By Li Hongmei

In April, Jackie Chan decided to give the last six of his collection of 10 historic Chinese sandalwood houses to a Singaporean university, after a decade of failed preservation talks with Hong Kong authorities and due to costly maintainance.

The film star bought the houses - said to be between 200 and 400 years old - for an unknown sum in Anhui province in the 1990s. They include a stage and a pavilion in traditional Hui-style architecture.

Chan reportedly had them renovated in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and stored them in warehouses. He donated four to the Singaporean government in 2009, which gave them to the Singapore University of Technology and Design.

Chan decided to give the university the remaining six after being impressed by its preservation plan during a recent visit.

But his move has since angered many people in the Chinese mainland.

Many people were angered when the Kung Fu legend, Jackie Chan, posted on a microblog his plans to donate four of his ancient buildings to a Singaporean university.

One netizen says:" It's not proper to send China's own cultural relics abroad." Another one says, "Once they are gone, they become the foreign country's possession, and it'll be difficult for Chinese people to see them again."

But Chan is determined. When he received an interview from the CCTV recently, the action movie star defended his decision, saying:"They must be in Singapore, because I can't break my promise. I said I would give and I gave, and I'm very comfortable with that."

Chan says he is comfortable because of their sincerity. The Singaporean government quickly made arrangements to accommodate the houses and eventually a deal was struck to put them on the new campus of the university, to be opened in 2015.

"They sent people over...their tourism minister and cultural minister. They really took it seriously...All the personnel, they came to Hong Kong."

He was touched also by their professionalism. Singapore University of Technology and Design gave Chan a detailed plan for the project. And they carefully disassembled the houses and packed them up. They then shipped them to Singapore.

"You see, how beautifully they've laid the logs," said Jackie Chan in the interview.

Since Chan posted on the microblog, many Chinese officials have asked for his donation. But why did he go his own way to donate them to Singapore?

When asked the question during the interview, Jackie Chan said, "now they send me proposals for preservation projects, but not in the past. And often when I was about to strike a deal, they tried to lure me with a real-estate project. Often, I found out this "Jackie Chan" park is actually beside a neighborhood of villas."

Chan's plan for his collections, are not for profit, but preservation and cultural exchanges.

"It will be helpful to promote cultural exchanges between Singapore and China. Just bringing things back to China doesn't necessarily mean patriotism. What I'm doing is letting others understand Chinese culture."

Though there are still some misunderstandings and criticism, Chan says he's doing the right thing, and he is following his heart. And that's what's most meaningful.

Stephen Chan Chit-kwai, a member of Hong Kong's Antiquities Advisory Board, expressed regret that the city had missed an opportunity.

"From the perspective of conservation, the buildings should stay in their original locations. An old building will lose its cultural and historical significance if it is moved away from its original location," he said. 

But, after all, what Jackie Chan disposed of is actually his personal collection, not really the state cultural relics. There is a pity, not for Jackie Chan's decision, but for misconducts of some local authorities. Chan's "unpalatable choice" is thought-provoking to all his fellow countrymen.

（Editor:富博）