In November 2023, after news of his death was reported for the nth time, Jet Li appeared in Taiwan Province and said that he was "not dead yet."
This time it is to promote the new book "Beyond Life and Death". Jet Li will be 60 years old in 2023. He has compiled most of his life experiences into a book. Although most of the content revolves around Buddhism, the book reveals a rather shocking detail. It was his youngest daughter who had shown signs of depression since she was 7 years old, and had already attempted suicide when she was 13 years old.
For many years, Jet Li's health problems have been a topic of public discussion. In addition to the "death news" from time to time, there are also his real experiences of brushing against death many times, as well as his attitude towards death.
In conjunction with the release of the new book, Jet Li also said that he has made arrangements for his wife's funeral and will not erect a monument or hold a funeral after his death. Now he has spoken out about his daughter's depression, which has also confused people. It seems to everyone that he has both fame and wealth, a beautiful wife and wealth, and what has happened to this martial arts star in these years. Looking like a disaster?
Jet Li and his wife Li Zhi have always been a mysterious couple in the industry. They often live abroad and rarely appear in public, especially Li Zhi. Since they got married in the 1990s, they seem to have become the "" Missing Actress", and Jet Li is currently semi-retired and living in seclusion.
However, the two of them do carry the most colorful and complex period of the Hong Kong entertainment industry in the 1980s and 1990s, with many stories.
Today we are going to explore some of the contents of Jet Li's new book, talk about the story between him and Li Zhi, and see how this former "Kung Fu Emperor" lived his sixty years of life.
From Beijing Sports School to Hong Kong Film Industry
Jet Li was born in Beijing in 1963 from a poor family. His father died when he was 2 years old, and his mother raised his brothers and sisters.
Jet Li recalled his poor childhood life in the book, "My father passed away on duty when I was two years old. At that time, the government subsidized each child in our family ten yuan a month, and five children received fifty yuan, plus my mother's monthly salary of four. Ten yuan, a total of ninety yuan. We have to support our grandparents and our children. Our family is very poor."
My mother worked hard for a year and saved 30 yuan to buy some meat for her children in the new year. They ate them, but they were all stolen by thieves. Her mother cried very sadly. Jet Li said, "I have never seen my mother look so sad and desperate." He truly realized how poor his family was, and secretly vowed to make a lot of money in the future.
▲ Jet Li and his mother.
In 1970, 7-year-old Jet Li was selected to enter the Shichahai Amateur Sports School in Beijing. The motivation at the time was very simple. The children in the sports school were well fed and had no shortage of meat, eggs and milk, because at that time, the country's sports resources were tilted towards Olympic sports.
Jet Li was very talented and extremely smart. Coach Wu Bin recalled: "Jet Li was selected from at least more than 1,000 people." After that, after a long and arduous training, he stood out and won the national championship.
"Martial Arts" magazine commented: "Jet Li's skills are solid and comprehensive. He is very skilled in knife, spear, stick, sword, fist and foot sparring. Among them, knife and boxing are especially the best, reaching the level of perfection."
Xiaoxiao He went abroad to compete at a young age, and the most eye-catching event was his visit to the United States with the Chinese delegation in 1974, where he performed for the President in front of the White House. After the performance, Nixon took a photo with him: "Kid, your kung fu is impressive. When you grow up, will you be my bodyguard?" Jet Li replied loudly: "No, I want to protect hundreds of millions of people in China!"
Here first Here are two interesting things. First, Beijing Shichahai Amateur Sports School is the cradle of stars. The first generation superstar was Jet Li. In 1978, a 15-year-old boy from Hong Kong came to Beijing Shichahai Sports School to learn martial arts and became Jet Li’s Junior brother, he is Donnie Yen.
According to Donnie Yen, Jet Li was very famous in the sports school back then. He was a legend as he won the national martial arts all-around championship for five consecutive times.Donnie Yen was a teenager in Hong Kong at that time. His Mandarin was poor, he had difficulty communicating with his classmates, and he had few friends. He was a marginalized figure in the sports school. Donnie Yen only met Li twice, and the two never spoke.
▲Although Jet Li and Donnie Yen are of the same age, in terms of generational popularity, they actually belong to two generations. Jet Li became popular in the 1980s, while Donnie Yen only became popular in the 1990s when he played Once Upon a Time that Jet Li could not play. Familiar.
Later on, Donnie Yen gradually became a big star, but one shadow of him was that he was never able to break through Jet Li's status in the world. There were also several times when the media ridiculed "Donnie Yen was beaten to the bone by Jet Li" and the like.
The third star of Beijing Shichahai Amateur Sports School is Wu Jing. He completely copied Jet Li's path to fame. He joined the Beijing Wushu Team in 1989 and won the National Wushu Competition Elite Spearmanship and Sparring Championship in 1994.
In 1995, director Zhang Xinyan, who made Jet Li famous that year, selected him among many martial arts athletes to star in his first movie "The Kung Fu Kid", and Wu Jing entered the entertainment industry.
Therefore, "Gong Shou Tao" filmed by Jack Ma in 2017 can be said to be a team-building program of Shichahai Sports School.
▲In this self-financed micro-movie by Jack Ma, he slashed at the young master with his palm, beat Wu Jing with a stick, narrowly defeated Zi Dan, and fought Jet Li for 300 rounds.
The second thing to mention is that during these ten years in the sports school, Jet Li completed his first marriage. The other party was Huang Qiuyan, who was his senior sister. She usually took good care of him, and was especially loved by Jet Li's mother. .
Newspaper reports of that year:
In the martial arts school, Jet Li always had low self-esteem because of his poor family conditions and did not communicate with other people. Huang Qiuyan noticed this junior brother. Out of sympathy and pity, she often chatted with Jet Li, slowly opening up his heart of inferiority.
She took him home and asked her mother to prepare delicious food for him. She also took time to go to his house and help his mother with work. The mother asked her daughter why she did this. She said seriously: "His family is in trouble, shouldn't we help him?"
▲ Jet Li and Huang Qiuyan at home in Beijing.
Jet Li said that the ten years he spent in sports school were a decade of sexual repression, especially when he was a teenager. He lived in a dormitory where "there were people everywhere" and had no privacy. When he returned home, he slept in the same bed with his mother and brother.
Huang Qiuyan is a virtuous woman who treats Jet Li well, and Jet Li also fell in love for the first time, "I thought that was love", "I thought it was it", and the two fell in love immediately.
▲ Jet Li talked about his ex-wife Huang Qiuyan in "A Date with Lu Yu", and the micro-expressions between him and Lu Yu were thought-provoking.
It is worth mentioning that this relationship lasted for a long time, but Jet Li never turned it into marriage. It was not until 1987 that Jet Li faced the first low point in his life. He and Huang Qiuyan both went to the United States to open a boxing gym and had no career. Only then did he find the energy to marry Huang.
Let’s talk about Jet Li.
In 1982, Jet Li encountered the first major turning point in his life. Liao Chengzhi, then director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, had a special liking for Chinese Kung Fu. After watching the movie "Fist of Fury", he was full of praise and then asked Hong Kong Film People suggested that we should film themes about Shaolin Temple and Tai Chi to promote national self-confidence, so the movie "Shaolin Temple" began to be brewed.
Director Zhang Xinyan's Great Wall Film Company joined the "Shaolin Temple" project. He proposed to select actors from martial arts athletes. It happened that Jet Li participated in the "Pan Asian, African and Latin American Table Tennis Championships" in 1973, and Zhang Xinyan happened to be present. Filming the sports-themed documentary "A Thousand Colors of Color".
10-year-old Jet Li performed a martial arts performance at the opening ceremony of the championship. At that time, Zhang Xinyan was deeply impressed by Jet Li and has never forgotten him.
▲ Jet Li and Zhang Xinyan.
When the filming of "Shaolin Temple" started in 1982, Jet Li was just 19 years old. He was top-notch in terms of body shape, appearance and strength. Therefore, he became the male protagonist "Jueyuan" of this classic movie.
It may be difficult for people today to understand how popular "Shaolin Temple" was back then? At that time, the box office of this movie reached an astonishing 161 million. You must know that the movie ticket price was only 10 cents at that time. If converted to the current price, it would be at least more than 10 billion.
In the 1980s, there were only a limited number of movies available in the Mainland. This movie had the blessing of a Hong Kong director, as well as the real skills of a tough guy and a tough horse. Coupled with the handsome and handsome Jet Li, it was really a crowd-pleaser at that time. Jet Li became an instant success. Become famous and become a proper big star. If we use the current term, it is a little fresh meat plus a traffic idol, a sure shot!
▲Restored stills, source watermark. "Shaolin Temple" brings together 24 martial arts athletes from all over the country. Thanks to these real sword and gun skills, the audience can appreciate the unique martial arts techniques such as Eagle Fist, Mantis Fist, Three-section Gun, and Nine-section Whip. The wonderful martial arts scenes have become classics. , Jet Li performed more brilliantly in it, and his handsome and cute appearance made people love him more. Therefore, like the theme song of the movie "Shepherdess", he became one of the elements that supported the spiritual world of that era, "Sunrise" Songshan Col, the morning bell frightens the birds, the creeks in the forest are gurgling, and the grass is green on the slopes..."
▲ This movie not only set off a martial arts craze in the mainland at that time, but also had a huge influence throughout East Asia. The picture shows a 4k re-release in Japan Restored version of "Shaolin Temple".
▲Wang Baoqiang also recalled that because of this movie, he dropped out of school and went to the Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts, and eventually became a group actor. Who knew that he would turn around and become a comedian, and then a big shot in the film industry, joking about the past with his idols.
▲ Jet Li has become a new star and the idol of thousands of people.
▲ Jet Li has always regarded Zhang Xinyan as his benefactor.
When "Shaolin Temple" was filmed, Jet Li was already in love with Huang Qiuyan. However, in the movie, "Bai Wuxia" played by Ding Lan was more famous. They were considered by the audience to be a match made in heaven, and there were many scandals.
▲Ding Lan was born in Zhengzhou, Henan in 1964. He was admitted to the dance training class of Henan Song and Dance Troupe at the age of 11, and was admitted to the actor class of Henan Opera School at the age of 12. At that time, Zhang Xinyan was quite troubled by the choice of the heroine "Bai Wuxia". She must be beautiful, good at martial arts, and good at acting. The martial arts instructor at the Henan Peking Opera Theater recommended Ding Lan to Zhang Xinyan. Many years later, Zhang Xinyan revealed to the media that the coach might have had some selfish motives in recommending Ding Lan because his son was trying to pursue Ding Lan at that time. Ding Lan later became popular across the country. In 1988, she also played Jia Xichun in the movie version of "A Dream of Red Mansions" (Tao Huimin played Lin Daiyu and Liu Xiaoqing played the version of Wang Xifeng). He became a Singaporean citizen in 1991 and returned to Beijing to engage in business in 2001.
▲Ding Lan said in an interview that he and Jet Li did have a good personal relationship, but they lost contact since Jet Li went to Hong Kong.
After "Shaolin Temple" became popular, Jet Li struck again while the iron was hot. In 1983 and 1984, he starred in "Shaolin Kid" and "North and South Shaolin", both of which were quite successful. Among them, "Shaolin Kid" was recommended by Jet Li, and the heroine was his girlfriend Huang Qiuyan at the time. .
became popular, and troubles followed. Jet Li's salary at that time had reached several million yuan, and he often went to Hong Kong. He was very popular and had great commercial value. However, the mainland at that time was very closed and rigid, so he worked hard to film film, but because his organizational relationship is still in the Beijing Sports School, he still gets a few dollars in dead wages. He also needs to come back to compete from time to time, which delays the filming of movies. As a superstar, his life is still very tight. This kind of fame, wealth and The huge gap in money made him quite depressed.
▲ Jet Li and Huang Qiuyan when they first arrived in Hong Kong.
At that time, Jet Li came up with a way to withdraw from the competition due to injury. The book wrote:
"Due to organizational regulations, it was impossible for me not to be called to compete. The only way was to withdraw due to injury. So, I began to persist day and night, hoping Injure yourself.Later, during practice, I really suffered a serious injury. The doctor helped me apply for a certificate of third-level disability and declared that I would be unable to continue my sports career in the future. "
Although he got what he wanted and no longer had to be an athlete, the injury was so serious that he was temporarily unable to film Kung Fu movies.
The attempt was all in vain. Jet Li was disappointed and frustrated. In 1986, he took Huang Qiuyan with him. He went to the United States and opened a boxing gym to make a living.
▲The incident of opening a boxing gym in the United States was later filmed.
During this period, he and Huang Qiuyan got married and had a daughter.
The reason for the marriage was very absurd. It was actually for good luck: “While I was recovering from illness, a master fortune teller told me that I had bad luck and needed to find a good match to get married to bring good luck. And a senior sister who is kind-hearted and treats herself well is the best choice. "Although Huang Yanqiu's parents strongly opposed it, she married Jet Li without hesitation. "
The two got married in 1987. Jet Li was only 24 years old. Their eldest daughter Li Si was born in 1988, and their second daughter Li Taimi was born in 1989.
The ridiculed "country girl" Li Zhi
When Jet Li opened a boxing gym in the United States , Mainland girl Li Zhi began to venture into the Hong Kong entertainment industry.
Li Zhi’s experience is also quite legendary. Her father Li Yongxi is a stage actor in the Guangdong South China Repertory Theater, and Li’s mother is a native of Shanghai. After they got married, they lived in In Shanghai, Li Zhi was born in 1961. Later, they divorced because of their inconsistent personalities. Li's father moved to Xi'an with his daughter.
Li Zhi studied in Qingfeng Middle School on Yuyuan Road, Shanghai and Xi'an Architectural Children's School in his early years, the latter is now Xi'an. No. 86 Middle School. This school also produced a famous person, Zhang Jiayi.
Perhaps because his parents’ marriage has been in turmoil, Li Zhi wandered around with his father. He was very rebellious when he was a child. He said that when he was seven or eight years old, he walked along the train line alone. He ran away from home and traveled from Xi'an to Guangzhou, from Guangzhou to Jiangsu, and from Jiangsu to Qingdao.
Li Zhi moved to Hong Kong with his father in 1981 and worked as a salesperson in a furniture store. In 1983, he went to the United States to study and studied economics at the University of San Francisco. . In 1986, 25-year-old Lizhi returned to Hong Kong to participate in ATV’s Miss Asia contest.
▲ Competition report of that year, picture source watermark.
To be honest, Lizhi did not have much advantage when he ran for Miss Asia. First, She is older, and 25 is indeed not young. Moreover, her Cantonese is very poor, and the Asian sister competition requires a lot of answering questions. Li Zhi's accent is very strange, which makes her miserable. .
▲ Among the many beauties, Li Zhi is definitely one of the best in terms of appearance and figure.
▲ She is not very good at Cantonese. When answering questions on stage, she often has to think about the answer while switching into Cantonese. In fact, it is extremely stressful. Big.
▲ She is beautiful and fair-skinned, with a 36F upper circumference and a beautiful collarbone. No wonder Ni Kuang called her "a rare beauty in half a century." The first movie she later guest starred in was based on Ni Kuang "Yuan Zhenxia and Wesley" adapted from the novel "Blood Curse".
Until she married Jet Li, in addition to being sexy, she was also labeled as "accented" and "local". At an awards night, Anita Mui once imitated Guo Lizhi's rustic gesture made the whole audience burst into laughter. Lizhi looked unnatural and said after taking the stage, "It's all over."
▲The description of her by the Hong Kong media at that time was quite vicious.
Although she has a rustic temperament and her Cantonese language often makes people laugh, she was praised by Ni Kuang as "a rare beauty in fifty years" during the election. The reason is very simple. Just look at this devilish figure. It really makes people's hearts beat. , so she became the champion and Miss Beauty that year.
If we look at the title of Ming Pao Weekly that year, we will know what is the most attractive feature of Lizhi.
After winning the championship, Lizhi naturally became a popular actress in the Hong Kong entertainment industry.
▲Image source watermark.
Lizhi was actually very unhappy in the Hong Kong film industry, because she played a lot of sexy roles, and she was ridiculed as a "Mainland girl", so she was often ostracized by her peers and humiliated by the audience in those years. Happened, we have written about this story before, can review here.
For example, I often play some coquettish but brainless characters:
The line reads "I know you think I'm coquettish."
Media reported that Chow Yun-fat and Eric Tsang's partnership "humiliated" Li Zhi.
▲ Lizhi’s sexy dance.
▲Dancing at the same scene was Zhong Chuhong. Because of her accent,
is often assigned to talk sessions, where she is responsible for speaking long speeches with a lot of awkward nouns. The audience is just waiting for her to embarrass her.
There is another interesting fact about Li Zhi's sexiness. In April 1990, "100% Pretty" directed by Wang Jing was released. Several beauties competed on the same scene, including Li Jiaxin, Chen Farong and others. Among them, Li Zhi was the only one. The red swimsuit stands out the most.
▲ Take a look at Michelle Reis’s baby fat period.
Those days happened to be the time when Carina Lau was kidnapped. The media headlines were all about Carina Lau. Wang Jing also said that it was Li Zhi who saved Carina Lau. Everyone was originally discussing Carina Lau's "nude photos", but now Li Zhi's swimsuit came out. , the media trend changed.
▲In April 1990, Eric Tsang and others invited Carina Lau to his home to play mahjong. On the way, Carina Lau noticed someone was following her and accelerated her car, hitting the isolation belt. Her pursuers got out of the car and abducted her. Eric Tsang and others discovered that Carina Lau had not arrived and immediately called the police. Three hours later, Carina Lau appeared at Eric Tsang's house, neatly dressed, without mentioning what happened. The next day, Carina Lau went to the police station to resolve the case. Some indecent photos leaked out regarding this matter, suspected to be Carina Lau.
▲Li Zhi and Carina Lau are actresses of the same generation.
▲Li Zhi, Carina Lau, and Rosamund Kwan acted together in the movie "A Dance of Orioles" in 1988, and the leading actor was Zheng Shaoqiu. Qiuguan was already 41 years old at that time, so he came to appreciate his ageless beauty.
▲The drama of getting wet must of course be arranged for Li Zhi. The Hong Kong movies of those years were indeed male-focused and objectified women too seriously.
Although Li Zhi has a sexy label, she is actually a very traditional and conservative woman at heart. When she appeared on Huang Zhan's "Undefended Tonight", she was asked why she never showed her waist? Li Zhi said, "I want my husband to be the first to read it";
A magazine offered to pay 20 million Hong Kong dollars for Li Zhi to take photos, but Li Zhi also refused because he was "afraid of finding a husband in the future."
The most talked about thing about Lizhi is the scandal between her and Stanley Ho. In fact, the two have not much intersection. When Lizhi came on stage at an awards show, Stanley Ho sat in the audience and watched:
The only time the two had an affair The photo that everyone has seen is the photo that everyone has seen, Li Zhi and Stanley Ho dancing:
In fact, it was in 1990, when Li Zhi took the lead in establishing the charity organization "Renmei Qingxu" and launched it. Li Zhi served as the first chairman and the big benefactor. Stanley Ho danced, and at that time Stanley Ho also danced enthusiastically with other Asian sisters.
Let me mention this "Renmei Qingxu" again. We once wrote an article about the "Huiyan Yaji", which is a charity organization composed of previous Hong Kong sisters. Its honorary president Lingling Zhu has increased its influence;
And The "Renmei Qingxu" for "Asian Sisters" is also an organization of the same nature. Li Zhi was the first president. However, Li Zhi later retired and became a married woman and made soup. The Asian Sisters lacked a representative to take over. The charitable organization disappeared into thin air.
▲Li Zhi, the first chairman of "Renmei Qingxu". Image source watermark.
In recent years, "Renmei Qingxu" has been reorganized. Every few years, the president will announce to the media that he wants to invite senior sister Li Zhi to come out again, but Li Zhi has always been mysterious and has never agreed.
The urban legend of Li Zhi and Stanley Ho is still quite mysterious. It was widely rumored that Li Zhi, the fourth wife, Anqi Liang, could not get rid of the dirt in her eyes. She thought Li Zhi was "fake and charming" and used various means to expel Li Zhi from Hong Kong. Now after so many years, people have discovered why her youngest daughter He Chaoxin looks more and more like Li Zhi. But this is a far-fetched legend after all, let’s take a look at it.
Lizhi ran for Miss Asia in 1986 and announced her retirement in 1992. In just six years, she lived a very unhappy life in Hong Kong. In addition to the hard work of making movies, there was also overwhelming ridicule, humiliation and malice, which made her She was physically and mentally exhausted and often cried in front of the media.
Perhaps because of this, when she met Jet Li in 1988, they fell in love quickly with the same background (both grew up in the Mainland) and the same predicament (both were at a low point).
In 1988, Jet Li returned to Hong Kong from the United States to film the movie "Dragon in the End of the World" and met the heroine Li Zhi.
▲"Dragon in the End of the World" is the first and only collaboration between Jet Li and Stephen Chow.
This time, sparks flew, and it was earth-shattering. Jet Li quickly fell in love with Li Zhi and felt that "I could die for her." At that time, his wife Huang Qiuyan was pregnant with their second daughter in the United States, and he couldn't care less about getting married. , I fell into the gentle land of Lizhi with all my heart.
Interestingly, Li Zhi confessed to Jet Li that he had many suitors, including rich people. Jet Li said, "I have nothing but everything I have."
Jet Li decided to divorce Huang Qiuyan. The solution was to leave the house and give Huang Qiuyan a large sum of money. The other two daughters were brought up by Jet Li. Jet Li gave the daughters to their mother in Beijing to raise them, and later sponsored them to go to school in the United States. University.
Although Jet Li repeatedly emphasized in various interviews that he did not treat his ex-wife and daughter badly, and that his daughter attended top schools, the reputation of "abandoning his wife and daughter" has always followed him. Huang Qiuyan quit the film industry after she became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter. It is said that she later remarried and started a career in the beauty industry. Compared to her superstar ex-husband Jet Li, she lived an ordinary life.
In 2015, the main creators of "Shaolin Boys" reunited in Beijing. As the male and female protagonists in the movie, Jet Li and his ex-wife Huang Qiuyan were both present, and they also took a group photo together.
According to media reports, Jet Li even gave a big red envelope to Huang Qiuyan when she remarried, and it seemed that she had forgotten all her grudges with a smile. At this point, Jet Li is like many old-fashioned men. Even though he is suspected of abandoning his wife, if he is given money, public opinion will be more tolerant. After all, there are too many people who don't even give money.
There are many similar examples in the entertainment industry, and the scripts are exactly the same, such as our .
▲ Jet Li and Zhang Xinyan.
Jet Li and Li Zhi are much more affectionate. Since they met while filming in 1988, they have been together, and their romance has gradually turned from underground to underground. The two had a "ten-year agreement", which was meant to test whether their relationship was true and whether it could withstand the test of time. In 1999, they officially got married.
▲ The two bought a mansion in Los Angeles, and it was indeed magnificent and magnificent.
▲Wedding scene, image source watermark.
After falling in love with Li Zhi in 1990, Jet Li's career took off again.
He met Tsui Hark in the United States, and Tsui Hark invited him to film new martial arts classics such as "Once Upon a Time in the World", "Once Upon a Time in China II: Men Should Be Strong", "The Swordsman II" and "The Undefeated in the East". His status as a Chinese Kung Fu superstar.This was the peak period of Jet Li's career. His roles as Wong Fei Hung and Fang Shi Yu were the favorites of many viewers, and the title of "Kung Fu Emperor" began to spread from then on.
▲The classic character Huang Feihong, this pose was popular all over the country.
▲ "Thirteenth Aunt" is also a classic role in Rosamund Kwan's film career.
▲Li Zhi and Guan Zhilin, Jet Li’s two girlfriends on and off the screen. Image source watermark.
▲Wong Fei Hung’s "Foshan Shadowless Feet" challenges gravity...
▲ According to media reports at that time, Jet Li worked with popular actresses such as Zhang Min, Gigi Gigi, Rosamund Kwan, Brigitte Lin, Michelle Reis, Qiu Shuzhen, etc. The source of the picture is watermarked.
▲In "The Swordsman", Jet Li plays Zhang Wuji.
▲ Jet Li and Tsui Hark attended the event together.
▲ Jet Li only thanked two directors in his new book, one is the director of "Shaolin Temple" Zhang Xinyan, and the other is Tsui Hark.
▲ "Fang Shiyu" directed by Yuan Kui in 1993 was also extremely popular after it was broadcast in the mainland. The picture source is watermarked.
▲ Jet Li and Brigitte Lin on the set, picture source watermarked.
Since Jet Li's career has been on the rise, Li Zhi has gradually faded out of the public eye. On the one hand, it is because she has no nostalgia for the entertainment industry and may have suffered a lot of grievances in the past. On the other hand, it is also Jet Li's clear request, "I don't want the two of us to be together." They are all in the entertainment industry, you will make it difficult for me in the future.":
At the same time, Li Zhi began to buy and speculate in real estate and help her husband manage his property. At its peak, Jet Li had 151 villas for sale, which was quite astonishing.
Li Zhi officially became the woman behind the "Kung Fu Emperor" and retired from hiding. On April 19, 2000, Jet Li and Li Zhi's eldest daughter Jane was born. In 2003, their second daughter Jetta was born. Counting the two daughters from his ex-wife, Jet Li has four daughters.
Bizarre life and death experiences
Jet Li believed in Buddhism in his later period, which may be related to his bizarre life and death experiences. The most bizarre one was that in the early morning of April 16, 1992, Jet Li's agent Cai Ziming was shot by two gunmen and shot 6 times. He died on the spot at the age of 38.
The day Cai Ziming was attacked happened to be the day when Huang Feihong's second film "Men Should Be Strong" was released. According to many people, Cai Ziming is discussing with Jet Li to shoot the next movie "New Dragon Inn", with the male and female protagonists being Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh.
▲Picture source watermark
Not long ago, Jet Li had a falling out with his old employer Jiahe due to salary issues. This matter was widely circulated in the market. People thought it was Jiahe's deliberate revenge and they were unwilling to let Cai Ziming get this "money tree".
▲Jiahe Company failed to pay Jet Li the full salary as scheduled. When Jet Li pursued the remaining 3 million in salary, Jiahe Company suppressed him, causing Jet Li to be strongly dissatisfied. In order to resist the suppression of Jiahe Company, Jet Li resolutely stopped filming "Men Should Be Strong" during the middle of filming. This would cause huge losses to Jiahe Company. This matter caused an uproar. Later, Cai Ziming came forward and became Jet Li's manager. people.
After Cai Ziming died, his project "New Dragon Inn" also failed. Later, Wu Siyuan took over, the director was still Tsui Hark, and the starring roles were all replaced, which is the one we see now:
It is worth mentioning that, Cai Ziming and Cecilia Cheung's father "Hu Yong" are business partners. The "Fuyi Film Company" jointly opened by the two often brings celebrities to the Netherlands to act in movies.
▲Cai Ziming, whose original surname is Ou, grew up in Guangzhou and was the leader of the Guangzhou Children’s Party when he was a child. Cai came to Hong Kong alone through his relatives in Hong Kong. Because he was straightforward and ruthless in his work, he soon became able to take charge of large-scale decoration projects in Hong Kong. Later he went to the Netherlands to develop.In the 1980s, there were many triad groups in Hong Kong. The "14k" took the initiative in Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Tei, and Mong Kok and became unstoppable. "14k" boss Hu Hu Yong met Cai Ziming, who was quite successful in business, while on vacation in the Netherlands in 1986. He introduced the Hong Kong film industry to Cai Ziming, and the two hit it off.
After returning to Hong Kong, Cai Ziming founded "Fuyi Film Company" in 1988, with Hu Yong holding 10% of the shares. The movie "The Legend of the Dragon" invested by Cai Ziming brought Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Man Tsz-leung and other actors to the Netherlands to shoot the movie. We mentioned in the previous article that Carina Lau was kidnapped. Afterwards, she said that the underworld kidnapped her and made a movie for free in the Netherlands. , this is it.
"The Club of the Dragon and Tiger" has also become the only movie in history that is recognized as being shot under the coercion of the underworld, although the hero and heroine died within five minutes of the opening...
▲Cecilia Cheung and Beard Yong.
▲When Hu Hu Yong celebrated his birthday, the police had to mobilize "half a hundred anti-gang agents"...
▲In 2022, Cecilia Cheung posted a photo with her father.
Regarding this matter, everyone in the circle seems to know who the murderer is, but there is no evidence and the case has not been solved.
After this incident, Jet Li was a little bit unable to survive in the Hong Kong entertainment industry, because no one dared to be his agent anymore. After all, whoever acted as his agent would have their lives in danger. At this time, Jet Li went to find a bigger dock, which was Xiang Huaqiang and his wife. , signed the contract, Jet Li worked hard in filming, and paid his salary to Huaqiang (some media reported that Li Zhi failed in real estate speculation in those years, and Jet Li repaid the money while filming).
Later, Jet Li and Mr. and Mrs. Xiang Huaqiang became good friends. Jet Li rarely interacted with celebrities in the industry, but he frequently visited Xiang Tai's family. Jet Li was always there to support Xiang Tai in both big and small matters. This is probably the meaning of providing help in times of need.
▲Li Zhi and Xiang Huaqiang when they were young.
Jet Li also accepted Xiang Zuo as his apprentice, and because of this, Xiang Zuo was able to participate in Jack Ma's "The Way of Gongshou Dao".
In recent years, there have been frequent rumors of Jet Li's death. Xiang Tai has also become Jet Li's special channel to refute rumors:
The second life and death incident that Jet Li experienced was the tsunami he encountered while vacationing in the Maldives in 2004. At that time, he and Xiang Tai's family went on vacation together. Jet Li was accompanying his two daughters at the beach when a tsunami suddenly hit him and almost submerged him. The younger daughter was also washed away. Fortunately, a staff member rescued her. It was really thrilling.
It can be said that Jet Li has experienced too many twists and turns in more than 20 years, and his experience is too legendary. From a child of a poor family in Beijing, he became a kung fu emperor in just a few years. He has huge wealth and married two beautiful wives. , and experienced the bloody storms in the entertainment industry, gang intimidation, and murder cases. He also traveled to the United States many times and experienced life and death.
So after the millennium, Jet Li slowed down his career and began to devote himself to Buddhism.
The current situation of Jet Li and his daughters
Jet Li wrote a lot about practicing Buddhism in the book. Although his physical condition was very bad, he often went to Tibet and other places to practice Buddhism, and suffered severe altitude sickness and even shock many times.
▲ Jet Li practices in seclusion.
His health condition is indeed worrying. On the one hand, he was overdrafted when he was young. He was injured everywhere, either with broken arms or legs. He had to take a lot of painkillers every time he made a movie. People in the industry have said that Jet Li earns He deserves a salary of 10 million.
In recent years, he has suffered from hyperthyroidism and protruding eyes. In the book, he details the treatment process and his tangled mentality. He is also deeply worried that his change in appearance means that he will no longer be able to make movies.
In fact, Jet Li has basically been semi-retired since he studied Buddhism. He shoots about one movie a year (the last one currently is playing the emperor in the movie "Mulan" starring Liu Yifei), but fortunately Li Zhi is investing and managing money. Jet Li revealed that he still doesn’t know how many bank accounts his family has. Anyway, he leaves them all to his wife to maintain their value and manage their finances.
He devoted his whole body and mind to cultivating Buddhism, which ran through every aspect of his life. For example, when he went to the hospital to see a doctor, he would promote Buddhism to the doctor. For example, when Li Zhi gave birth to his daughter, he invited monks to practice in the hospital, and the American doctors The nurse was stunned for a moment.
When a family member is sick, the first thing that comes to mind is to visit famous temples to pray for blessings.
▲My sister was sick, so Jet Li decided to pay homage to the four famous mountains.
▲ Jet Li’s mother also believed deeply in Buddhism. He recorded that when he was a child, his mother swore not to eat four-legged animals in order to treat illnesses of her relatives.
Jet Li also hopes that his daughter will be a Buddhist from an early age.
▲ Jet Li’s two daughters.
The eldest daughter is 19 years old this year and is said to be a top student with a "bachelor's degree in arts and sciences from Harvard University."
Jet Li loves her very much. He has taken her to meet various celebrities since she was a child. Until now, Jet Li always likes to take her with him on any important occasions.
was a dancer at Andy Lau's concert when he was very young:
and has contacts with many celebrities:
▲ Jet Li went to see Xiang Zuo's daughter with his eldest daughter.
loves to play and party every day:
She has a beautiful figure and appearance:
In 2019, she participated in the Paris Celebrity Ball (bal des debutantes). Jet Li also accompanied her throughout the whole process, taking photos of her daughter, full of fatherly love.
There was also Qiu Shuzhen’s daughter Shen Yue at that Paris ladies’ ball:
Qiu Shuzhen and Jet Li had collaborated on "The Legend of Heaven and Sword of the Dragon", and they were also friends.
The youngest daughter has some twists and turns. Jet Li said that she suffered from depression when she was 7 years old and had suicidal tendencies when she was 13 years old. However, her daughter did not communicate with her parents and only searched for treatment methods on the Internet.
One day, the youngest daughter took the initiative to learn Buddhism with her father to heal her emotions, so Jet Li always took her with him when he went to practice. My younger daughter is probably still studying.
▲Little daughter.
As for Li Zhi, he has always been very mysterious and low-key, never making public appearances, and occasionally appearing on Jet Li or his daughter's social accounts.
It can be seen from Jet Li's various interviews that Lizhi's main life is to educate her daughter. She is a tiger mother and treats her daughter very harshly. In addition, she helps Jet Li manage his finances. He also has a lot of leisure time at home. Jet Li said that when he was meditating, "his wife would watch TV for a while, and then ask myself if I was hungry." He also complained that it affected his practice.
Jet Li said that she does not have any friends, never socializes, and just stays at home every day. Jet Li's compensation was to "give her the greatest sense of security", that is, he gave her all his money. Jet Li wrote in the book that they were "husband and wife practicing together", and probably Li Zhi was also a senior Buddhist.
And the two daughters born to his ex-wife were lost in the vast sea of people. Jet Li has never posted photos of his daughters. There are some images circulating on the Internet, but there is no way to verify the authenticity, and the source is also very vague. The sisters are most likely ordinary people.
In the eyes of ordinary people, Jet Li and his wife are extremely happy, but through this book he wrote, we see the so-called "trouble of the lucky ones".
Jet Li has walked a glorious road. In him, we have seen the greatest possible class jump for those born in the 1960s. In the 1970s, Jet Li came from a poor family that was so poor that he would burst into tears even if he lost thirty yuan. In just a few years, he has become a Kung Fu star who dominates China and even Asia. From Beijing to Hong Kong, from sports school to the entertainment industry, the span is not small;
At the same time, he has to actively adapt to different cultural atmospheres, Different social styles, facing the relatively tight-knit Hong Kong people, as a mainland actor, he can take the lead in opening up a career in Hong Kong, which is of course very powerful. This is largely due to the fact that he does have real skills and is just right. In the golden age of martial arts movies, no matter how Hong Kong people unite, they have to speak through their works. Jet Li's movies are just hits and make money. We have to accept this.
However, in this huge disparity in life switching, after gaining huge money, fame and a happy family, Jet Li seemed to have fallen into a more confused spiritual world.
He said that the reason for learning Buddhism was because he "loves thinking". At first, he wanted to get rid of the stereotype of "martial arts athletes with simple minds and well-developed limbs". Later, he believed that money and fame cannot make people happy. What exactly makes people happy? He believed that Buddhism was the only way.
I think that during those years in Hong Kong or the United States, he never seemed to gain real group recognition, even though he was already very rich.
He seems to have always had the mark of an "outsider" on his body. It is true that he has gained huge fame and fortune, but at the same time he also has to face tremendous pressure, both physically and in life. All of this requires a strong The physical and mental strength to face it is beyond the control of ordinary people. Years of high-pressure life may be the cause of hyperthyroidism, although Jet Li tried his best to appear calm and relaxed.
Wang Weizhong pointed out the key point in the talk show with Jet Li: "This disease (hyperthyroidism) is caused by stress." Jet Li denied: "I am not stressed." And for mental confusion, perhaps we can only use the power of Buddhism .
As for the mysterious wife behind him, Li Zhi, she seems to have had endless worries over the years. How to take care of her husband’s increasing money, how to support her husband’s crisis-ridden spiritual world, and how to achieve top-notch fame and fortune for his two daughters. The layout of the circle.
We seem to be able to see some kind of rich lady’s troubles in her body.
Lizhi was too beautiful when she was young. There were not too many people who coveted her, which made her very wary of the outside world. In those years when she entered the Hong Kong entertainment industry, all the focus was on her figure. These film and television works did not bring her much What wonderful memories. At this time, choosing to be the wife of a loyal and strong man seems to be a safer choice;
But if you have no contact with society for a long time, let alone friends, and serve your husband and children wholeheartedly, it will lead to many problems. For example, the closure of the self-world, the cessation of self-growth, and the limitation of one's own vitality.
Many talented, smart and beautiful women actually have as much energy as their husbands, but after returning to the family, their world suddenly becomes smaller. Without friends, interpersonal support system, interests and hobbies of their own, they become isolated. It will become more and more serious.
There are two possibilities in psychology at this time. One is that their self-energy is wilting. They dissolve themselves and merge with their husbands to form a symbiotic relationship; the other is that they upgrade to a control freak and put all their attention on their husbands. Go to bed with your children, leaving your family unsettled.
▲ In the photos posted by sister Jada a few years ago, 57-year-old Li Zhi does not wear makeup, maintains a slender figure, and takes care of everything for his family.
This is what calls "the troubles of the lucky ones". They have everything, wealth, fame, ideal partners, and excellent children, but they are still frustrated and sad all the time.
What is the reason for this?
In a psychological sense, happiness is more of a habit of thinking and values, " because human beings do not learn to be satisfied through possession, but learn to be satisfied through loss, and learn to cherish from disappointment."”
Many people who seem to be unfortunate are actually very content and happy, while those who have gained too much always feel that the world is not what they want. Buddhism calls it greed, anger and ignorance, which are the source of all troubles.
Life is long and difficult. Many, most people are running around because they have too little income, and many people are worried about having too much income. This is the meaning of the original suffering in the world. No matter which path you take, you will have your own trials and practices. It is certainly good to be able to transcend life and death. But the more difficult thing is to surpass oneself.
Author: Isabella
Editor: miss h
Produced by: Miss Lan and Miss Huang
The text is original, and the pictures are from the Internet
