My first impression of Jay: He was shy and quiet. I even thought him to be a bit slow. But he was like a peanut, growing robust in the ground without being noticed by others. Now that he is independent of me, I'm still proud of him.

Jacky Wu, Taiwan entertainment host who employed Chou as a house musician during his struggling early years

Jay Chou endows Chinese-language singing with a new expressiveness.

Lo Ta-yu, Taiwanese music icon known for his social commentary in his pop songs

Jay Chou has made big contributions to Chinese music, especially in the use of rhythm. As we all know, Chinese are not known for having a strong sense of rhythm. As for his tendency to blur lyrics, it doesn't really matter. Can you understand the lyrics to Peking Opera or Italian opera? You should be able to get the message from the music alone.

Gao Xiaosong, composer and television personality from the Chinese mainland

We were a little puzzled by his way of acting. But when he reacted to Anthony Wong, who was often spontaneous, we were pleasantly surprised. We shot many of the scenes uncut, which posed a great challenge to the actors. Jay could understand the director, even abstract things in my direction. I think he approached acting in the same way as he did music.

Alan Mak, Hong Kong screenwriter and director who made Initial D, Jay Chou's screen debut

Jay Chou has a natural gift. He may not have a great acting range, but he is like a piece of blank paper and wherever you want to push him, he will react with intuition. The best thing about him is that he does not try to act.

Anthony Wong, Hong Kong actor who worked with Chou in Initial D and Secret

Jay gave me his music video to his song Snow-Like Hair, which he directed. He uses the three colors of black, white and red with ingenuity. He has great potential as a director and he may surpass me in the future. Secret does not look like a directorial debut, not at all. It has a maturity and a grandness in every detail from scene setup to music.

Zhang Yimou, filmmaker who directed Chou in Curse of the Golden Flower

Full coverage

	Complete showman
	The movies he merely stars in may not be the best of the bunch, but those he makes with full creative control never fail to turn heads. Music sensation Jay Chou morphs from a wonder boy with a Midas touch into a mature artist with more strengths than weaknesses, writes Raymond Zhou. more