Does Jackie have an Award no-one knows about?

Being both an observant and curious person I noticed that Jackie was referred to as 'Sir Jackie Chan' on Tuesday in Vietnam during his visit with Operation Smile. If you watch the video clips on youtube of the press conference you will see his name card says 'Sir Jackie Chan' and at the very end of the clip showing Jackie entering the Gala Dinner you can hear the Master of Ceremonies saying 'Please be upstanding for our honoured guest Sir Jackie Chan'.

So I wondered if any of Jackie's many awards entitled him to a 'Sir' but I don't think so.

The only 3 awards that I can find out about that possibly could are his MBE, his SBS and his Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

He was awarded the MBE in 1989 for his contributions to Hong Kong.
You can read more about the Order of the British Empire HERE

The Medal looks like this:



An MBE is written post-nominally (ie after your name) and carries no other title.

Jackie's SBS was awarded in 1999, also for his contributions to Hong Kong and also is written post-nominally. You can read more about the Silver Bauhinia Star HERE.

The SBS medal looks like this:



And Jackie has been awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 1990 from France for his contributions to Film and the Arts. That award carries no letters or title - it is a medal.

Actually while we are talking Jackie's awards he has also been awarded an a Doctoral Degree in Social Science ( DSocSci or DSSc) from the Hong Kong Baptist University and an honorary Professorship from Savannah College of Art and Design

Now what is interesting is that Jackie was awarded his degree honoris causa which means 'for the sake of honour'. It is a full degree but awarded where the institution or university waives the customary requirements for the degree usually because of the person's contributions in that field. You can read about the system of awarding such degrees HERE.

It is also conferred as a way of honoring a distinguished visitor's contributions to a specific field, or to society in general.

A Professorship is not a degree but is a position earned by merit within the academic ranks of a university. The title 'Professor' supersedes the 'Dr.' conferred by a degree.

(Actually Jackie was given his first Professorship by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2004 in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management for a term of three years.) You can read about it HERE (pdf document).)

So if you had to give Jackie his titles correctly - he would be Prof. Jackie Chan SBS. MBE. DSSc.(h.c.). (But Jackie being the humble person he is doesn't walk around clanking with awards - although ... I must admit it would be kind of cool to see him all dressed up with his various awards and medals just once! Just ONCE!)

If he did earn an award that gives him a 'Sir' I would be most interested to know about it.