Jackie Chan to 'Awaken Winter' for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Bid

It looks like it's forgive and forget for Beijing officials and Jackie Chan. Fresh off the end of his son Jaycee Chan's six-month stretch in jail here for marijuana possession, Jackie is back in Beijing, this time to record an official song for Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics bid.

"Awakening Winter" may become the "Beijing Welcomes You" ("Beijing Huanying Ni") of the Winter Games if Beijing's bid is successful. "The members of the [International Olympic Committee] Evaluation Commission will be the first to hear [the song] during their visit to Beijing," Beijing 2022 said in a statement.

Although better known for his martial arts films, Chan has recorded 20 albums. This isn't even Chan's first foray into Olympic singing. He performed "We Are Ready", recorded and released a year before the beginning of the 2008 Olympics. He also sang at the closing ceremonies for those games, and released an album of Olympic-related music, entitled "Official Album for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – Jackie Chan's Version".

The IOC Evaluation Commission arrives later in March to conduct their official assessment of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou bid for the 2022 Games. Beijing rival Almaty received a boost in its bid host from the commission's visit in February. The timing for the Beijing visit isn't great – whereas Kazakhstan's Almaty was blanketed in snow (and snow is visible from the city center on nearby peaks even in June), there likely won't be a snowflake in sight, with daytime temperatures already reaching into the teens. Hopefully Jackie's smooth sounds will soothe the commission's concerns over snow.

Photo: Wikimedia