Wu Jing's wonderful, ever bewitching smile indubitably leaves the deepest impression in people's hearts. Although he has not been in the showbiz for a very long time, his smile seems set forever in his face. No matter what shows or roles, Wu Jing's smile never changes and the charm of his smile never wanes.

Wu Jing seems to have grown up in a honey jar. However, we know that those who enjoy being in the company with many people, are nearly always very lonely in the heart. They like rowdiness for they fear loneliness. In that case, are those who are always grinning filled with sorrows? They are always smiling for they covet happiness, to bid goodbye to hardships? Is Wu Jing a happy kid or one who was brought up leading a dog's life?

2nd July. Wu Jing led us to the wushu hall in the school. This is the cot where Wu Jing grew up. Less than the size of a standard swimming pool, the wushu hall is divided into three sections. There is no leisure time here, only whooshing of the weapons and groups of young men and ladies who are perspiring heavily. From their expression of weariness, this writer seemed to see Wu Jing of yesteryears.

"Is it always so rigorous and tiring when you are training?" This writer attempted to ask a young lady who walked passed. She stood on the balcony, taking in a deep breathe of the breeze from Shensha Sea, yet not forgetting to raise one leg and place it on the parapet. She appeared to be resting. Looking at me hesitantly, she took half a day before realising that my question was being directed at her. She smiled wryly, seemingly lacking the energy to answer me.

"There is nothing else here but hardships and exhaustions." Wu Jing was especially caring to her fellow junior sister and answered the question on her behalf.

Seeing that this writer still did not quite catch the gist of the phrase, Wu Jing blurted out his hardships: Since he entered the school at the age of six, every year he got injured at least once. Minor injuries and pains aside, it was full of disasters. First, his ankle was fractured and he could not even walk. Next, his nose bridge was broken and he was almost disfigured. In another instance, his spine was broken and he had to lie on the bed for more than a year. He was completely paralysed. He thought he had no chance of recovery. Even then, he still strongly and persistently stood up again, and re-entered the training facility.

The tortuous life of injuries ended only after Wu Jing began his acting career. As such, he always views movies as his fortune star. At the same time, he also regards Yuen Wo Ping, who discovered him, as his benefactor.

Mencius once said: Before Heaven assigns heavy responsibilities to a human being, they will be put through trials and tribulations. They have to strengthen their will, do menial works, suffer hunger and and endure all kinds of immense hardships and unbearable sufferings. Then they'll benefit greatly, become stronger and eventually attain inner tranquility.

While shooting movies, being an actor cannot be compared with the heavy responsibilities Mencius mentioned, but what can be certain is that the hardships Wu Jing had undergone are of no lesser intensity than what Mencius said. Not only has he become a stronger person, but also possesses maturity not common among his peers.

On that day, he brought us to the wushu centre to let us see and experience the life of wushu athletes ourselves. More importantly, he had an appointment with a certain director and producer who were there to scout for new talents. They had invited Wu Jing to act in a new production and at the same time, they needed some martial arts talents. And his fellow students came first to Wu Jing's mind. This writer had no idea of the outcome, of whether the director had chosen any of them, of whether if a new Wu Jing would be born. However, this writer sensed sincerity in Wu Jing's effort.

When we say that Wu Jing is a mature kid, we are not referring to how capable or rounded he is. Rather, while he looks like a kid who never grows up, he is one who values friendship, loyalty and eagerly seeks to repay gratitude with kindness. When interviewing Wu Jing, he was in production of Tsui Hark's Legend of Zu. While Wu Jing already had a fair bit of fame, he still feels it an honour to be able to be in the production of a major director, Tsui Hark.

Moreover, he especially accentuated that it was on Yuen Wo Ping's recommendation that landed him the role. Wu Jing was hand picked personally by Yuen Wo Ping from the training facility. In Yuen Wo Ping's eyes, the little Wu Jing's potential is unlimited and is the only action star in Mainland who could be called The Second Jet Li. In Wu Jing's eyes, he is eternally indebted to Yuen Wo Ping and respects him very much. That Wu Jing specially emphasised about Yuen Wo Ping spontaneously, unconsciously, is testimonial to his heartfelt gratefulness. And because of this, when Yuen Wo Ping asked him to join Legend of Zu production, he immediately agreed, without asking any questions about his part and pay. It's not hard to believe that, even if he was just an extra, he would have neither regrets nor complaints.

Besides, it's an honour to be in Tsui Hark's movie. But to be able to get used to Tsui Hark's way of shooting is no easy task. Tsui Hark is a talented weirdo; he doesn't use any script when shooting, in so far as not having the story outline. He shoots what comes to his mind, and when inspiration comes, he has to shoot. What was prepared beforehand has to be carried on preparing.

And so, in his eyes, there are no stars, no big shots - only actors and actresses. And actors and actresses have to wait for the director to call them. Wu Jing is also an actor and he also had to wait. Sometimes, he waited for a day. Sometimes, for two three to three days, and couldn't leave. He had to wait in the filming base. It's tiring to wait, but even more tiring when filming. Tsui Hark's movies are seldom free from hanging on wires, from flying around in the air, looking so fascinating, so incredible. However, hanging on wires for the whole day easily leads to loss of appetite. Yet, when Wu Jing mentioned these, his face was still full of happiness. This is not faked for he was happy, contented to have the chance to be with such good friends as Cecilia Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Ekin Cheng, Louis Koo, etc, chatting with them. A mature kid always know how not to make others worried.

This is My Most Precious Gift
 

Everyone is bound to have received gifts but not everyone can say what their most precious present is. One who cherishes one's presents is sentimental. On the other hand, one who can determine whether a present is precious or not, is introverted, possesses intricate feelings. From my views, Wu Jing is neither introverted nor are his feelings intricate. Apart from shooting and martial arts training, he loves sports such as basketball, horse-riding, swimming. After we concluded our interview, when we were about to bid him farewell, he suddenly said he wanted to show us his most precious gift. We were all taken aback: What kind of present could move him so?
 

Returning to the reception area, Wu Jing, blushing slightly, brought out two books and passed to us, without saying anything. They were meticulously decorated. One was a news clipping collection, with chronologically arranged reports and photos of practically every news article related to Wu Jing. Another, a memoir, was hand made by the fans and contains colourful posters, poems, opinions on his dramas and even love letters. When we were fully engrossed in flipping through the pages, Wu Jing couldn't wait any longer and told us that they were sent recently to him by Taiwanese frands as his birthday gifts.

Yes, frands of Wu Jing. Only then did we realise that in the memoir, they all hailed themselves as Wu Jing's fans. We also discovered that these fans have even formed a dedicated Wu Jing Fan Society, organising all kind of activities. In a recent poll conducted by them about favourite stars, Wu Jing was even ranked the first.
 

This birthday gift was indeed very valuable. It's little wonder that Wu Jing would be touched. From there, this writer also realised why Wu Jing cherishes his current acting career so much, why he views films as his fortune star and even when he still leads a hard life, he is still so happy. Yes, what could be happier that being loved by people?

As such, whenever this writer think of Wu Jing, this writer would inevitably think of his cheerful smile, his happiness from within...