘tactics’ towards artists who have been ‘blacklisted’ by them (point #3) was truly an eye-opener (though actually very scary if you think about) – definitely makes me feel sorry for those in the entertainment industry in HK!
Lastly, a quick ‘thank you’ to whoever wrote this post (which was forwarded from one of Jacky’s fan clubs on Weibo) – it was definitely a very interesting and witty read!
P.S. to my fellow Jacky fans: I’m pretty sure most of you were smiling and nodding your heads in agreement as you read through this, correct? :0)
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Source: Jacky’s Fan Club on Weibo (picture / original post in Chinese to be added later)
Translated by: llwy12
Jacky Cheung in the eyes of a ‘doggie’ reporter
One of the biggest ‘gains’ from my Winter vacation this year was getting the chance to meet a ‘doggie’ reporter who worked for a certain tabloid magazine in Hong Kong. During our conversation, the subject of ‘Jacky Cheung’ came up and after our talk, I definitely gained a deeper ‘understanding’ of Jacky. At the time, I had really wanted to write up this post right away and let all of Jacky’s fans on Baidu know, but I just couldn’t find the right time to do it. As I sit down to write this now that things have settled down for me, I want to make sure it is written well and the appropriate details are included. In delaying my writing of this post, I hope people don’t feel that I’m trying to be ‘suspenseful’, as that is not my intention – I simply want to relay what I want to say in a responsible manner. Please allow me to slowly recount the story.
My aunt’s family immigrated to HK in the late 1970s. I live in Guangzhou [China] and would occasionally visit my aunt and her family in HK. In recent years, with the application process for traveling to HK being a lot more simplified, the visits increased in frequency – however it wasn’t until this year that I found out that my cousin [aunt’s daughter] is good friends with a reporter from a certain tabloid magazine [in HK]. That day, in the afternoon, we [my cousin and I] went shopping with this friend [the reporter] and in the afternoon, we decided to go for tea at Langham Place. Of course, as we talked, I took the opportunity to ask about Jacky.
Below, I’ve taken what ‘the friend’ told me and summarized it into a few main points:
1) The ‘doggies’ [paparazzi] don’t have much interest in Jacky. From a gossip magazine’s perspective, Jacky is not really ‘newsworthy’. With Jacky being a ‘homebody’ who rarely leaves the house and his words as well as actions always respectable and appropriate, there really isn’t much to ‘pick on’. There is nothing really to ‘discover’ with him.
2) The ‘doggies’ are actually a little bit ‘afraid’ of Jacky. The friend’s exact words were actually: “If we were to go try and take pictures of his [Jacky’s] family, he truly would fight us at all costs!” [TN: in Cantonese, the reporter used the words “死過”, which is more appropriately worded as “拼命” in Mandarin]. There are actually quite a few ‘doggies’ who do know that their actions generally ‘cross the line’ and so in their hearts, feel guilty about it. Therefore, most of them usually won’t want to ‘irritate’ Jacky over such matters [taking pictures of his family].
3) Jacky has such good standing and reputation in the industry that none of the Media outlets [newspapers and magazines] have him on any of their ‘blacklists’, which means that he is not a ‘target’ for these Media to go against. The way things work is: once a celebrity has been placed on a ‘blacklist’, he/she becomes a ‘target’ for the magazine / paper to focus on – if the celebrity is a female, then some of the tactics would be to take ‘revealing’ pictures of them or catch them at their ‘worst’ physical state, such as when they have a bad complexion, or when they’re making some type of face, rolling their eyes, etc. If the celebrity is a male, then if he is particularly ‘close’ with another male, then they could bring up ‘sexual orientation’ or if he has a good relationship with a lot of females, then they could say that he is ‘fickle’ in love relationships….basically, they [the ‘doggies’] can use all sorts of different methods to ‘create’ news about the person. Jacky himself is not a ‘target of interest’ for them – therefore, unless they receive some sort of ‘secret report’, otherwise they generally will not follow him around and photograph him on their own accord.
4) Even if Jacky is ‘mentioned’ in the magazines / papers, the reports are usually done in an amiable, cordial fashion. When reporting on him, most of them usually remove the ‘Cheung’ [his last name] and other formalities and directly refer to him as ‘Hok Yau (Jacky)’. They also rarely say anything negative about Jacky.
Awhile back ago, when Grasshopper’s Calvin Choy (蔡一智) got married, he invited many people to his wedding – even people who he was not particularly familiar with or close to. Even though Calvin was not very close with Jacky, he still invited him to the wedding. Later on, the ‘doggies’ found out from the hotel that helped arrange the wedding that not only did Jacky personally attend the wedding to congratulate the couple, he also gave them a ‘hefty’ red envelope as a gift – the [hotel] people commented: “The red envelope that Jacky gave was already enough to pay for several tables!” Jacky is known for being a very nice, generous person and is truly very good to all his friends – towards the ‘red envelope’ situation, some people felt it was a little unfair and said: “Jacky shouldn’t need to be so nice and so generous to someone that he is not that familiar with!” (Haha, hearing this makes me quite happy).
5) Jacky and May May [his wife] celebrated their wedding anniversary by going out to dinner at a restaurant – some reporters followed them and were even able to get a hold of their ‘menu’ for that night, publishing the ‘details’ of the food they ordered in the magazine. They [the reporters] feel that May May generally has a bit of a ‘cold’ personality and usually her face is expressionless, however Jacky always has a way of making her smile sweetly. (Of course – it should go without saying! Haha.). May May calls Jacky ‘Daddy’ just like their daughters do and it feels that the two of them always have endless topics to talk about.
6) The ‘doggies’ have a bit of a ‘love/hate’ attitude toward Jacky. The ‘hate’ is because if all artists in the entertainment industry were similar to Jacky, then all the ‘doggies’ would be out of jobs. The ‘love’ is because the ‘doggies’ themselves naturally have a lot of respect for Jacky’s character and actually love listening to his songs. With so many ‘newcomers’ to the industry, there are all different levels of ‘stars’ [celebrities] that the ‘doggies’ encounter. Because the ‘doggies’ constantly interact with the celebrities, they generally are pretty familiar with their [the celebrities] backgrounds – of course, sometimes being ‘fake’ or ‘real’ can be part of a celebrity’s image, but in the industry, there are some celebrities who are “truly NOT good people”. The ‘truly good people’ such as Jacky are very rare nowadays, so even the ‘doggies’ can’t help but develop a certain amount of respect for Jacky, even if they are not aware of it themselves.
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