The Hong Kong Tourism Board, which uses the comedy and action star as its ambassador, said it received 164 comments and complaints from the public over his remarks made on April 18.

Chinese-language broadsheet and online media in Taiwan have criticized Chan, 55, who spoke about freedom during a panel discussion at the Boao Forum. The annual gathering of state officials, scholars and businessmen was organized by the Chinese government, on China's southern island-province of Hainan.

“These remarks are unfortunate and laughable,” said James Sung, a political science professor at City University in Hong Kong. The younger generation acts more independently and confidently than Chan imagines, he said.

Chan's Hong Kong-based spokesman Solon So declined to discuss the Boao incident. Asked if Chan's comments were taken out of context, So said “Yes.”

Some bloggers urged a boycott of Chan's work, as his latest movie, “Shinjuku Incident,” plays in Asia theaters. The film is about an illegal Chinese worker who's ensnared by Japan's underworld disputes.

Bird's Nest Concert

Hu --ingdou, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology, said he e-mailed more than 10,000 people yesterday, urging them not to watch Chan's movies or attend his planned May 1 concert at Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium; Chan would be the first star to hold a concert at the 2008 Summer Olympics venue.

“He's done a disservice to the Chinese people,” said Hu, in a phone interview. “Every human has a right to freedom, as long as it's not at another's expense. The Chinese have struggled throughout history against foreign and local oppressors, who treated them like they had no rights and didn't know better.”

On April 19, Hong Kong's Apple Daily, one of the city's most widely circulated Chinese newspapers, featured the remarks on its front page, with the headline “Jackie Chan Is a Knave.” The next day, the same newspaper called on him to apologize.

Unprecedented Incident

On April 21 alone, the tourist board received 120 e-mails and calls from the public, most of whom expressed dissatisfaction at Chan's remarks, said Mayee Tang, the agency's spokeswoman. She declined to specify the complaints. Tang called this incident unprecedented. Chan has been the tourism promotion board's unpaid ambassador since 1995.

Chan, sent at the age of seven to train for a decade as an opera performer, has appeared in more than 100 movies, most of them made in Hong Kong. He rose to fame for his kung-fu moves, featured in films like “Drunken Master” in 1978.

Asked if the Tourism Board would retain him as its ambassador, Tang cited the agency's chairman James Tien as saying it would “study the case.”

“The biggest casualty in this incident might be Chan himself,” said Sung.

In 2006, the “Rush Hour” and “Shanghai Noon” star said he will pledge half his net worth to charity when he dies, according to Hollywood.com, which didn't say how much he's worth.