Jackie Chan has been known for his sprightly nature and readiness while doing stunts for movies. From early childhood, the Chinese legend was an energetic and playful boy who would wait for opportunities to do some mischief. In fact, just after his birth, Chan made the headline of a local newspaper. Reportedly, he weighed 12 pounds at the time of birth, and that astonished people around him.

Chan was known to be naughty and used to do activities to make his mother worry about his future. In fact, after seeing his antics, his parents decided to send him to the Chinese Drama Academy (CDA). Let’s scroll down to take a look at his childhood.

Jackie Chan as the cannonball

Born in 1954 in Hong Kong, his name was Chan Kong-Sang, and later on, his bulky weight of 12 lbs fetch Chan the nickname of ‘cannonball’. He was a lively child who would make his mother run behind him all the time. But Chan once did something that scared and worried his mother,?as per his book Never Grow Up.

Reportedly, when Chan was an infant and just learned to crawl, his mother took him with her as both of them used to go out to their work. Just like his father was busy working at a restaurant, his mother too worked hard doing the laundry. However, when his mother was working, little ‘cannonball’ used to crawl around by her feet. In fact, as the legend wrote, “When she wasn?t looking, I?d eat scraps of paper or bits of soap, which worried her…”

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Evidently, it frightened his mother to see him eating those things, so she came up with a solution.?“If she put me in a full tub of water, I would paddle around happily, amusing myself while she had a bit of peace,”?Chan added. Though for then, the issue was resolved, Chan’s naughtiness was only increasing with age. And that made his father enroll him in the CDA at a very young age.

Chan’s life in CDA

He was only 7 when one day Chan’s father took him to the academy to talk to the master. Seeing people about his age practicing in uniforms and walking around, the little boy wanted to be at the academy, until he really lived there. When the martial artist moved there, soon he came to know about the?struggles of being beaten or starving for punishment.?This made Chan regret his decision.

However, those ten years in the CDA made him a better person inside and out. Chan not only excelled in the arts of singing, dancing, acting, and kung fu, he gradually became the man of principles that he is now.

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With time, the martial arts icon learned to channel his energetic nature into something that he was really good at. And that eventually made him the kung fu artist that he is today. From being the fireball to becoming the ‘dragon,’ Jackie Chan indeed has evolved to be a better man and eventually a hero to his fans.