Hong Kong marks anniversary of legendary Bruce Lee’s death

HONG KONG - Agence France-Presse

A statue of the late Hong Kong Kung Fu star, actor Bruce Lee is displayed in Hong Kong as part of the exhibit. The late superstar Bruce Lee is best-known for the kung fu skills he displayed in his movies, but his daughter hopes that more people take the effort to understand his teachings and life philosophy. AP Photo/Kin Cheung

Hailed as cinema’s first martial arts hero and a cinematic bridge between the cultures of East and West, Bruce Lee helped put Hong Kong on the movie world map.

So why are some in the city marking the 40th anniversary of his death in a toilet? “In 1958, Bruce Lee was a student at St Francis Xavier’s (College),” Wong Yiu-keung, chairman of the Bruce Lee Club, explains. “One day, he was caught in a fight in a washroom by one of the fathers.

“But the priest also boxed back in his home country. So, he didn’t punish him. Instead, he invited him to the boxing classes. Lee later participated in an interschool competition and won.” The incident was significant in Lee, who died from swelling of the brain aged just 32, deciding to tunnel his love of martial arts into something positive. A short time afterwards he opened a martial arts school in the United States, where he was born.

Fans of Lee will visit his Hong Kong alma mater this weekend as one of several stops on an unofficial “Bruce Lee trail” in the former British colony, where the star spent his childhood.

Other points on the walk include Lee’s statue on the Avenue of the Stars and the Bruce Lee Club house, both in the Tsim Sha Tsui neighbourhood of the southern Chinese city, which is without a permanent museum dedicated to the screen legend. Fans will also take in a monastery in the New Territories which featured in perhaps his most famous movie, “Enter the Dragon”.

A five-year exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, featuring memorabilia from his life and films including his iconic yellow jumpsuit, was due to be opened Saturday by his daughter Shannon Lee.

“The way I know my father is not through media. The way I know my father is in number of different ways,” Lee, who was four when her father died, said Friday. “It’s through the people who knew him well, his friends, my family. It’s also through his own words, because he wrote voluminously. “I have all of his library books, thousands of books and he would underline in them and write notes in the margins, so I know him from him.” Some of those family photos are among 600 items showcased at the museum until 2018.