Jackie Chan's film festival dedicated to the action genre holds fifth edition, Xu Fan reports.

Jackie Chan says he misses old friends and acquaintances whom he hasn't met for years.

"When people reach such an age, they perhaps feel that they won't see each other again after saying zaijian (see you)," Chan, 65, says in an interview. "I'm cherishing those who are still in my life and I wish to have more gatherings with friends."

Having worked in more than 200 films over 50 years, the Hong Kong legend and global star is also using his influence to help those in the field of action in cinema, an area that aided his rise.

The 5th Jackie Chan International Action Film Week was held in Datong, North China's Shanxi province, from July 21 to Saturday, and was attended by more than 700 movie and martial arts fans from 44 countries and many celebrities, including Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody, mainland star Wu Jing and Hong Kong director Tsui Hark.

The festival drew 152 films from 36 countries that contended for the Iron Man Awards, an honor emphasizing the major role of the action genre.

Popular Taiwan singers Jonathan Lee and Wakin Chau performed at the closing ceremony, with Chan himself running to the stage to sing along.

The audience gave a standing ovation to Yuen Woo-ping, 74, when he was presented the festival's top honor-lifetime achievement-at the closing ceremony on Saturday. Among the most influential figures of Hong Kong action cinema, Yuen directed his first film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow in 1978, which also became Chan's first box-office success as a lead.

The film also started Chan's screen signature style of mixing kung fu with comedy.

Chan remembers the struggles as a stuntman in his early years, and is using the festival as a platform to give recognition for the many people behind hazardous shots in movies.

"I had two wishes for 20 years. One was to hold an event for stunt performers, as few international festivals have set awards for them. The other was to establish an alliance for stuntmen (and stuntwomen) to bring them more welfare, such as insurance and standardized pay," Chan says.

Aside from the annual film festival he launched five years ago, a China Stunt Artist Alliance was formed in 2017. But Chan says he is still working to establish an international alliance for stunt artists across the world, an appeal he highlighted at this year's festival.

In the late 1950s, when Hong Kong was still a British colony, Chan grew up in the small quarters of the French embassy, where his father worked as a chef and his mother was a domestic helper.

His father later relocated to Australia for a new job and Chan was sent to the China Drama Academy, a Peking Opera school run by Yu Jimyuen who used the traditional master-apprentice teaching system to train his students. Chan spent 10 years there. Among his peers were Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, who later became martial arts stars of Hong Kong cinema.

Following a centuries-old custom inherited by generations who lead opera troupes, masters used physical punishment to discipline students but they also established a connection with their apprentices almost like that between a parent and a child.

"On my third day in this school, I was severely beaten by my master. I cried and screamed," Chan recalls.

While having meals, also part of the tradition that troupe members usually eat together, Chan recalls he often couldn't reach the meat or vegetable dishes easily but instead had to just eat bowls of rice in front of him, as using chopsticks to get food from a distance was deemed disrespectable behavior in front of a master.

"It was somewhat like a prison for me during the 10 years … I had no dreams back then. My only wish was to not get beaten by my shifu (master)," Chan says.

But soon after, a young Chan demonstrated his gift for martial arts, earning many chances to play small roles in films such as Big and Little Wong Tin Bar and The Love Eterne.

"I loved the days on the filming sets," he adds.

The candid star reveals the main gain at the time was that he could eat full meals at film sets than in the school.

But the early experience as a child actor also instilled in him more knowledge about action films, paving the way for Chan to become a martial arts stuntman and choreographer. And it was his struggles in the early 1970s as an action extra and stand-in that made him see how unfairly stunt performers were treated.

Emerging from his stylish kung fu comedies in the late 1970s, Chan soared in Hong Kong cinema and forayed into Hollywood in the 1980s, establishing himself as one of the few Chinese faces in the international film market in the following decades. In recent years, other than his hectic career in cinema, Chan has promoted charity causes.

"After so many years, people who have been with me-from fans to critics to my JC Stunt Team members-they have all changed my mind, transforming me from my past arrogant self and somewhat selfish person to a caring, better person," he says. "I want to do something for those who have done many things for me."

But the irony is that even at his film festival it's the celebrities (actors and actresses) who walk on the red carpet at the opening and closing ceremonies who still draw the most media attention.

At a time when the industry has technology to generate action sequences, the new challenge for people doing the real kicks, punches, falls and fights is how to continue to earn a living.

"I believe it's good for the future of action films that people doing stunts are getting better safety protection now than earlier. We should explore more on how to shoot better action films," he says.