Chinese people need to be controlled

Zhōngguórén shì xūyào guǎn de 中国人是需要管的

Jackie Chan: "We Chinese need to be controlled."

Infamous statement made by movie star and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference member Jackie Chan during a discussion of censorship, movies, and society at the 2009 Boao Forum for Asia:

If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic... I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not controlled, we'll just do what we want. [Chinese]

The comment set off a firestorm of discussion and criticism, especially in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Even mainland newspapers felt obliged to criticize Chan. The state-run People's Daily accused Jackie Chan of wishing to deprive the Chinese of their extensive liberties and subject them to an oppressive regime.

While the statement can be translated more mildly as "Chinese people need to be managed," Chan has a history of making controversial political pronouncements. He has previously claimed that Chinese culture may not be compatible with democracy, and has called for restrictions on protests in Hong Kong.

Netizens have turned Jackie's phrase on themselves, as Weiber @Slark_003 did the aftermath of the Big V crackdown: "I think they should shut down Weibo. Chinese people need to be controlled." [Chinese]

See monkey-snake.