[2009.08.07] SEVEN LITTLE FORTUNES 50TH ANNIVERSARY: YUEN BIAO'S FATAL DART, JACKIE CHAN ESCAPED CATASTROPHE

"Ha Ling Chun, I am going to kill you!" In the film ROB B HOOD (BO BUI GAI WAT)'s end credit outtakes, Jackie Chan because Yuen Biao flubbed a line had to perform a series of dangerous stunts all over again. He was so angry that he joked about killing Yuen Biao as a release. Actually earlier when they were at the China Drama Academy, Yuen Biao instead nearly took Jackie Chan's life.

Jackie Chan in his autobiography through Big Brother Sammo Hung Kam Bo's mouth told his relationship with Yuen Biao. Jackie Chan wrote, "Yuen Biao had a stomache and started to groan. Yuen Wah said, 'I heard for an upset stomach, smoking is a good solution'. In order to save Yuen Biao's life, someone had to sneak into the Master's room to steal a few cigarettes. When we discussed who was the most suitable for the job, Big Brother said, 'Big Nose should do it because Yuen Biao is your best friend.'" Jackie Chan was willing to take the risk for Yuen Biao, obviously they were close.

Resource Shortage, Lucky To Eat

As Yuen Biao analyzed earlier, in childhood Seven Little Fortunes' friendship mainly was built on the word "eat" then the word "play". Children's behavior is often the most sincere and direct. In an age of resource shortage, such honesty was even more obvious. Yuen Biao says, "At the time we didn't have many toys to play with. Sometimes we were out of stuff to play with. We picked up a broken umbrella to take apart then sharped it for an arrow. We had fun like that. Once my parents came to visit me at school and bought a box of toy darts for me to play with. The disciples rarely saw toys and immediately came over. So I hung up the target and played. After the first one I was going to throw the second and the third dart, suddenly Jackie Chan darted toward the target. They thought that he would pull the darts for his turn. I didn't expect him to be in such a hurry. In the end 'pop' the dart went to his mouth."

The dart is blind. If it hit the eye instead of the mouth the result would have been devastating. Of course there is a price to pay for fun. This time was luck amid a catastrophe.

Parents Cared, Not From A Rich Family

Perhaps due to the catastrophe, they became more mature. Yuen Biao talked about claims that when he was studying at the China Drama Academy his family was already rich, that he even had a maid who came to the school to bathe him. Yuen Biao denied the claims and pointed out that he did not have that spoilt brat temper. He says, "Back then water restriction was in effect, no one had any water. My parents knew I was too little to take care of myself, everyday they brought water for me to bathe with; they knew that the school's food wasn't great so they brought food to the school for me. All of those were only because my parents cared about me!" (44)