Bruce Lee Museums and Gallery Exhibits

[GeneChing]

Bruce Lee: Kung Fu Art Life closes next year

Tourists keep looking for Bruce Lee in the one place that can’t seem to remember him

Don’t turn your back on me. (Bobby Yip/Reuters)

WRITTEN BY
Vivienne Chow
May 21, 2017

When Bruce Lee was just a few months old, his family moved from San Francisco to Hong Kong’s Kowloon area, where he went to school, got into scraps, and began training in martial arts. Yet traces of the legendary fighter and movie star in the city are surprisingly rare, and the city’s most significant homage to him might soon be gone.
Efforts to create a Bruce Lee museum have never gotten off the ground, but in the last few years, visiting fans seeking to commune with their idol have been able to do that at Bruce Lee: Kung Fu Art Life, an exhibition at Hong Kong’s Heritage Museum slated to close July 2018.
Critics of the city’s lack of a permanent homage to Lee say this is the time to put fresh efforts into building a museum for the star, who still has a massive global following decades after his unexpected death at the age of 32.
If the show closes as planned or goes on tour—a possibility his daughter Shannon Lee told Quartz she is considering—tourists looking for Bruce Lee in Hong Kong will have to content themselves with gazing at this statue (below), or this waxwork figure of him at Hong Kong’s Madame Tussaud’s.

Bruce Lee statute Hong Kong Heritage MuseumA statue of Bruce Lee was unveiled at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum during the opening of a five-year exhibition about him, which coincided with the anniversary of his death 40 years earlier. (Bobby Yip/Reuters)

The end of the Hong Kong Bruce Lee exhibition

The Heritage Museum exhibit opened in 2013, 40 years after the death of the Enter the Dragon star and founder of Jeet Kune Do, a system of martial arts and philosophy. It was a joint effort between the city’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which runs the public museums of Hong Kong, and the Bruce Lee Foundation, headed by daughter Shannon Lee.
The show highlights more than 600 exhibits ranging from school photos and enrollment records, to drawings and diaries of the San Francisco-born icon, to a choreography notebook that lists “cha cha fancy steps.” Around 400 exhibits chronicling the life of the kung fu legend were provided on loan by the foundation, founded in 2002 by his wife Linda Lee Caldwell and his daughter. The rest came from individual collectors. These include costumes and props from movie sets for some of the star’s most famous titles, including Game of Death, in production when Bruce Lee suddenly died.
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department said the exhibition has had more than 2 million visitors since its inception, and the department is exploring the possibility of extending the show with the foundation.
But the foundation might have other thoughts. Shannon Lee, who recently approved a new biopic of her father, told Quartz in an email that a decision regarding the future of the exhibition is yet to be made. She said she was open to extending the show but taking the show to other destinations is also a possibility. “We are about to enter into discussions with the Heritage Museum about the exhibition,” she said.
Meanwhile, the foundation is working on building a Bruce Lee Action Museum in Seattle where the star met his future wife, had a family, opened a martial arts school and is buried.

A woman walks past the former Kowloon Tong home of kung fu star Bruce Lee, at the time a motel frequented by couples. The billionaire owner’s death has left the property in dispute among his heirs—and in danger of being demolished. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

The “love hotel” that never became a Bruce Lee Museum

There could’ve a museum in Hong Kong too, only the plan was scrapped. Before his death, Bruce Lee lived for a while at a house on 41 Cumberland Road, in the city’s Kowloon Tong district.
In 2008, real estate billionaire Yu Panglin, who had bought the house in 1974, agreed to donate the property, affectionately known as The Crane’s Nest by the Lee family, to the government. Over the years it had become a motel frequented by couples. The move was hailed by the Hong Kong tourism board, Reuters reported at the time, and the government launched a competition asking people to submit their ideas for restoring the home.
But by 2011, the government abandoned the effort after it failed to agree on the terms of the donation with Yu. The businessman’s demands to expand the floor space in order to build a larger museum would have breached land regulations.
Instead, the government put its efforts towards the exhibition staged at the Heritage Museum instead as a form of compensation to the people of Hong Kong.
Wong Yiu-keung, chairman and founder of the fan group the Bruce Lee Club established in 2000 said Hong Kong should now revisit the original museum plan. “I’m sure most people in Hong Kong would agree that we should have a museum dedicated to Bruce Lee,” he said, calling it “long overdue.”
But that looks harder than ever, at least at the Crane’s Nest site, after Yu died in 2015. Since then, Yu’s family has been embroiled in a legal dispute over the ownership of his estates.

A D-I-Y Bruce Lee experience

Robert Lee, younger brother of martial art icon Bruce Lee and honorary president of the Bruce Lee Club, in front of a statue of his famous sibling on the Kowloon waterfront.

Meanwhile, another option has vanished. The Bruce Lee Club used to run a small shop offering memorabilia and souvenirs in Yau Ma Tei district as a treat for fans visiting from overseas. But the shop closed last September due to skyrocketing rent.
“This is really pathetic,” said Wong. “Perhaps after the end of the exhibition, the only place fans can go is the bronze statue in Tsim Sha Tsui.”
The statue, funded by the fan club and modeled after a pose from the classic Fist of Fury, was erected near the Tsim Sha Tsui harbor in 2005. It was moved to the nearby Garden of Stars in 2015 due to construction work on the original site.
For now, visitors to Hong Kong looking for Bruce Lee better follow the example of die-hard fans who curate their own experiences.
“The Bruce Lee Way,” a walking trail planned by the Bruce Lee Club, highlights six locations connected to the legacy of the late star.
These include the La Salle Primary School and St. Francis Xavier’s College—the two schools he attended; a toilet in West Kowloon where Lee’s skills were first recognized when a teacher caught him fighting inside; Ocean Terminal, where a set of photos of Lee were taken for film studio Golden Harvest; Tsing Shan Monastery, where Enter The Dragon was shot; and Tsim Sha Tsui’s Bruce Lee statue.
Fans can also explore Kom Tong Hall, in the city’s Mid-Levels area, once owned by a prominent businessman who was a manager at opium-and-tea trading firm Jardines as well as being Bruce Lee’s grandfather, or take a few cues from the web site Bruce Lee Was Here. But as for the home he lived at when he was very young, the Katherine Building on Nathan Road, the Prudential Centre apparently now stands on its former site.
Wong, of the fan club, said the government should negotiate with the heirs to the Crane’s Nest, which is at risk of being sold to a developer who might demolish the home.
“We should learn our lessons and figure out a permanent plan that can keep Bruce Lee’s legacy alive in Hong Kong,” said Wong.

‘a toilet in West Kowloon’? srsly?

[GeneChing]

44th anniversary

Someday I really should go to pay my respects.

Bruce Lee fans pay respects at Seattle gravesite
by Ryan Yamamoto Thursday, July 20th 2017

This week, hundreds of fans will pay their respects at the graves of Bruce Lee and his son, Brandon. Bruce Lee died 44 years ago, on July 20, 1973, at the age of 32. (Photo: KOMO News)

SEATTLE – Even in death, Bruce Lee’s life continues to have an impact.

This week, hundreds of his fans and followers will make the trip to Lake View Cemetery in Seattle to visit his and his son Brandon’s gravesite to pay their respects to the martial arts master.
“To be here at this time on the anniversary of his passing it feels really cool,” said Anthony Gazotti, who traveled from Colorado. “All energy here is amazing.”
Bruce Lee died 44 years ago, on July 20, 1973, at the age of 32.
Seventeen-year-old Russell Chow traveled with his family from Los Angeles. He began studying Lee’s martial arts system of “Jeet Kune Do” at the age of 5.
“He is just a big part of my life,” said Chow. “He is the guy who taught all the teachers that taught my teacher. He is the originator of all the martial arts I have ever done.”
At the Wing Luke Museum, the “Bruce Lee” exhibit has been on display since 2014. The current exhibition will be extended to February of 2018, and a new exhibition will open in March of 2018 that will focus entirely on his connection to Seattle.
“I think the majority of people connect to his movies, but I think when they come to museum they understand there is much more to this guy than just an action flick,” said Lee historian, Rahul Gupta.
Gupta says many people who follow Lee become fascinated with master’s philosophy, artwork and poetry—including his relationship with the Seattle area.
“He connected with the variety you see in nature that you see in the Puget Sound area,” said Gupta. “I think people gravitate to individuals who connect to the universe bigger than themselves.”
The Wing Luke Museum is at 719 S. King St. The Lake View Cemetery is at 1554 15th Ave. E.. It is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the summer.

[GeneChing]

BRUCE LEE: SPIRIT OF THE DRAGON 11/3-11/25 Sketchpad Gallery, San Francisco

[URL=“http://sketchpadgallery.com/event/bruce-lee-spirit-of-the-dragon”]
BRUCE LEE: SPIRIT OF THE DRAGON

Friday, November 3, 2017 - 18:00 to 21:00
The Bruce Lee Foundation and Sketchpad Gallery are proud to present “Spirit of the Dragon”, a Bruce Lee tribute art show. Featuring local and international artists who have contributed to work from companies such as Marvel Comics, DC, IDW, Lucasfilm, Pixar, Sony and others, this exhibition will showcase their interpretations of Bruce Lee and his teachings.

Featuring art by:
JungGi Kim, Hyun Jin Kim, Nathan Anderson, Bagger43, John-Paul Balmet, Arvin Bautista, Jamie Borja, Dawn Carlos, Cryssy Cheung, Isaac Davis, Thomas Denmark, Jackson Dryden, Duke Duel, Emonic, Nikki Lukas Longfish, Dela Longfish, Steward Lee, Justin Bruce Lee, Ben Jelter, Kevin Kwong, Frank T Lin, Brian Kistler, Robotnicc, Benjamin Seto, Dean Stuart, Lloyd Thompson, Dave Yee, Carolina Zeleski, Jeeyoon Park, Le Tang, Chris Koehler, Gary Zhu, Chris Carman, and more!

Proceeds will benefit the Bruce Lee Foundation, which provides student scholarships as well as martial arts training to at-risk and underprivileged youth.

RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/382359355513912

Aw man, I should check this out. It’s about three blocks from where I used to work in SOMA. I wish I had known because I was in SF last Friday and I’m not sure I’ll be back before it closes. I’m scheduled to be in SF next Thursday, and not too far from there, but I’m on a schedule so I’m not sure if I’ll have the luxury to check it out.

Also I could’ve sworn I already split 62 posts above into an independent Bruce Lee Museums and Gallery Exhibits thread from the Bruce Lee Memorials thread. But I can’t find it so maybe it’s just something I’ve thought about doing for a while and finally got around to it.

[GeneChing]

The next exhibit at Wing Luke

These must be doing quite well for the museum. It’s become a regular fixture of rotating Bruce Lee exhibits in this series.

A Dragon Lives Here

Day in the Life of Bruce Lee: Do You Know Bruce? Part 3 exhibit is now closed.

Stayed tuned for an all-new Part 4 - opening March 10 - created in partnership with the Bruce Lee Foundation and with the generous support of sponsors, donors and partners.

Building on our popular Bruce Lee exhibit series, A Dragon Lives Here hones in on Bruce Lee’s Seattle roots and the fact that Seattle, now known as a city for innovation, technology, and entrepreneurs, also played a key role in shaping Bruce Lee and his groundbreaking approach.

[GeneChing]

update on Cumberland Road estate

Lee home features in $10b charity court win
Top News | Phoebe Ng 9 Mar 2018

The High Court has validated the will of late billionaire Yu Pengnian, who owned the Kowloon Tong house where martial arts icon Bruce Lee once resided, meaning his fortune estimated at HK$10 billion will be donated to charity.

Judge David Lok said the probate action reflected the “goodness in humanity” as none of his heirs now contested the will.

But it remained unclear if Lee’s one-time home in Cumberland Road home will become a museum dedicated to the star, who died there suddenly from a cerebal edema on July 20, 1983, at the age of 32.

The decision rests with Yu’s grandson and the sole trustee Pang Chi-ping.

The mainland-born philanthropist, who died at the age of 93 in 2015, wanted to donate the house to the government to make into a Bruce Li museum, but talks to that end broke down.

Yu then made several unsuccessful attempts to sell the property.

The judge said probate actions are unlike other cases and often “unveil the ugliness of humanity.”

He went on: “I often see relatives and families squabble over wealth. Siblings no longer talk to each other. Although I cannot really describe a person’s death as something joyous I am happy to deal with a case like this.”

Yu made it known in 2010 he wanted to donate all of wealth to charity and made a will to that effect on July 21, 2011, with his grandson Pang as sole executor.

Except for valuables kept in two safe boxes for his other grandsons, Yu stated in his will everything would go to the Yu Pengnian Charity Foundation.

After Yu’s death, Pang Chi-pang, sole trustee of the Yu Panglin Charitable Trust, asked the High Court to declare the will made in 2011 to be the tycoon’s final one and to override two caveats raised by his son Pang Ah-fan and grandson Pang San-hon.

But those two family members later declared they would not challenge the will.

The secretary for justice was also listed as a defendant as the case involved a charity.

The judge yesterday formally validated the document and ordered its execution in full.

Lok also said there was no doubt about the document as he believed Yu had the mental capacity to make the will and fully understood its contents.

He also ordered HK$1.85 million will be deducted from Yu’s wealth for legal fees.

“It is essential spending and the amount was fairly reasonable,” the judge said.

Yu, born in Hunan province, arrived in Hong Kong in the 1950s and eventually became a hotelier and real estate tycoon.

He was also known for making frequent and generous donations to good causes.

Bruce Lee’s home in Kowloon Tong, or “Nine Dragon’s Pond,” was bought by Yu Panglin in 1974. It then became a “love hotel,” whereby rooms were rented by the hour to amorous couples who want to keep their trysts discreet.

Years before Yu’s death in May 2015 he tried to work with the government and to donate hand over the house to become a Bruce Lee museum.

After that plan fell through in 2011 Yu tried to sell the property but in vain.

The Hong Kong Heritage Museum subsequently unveiled a Bruce Lee exhibition.

“Bruce Li museum”? :rolleyes:

[GeneChing]

Perry Lee

When Bruce Lee was an unknown, everyday guy
By RUBY DE LUNA • MAR 16, 2018

Bruce Lee spent formative years in Seattle. He attended the University of Washington from 1961 to 1964, majoring in philosophy. Behind him is Lake Washington, the subject of many of his poems.
COURTESY OF WING LUKE MUSEUM/® & © BRUCE LEE ENTERPRISES, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Before he was a martial arts icon, Bruce Lee was a poet, philosopher and fledgling instructor in Seattle.

Now there’s an exhibit at the Wing Luke Museum that focuses on that time in his life.

Some of the memorabilia comes from a local collector who was inspired after meeting Lee.

Perry Lee (no relation to Bruce) remembers the first time he met Bruce Lee. It was 1964, and he was a sop****re at Franklin High. Back then, Bruce Lee was an unknown — an everyday guy who was into martial arts and had been invited to do a demonstration at the school assembly.

“He asked for the toughest person to come down,” Lee said.

The student who volunteered took boxing classes. Bruce asked the student to throw some punches, and Perry said what Bruce did next amazed him.

“I never saw anybody that was that powerful that could move fast, spontaneous, cat-like and so fluid,” he said. “Here he was, sparring with some of the best fighters in high school … blocking their punches, throwing them into the ground. It blew me away.”

And there was something else that Perry felt at that moment.

“It made me proud,” he said. “It made me proud because it was really the first positive image I saw of an Asian person. Like, wow. You know, back in the ‘60s, a lot of Asians were considered nerds or more academic than into the athletic field.”

The demonstration at Franklin High was one of several Bruce Lee did during his time in Seattle.

Outside of Ruby Chow’s Restaurant near Broadway and Minor.
CREDIT COURTESY OF WING LUKE MUSEUM/® & © BRUCE LEE ENTERPRISES, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

“Seattle was really a formative time in his life,” said Cassie Chinn, exhibit lead of the “A Dragon Lives Here” exhibit at the Wing Luke Museum. She said it’s the Bruce Lee that most people don’t know.

“It was a time where he dreamt his dreams and started to bring them to reality," she said. "So we get to dive in deep in regards to, what does Seattle mean to him? How did it lay the foundation for where he would go?”

Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco and grew up in Hong Kong. But Seattle was where he grew into a young adult. He was 19 years old when he came here and took classes at Seattle Central College. He later transferred to University of Washington, where he studied philosophy and met his wife.

“One of his favorite places to go was Lake Washington," Chinn said. “We have a number of poems that Bruce wrote related to Lake Washington especially.”

He liked Lake Washington partly because it reminded him of the waters of Hong Kong.

“You can connect the waters of Hong Kong and the waters of Lake Washington,” she said. “There was a familiarity there. But also it was an integral place for him to think of his philosophy. One of his famous quotes is, be like water.”

Bruce Lee’s time in South Seattle was short, but it created a foundation for how he lived and taught. He was inclusive, teaching martial arts to anyone who wanted to learn.

Bruce Lee later moved to California, taking part in competitions and opening another martial arts studio. It was around that time that he was discovered by Hollywood and was invited to play Kato, the sidekick of Green Hornet.

Perry Lee followed Bruce Lee’s career. He also started collecting things associated with him, including magazines and action figures (especially those from the Green Hornet era).

“He exploded in the small screen,” he said. “His popularity just went through the roof … so they started putting [out] all these toys to appeal to all the young people.”

So, how many items are in his collection?

“Thousands,” he said. Enough to fill up two rooms of his house. And there are more in boxes.

He admitted it’s way too much.

“Collectors, we just like to keep collecting," he said. “It’s hard to break out of that mold. Until our wives get mad at us. I don’t know if I should be saying this, but I have to hide a lot from my wife,” he said tongue-in-cheek.

Bruce Lee and his future wife, Linda Lee, in Seattle.
CREDIT COURTESY OF WING LUKE MUSEUM/® & © BRUCE LEE ENTERPRISES, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Perry Lee loaned many parts of his collection to the Wing Luke exhibit. He said Bruce Lee still has special meaning for him today, even after his untimely death in 1973.

“I think it still holds true what’s been said about Bruce through the decades; he brought people together,” Perry Lee said. “Whether you were black, white or Mexican, everybody loved Bruce … To this very day he inspired people through his philosophy.”

Perry Lee recalls the first time he met Bruce Lee at Franklin High School

In case you’re wondering what some of that early Bruce Lee poetry was like, here’s a look.

Walking along the bank of Lake Washington | Bruce Lee, 1963

The breeze on the bank

Already blows cool and mild;

The distant merging of lake and sky

Is but a red trace of sunset.

The deep silence of the lake

Cuts off all tumult from me.

Along the lonely bank

I move with slow footstep:

Alone the disturbed frogs scurry off.

Here and there are houses,

Cool beads of light spring out from them.

A dazzling moon

Shines down from the lonely depths of the sky.

In the moonlight slowly I move to a Gung Fu Form.

Body and soul are fused into one.

There’s audio files embedded behind the link.

[_PLUGO]

Bruce Lee: Back in the comics

Bruce Lee: The Walk of the Dragon #1
STORY BY: Jeff Kline, Nicole Dubuc, and Shannon Lee
ART BY: Brandon McKinney and Zac Atkinson
COVER BY: John Haun
PUBLISHER: Darby Pop Publishing

[SIZE=1]. . . ouch.[/SIZE]

[GeneChing]

Bruce Lee: A Retrospective - SF Chinese Cultural Center - 2000

I was just doing some research putting together an obituary for GM Allen Joe and realized that the Bruce Lee: A Retrospective exhibit at the SF Chinese Cultural Center in 2000 was never included in this thread. Better late than never - that may have well been one of the very first such museum exhibits on Bruce - plus I published an article on it back then. Read Honoring Bruce.

[GeneChing]

Bad Feng Shui

Matt Polly’s new book, Bruce Lee: A Life has been generating a lot of Bruce news lately. I’ve heard the bad feng shui thing about his Cumberland place. I prefer the ‘assassinated by ninjas’ theory.

Did bad feng shui kill Bruce Lee? Talk continues to this day that it played a part in actor’s death
Forty-five years after he died, there is still speculation that the martial arts superstar died because of a curse, with Lee’s home at 41 Cumberland Road, Kowloon Tong, long rumoured to have suffered from bad feng shui theory about his
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 04 July, 2018, 7:04am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 04 July, 2018, 7:03am
Staff Reporter

According to a new biography, the Chinese icon also had English and Dutch-Jewish blood, and as an action star admired the whole world over he would have felt at home today

There’s still speculation that Bruce Lee died because of a curse. But according to the Post publication Memoirs of an Asian Moviegoer, the word at the time was that he was a victim of bad feng shui.

Quoting an article published a week after Lee’s death on July 20, 1973, the book says: “Lee’s sudden and untimely death last Friday immediately led a neighbour to say that he knew something bad was in the offing because a tree in the star’s home at Kowloon Tong was blown down by Typhoon Dot. [Typhoon Dot struck Hong Kong in July 1973, causing storm force winds and killing one person]. This, the neighbour claimed was a bad omen resulting in the death of Lee.”

Feng shui is a supernatural belief that the spatial arrangement of objects can have favourable or unfavourable effects on nearby people, their wealth or poverty, health and death. When moving into a new apartment, a geomancer is hired to arrange furniture so that the feng shui is benign, and architects sometimes consult geomancers while designing buildings.

Location can also play a role, with some areas being deemed to have bad feng shui. Kowloon Tong, where Lee lived at 41 Cumberland Road, was rumoured to have bad feng shui. (Lee did not die in Cumberland Road, but in the flat of actress Betty Ting Pei, at nearby 67 Beacon Hill Road.)

A neon sign shines outside the Romantic Hotel occupying the house where Lee lived in Kowloon Tong. Photo: Antony Dickson

“The Chinese press said that Bruce Lee knew about the bad feng shui prevailing in the area and he installed a feng shui deflector on the roof of his home in Cumberland Road,” the book says, quoting the same article. “This deflector, a pat kwe [bagua] – an octagon-shaped wooden frame with a mirror in the centre – was found missing after Typhoon Dot lashed Hong Kong. In the absence of it, Bruce Lee became vulnerable, some say. So the story goes that if he had lived elsewhere, Bruce Lee would have lived longer.”

Other reports suggest that Lee’s friends Unicorn Chan and Wu Ngan set up the deflector, as they had arranged for a geomancer to examine the property before Lee moved in. Lee himself was apparently not superstitious, but he didn’t object.

It was also rumoured that Lee’s choice of The Game of Death as the title of his next film was responsible for his death. “The Chinese press reported that film director Lo Wei [who directed Lee in The Big Boss and Fist of Fury] had warned him about the film’s name, which he said should be carefully chosen,” the book says, quoting the article.

Lee’s picture in a funeral parlour after his death. Photo: SCMP

Lee died of a cerebral oedema, although what brought that on has never been confirmed, and speculation has run rife since. The coroner’s inquest said that it may have been an allergic reaction to aspirin, and recorded a verdict of death by misadventure. In his biography Bruce Lee: A Life, Matthew Polly speculates that the cause of death might have been heatstroke.

In a television interview, Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan, who worked as a stuntman on the set of Lee’s Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon, said that the notion of any supernatural causes behind Lee’s death was ridiculous. “Everyone in Hong Kong knows what happened,” he said. “I don’t want to say it, but just Google it.”

[GeneChing]

Not to be a museum after all…

Too bad. I would’ve visited a museum.

Bruce Lee’s Hong Kong mansion to become Chinese studies centre
Charitable trust which owns the Kowloon Tong property to renovate it and use it to teach Mandarin and music
PUBLISHED : Monday, 19 November, 2018, 9:05am
UPDATED : Monday, 19 November, 2018, 9:05am
Gary Cheung
gary.cheung@scmp.com
http://twitter.com/garykwcheung

The former Hong Kong mansion of kung fu legend Bruce Lee will become a centre for Chinese studies next year to offer courses on Mandarin and music.

The sole trustee of the charitable trust which owns it – founded by late billionaire philanthropist Yu Pang-lin – said it would keep the external structure of the mansion at 41 Cumberland Road, Kowloon Tong, intact after a renovation.

Pang Chi-ping, also Yu’s grandson, said: “We will convert the mansion into a centre for Chinese studies next year, which provides courses like Mandarin and Chinese music for children.”

He said renovation work on the 5,699 sq ft property, which had recently fallen into disrepair, would start soon after the Lunar New Year and classes were expected to begin in September next year. About 400 children, from kindergarten to secondary school, will be trained at the centre every year.

He added: “We will keep the mosaic, which was left by Bruce Lee, on the back of the wall surrounding the mansion.”

Pang Chi-ping said renovation work on the property, which has fallen into disrepair, would start after the Lunar New Year. Photo: Nora Tam

The centre may also offer classes on martial arts in future. But Pang said the trust would not use Lee’s name on publicity for the renovated site because they did not possess the late kung fu legend’s image rights.

US-born Lee, who lived in Hong Kong as a child before returning to the US aged 18, taught martial arts and starred in many martial arts films. He spent his last years with his family in the Kowloon Tong mansion before his death on July 20, 1973, at the age of 32.

“I asked the court to validate my grandfather’s will to show filial piety to him”: Pang Chi-ping. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Yu Pang-lin, who bought the house in the early 1970s for about HK$1 million, planned to sell it in 2008 to raise funds for victims of the Sichuan earthquake that year. But he scrapped the idea when fans urged him to restore and preserve the property, affectionately known by Lee as the Crane’s Nest. At that time the house was being used as a short-stay love hotel.

The trust, which has assets estimated at HK$10 billion (US$1.28 billion), is also considering donations to Hong Kong’s universities for scholarships and cash help for students from poor families.

“We will also consider extending the scope of subsidies to secondary and primary school pupils in future,” Pang said.

He said the trust would launch projects targeting needy people, after finalising the legal formalities for his grandfather’s estate by the end of this year.

The trust will launch its first initiative next month by giving out 60,000 packages containing biscuits, towels and umbrellas to the elderly and needy families in Wan Chai. The initiative will cost HK$3 million.

Yu died in 2015 of an undisclosed illness in Shenzhen, mainland China, at the age of 92.

Raymond Chow, film producer who brought world Bruce Lee, dies at 91

That year, Pang asked the High Court to declare the will Yu made on July 21, 2011, giving his entire estate to charity, the “true last and final will”.

He also asked the court to override two caveats raised by Yu’s son Pang Ah-fan and grandson Pang San-hon.

In March, the High Court validated the will. The judge said the case illustrated “the better part of human personality”.

Yu Pang-lin died in 2015 in Shenzhen, at the age of 92. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Yu, a Hunan province native, moved to Hong Kong in 1958 and once worked as a toilet cleaner before making a fortune in the hotel and property business. He was named one of the world’s top 14 philanthropists by Time magazine.

“My grandfather had pledged to donate his full estate to charity. He would be seen as a cheat if his will is not implemented,” Pang Chi-ping said. “I asked the court to validate my grandfather’s will to show filial piety to him.”

[GeneChing]

Conserve Bruce’s crib

A facelift would be a waste of historic resource. Restoration is in order.

A file photo shows people placing flowers at the Bruce Lee statue on the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Shui. Photo: HK Govt

Home Hong Kong Local
Vincent Wong Wing
Dec 6, 2018 6:10pm
How to put Bruce Lee’s former home to best use

November 27 marked the 78th birth anniversary of the late Hong Kong kung-fu legend Bruce Lee Siu-lung.

Peng Zhibing, a grandson of the late philanthropist Yu Pengnian and director-general of the Yu Pengnian Charitable Foundation, which currently owns Lee’s former home in Kowloon Tong, recently gave an interview to HKEJ in which he vowed, just as his grandfather did, that he would never sell the mansion.

Meanwhile, Peng unveiled a plan to restore Lee’s home and turn it into a center for sinological studies, where Putonghua, radio broadcasting and Chinese musical instrument classes will reportedly be offered.

However, the plan has raised concerns as to whether the project would become politicized.

In particular, if carried out not carefully enough, Peng’s plan to restore Lee’s former home might end up being misunderstood by the public as a deceptive stunt to use the iconic premises to promote Putonghua, or even national education propaganda.

According to some of the details of Peng’s proposal, it appears he is planning to give the mansion a complete facelift, after which only an original wall painting picture will be preserved.

That means once the restoration project is completed, Lee’s house may not be recognizable at all, I believe.

In my view, the best way to prevent the project from becoming a well-intended flop is for Peng to take the lead in forming an advisory board on conserving Lee’s former home.

There need not be too many members on the advisory board, but the body itself must be broadly representative and have common touch, i.e. there must be local well-versed Bruce Lee fans on the board, while government officials or prominent public figures should take a backseat.

As far as the direction of how to conserve the mansion is concerned, the premises don’t intentionally have to be turned into a center for Chinese studies.

The highest principle would be that the project would strive to preserve as many original features of Lee’s home as possible, in order to debunk any conspiracy theory that there is a hidden agenda behind the plan.

In my opinion, it would be the best outcome if Lee’s home can be turned into a museum tea house run in the model of a social enterprise, where Bruce Lee memorabilia, books, etc collected from around the world will be on exhibition.

If this happens, the museum will become the undisputed holy land for Bruce Lee fans across the globe.

This article appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on Dec 5

Translation by Alan Lee

[GeneChing]

soon to be demolished

$500M HK crowdfunding? I think HK is too busy right now.

[URL=“https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3019386/bruce-lee-fan-club-appeals-hong-kong-government-save-kung-fu”]
Bruce Lee fan club appeals to Hong Kong government to save kung fu legend’s former mansion at Kowloon Tong, which is soon to be demolished
Bruce Lee Club wants to restore disused building and turn it into a museum devoted to the star, who died in 1973
House on Cumberland Road set to become Chinese studies centre but owner has no objection to government preserving it
Athena Chan
Published: 9:22pm, 19 Jul, 2019

Bruce Lee’s former mansion faces the wrecking ball but fans want to save it and keep it as a museum. Photo: Felix Wong

With Bruce Lee’s former Hong Kong mansion set to be torn down to make way for a Chinese studies centre in two weeks’ time, a fan club of the late kung fu legend has launched an international petition to urge the government to preserve the home, with the owner of the building offering no objection.
Wong Yiu-keung, chairman of the Bruce Lee Club, said at a press conference on Friday: “The building symbolises our collective memory of Bruce Lee, which should be treasured by Hong Kong people and the world. I hope the Hong Kong government will preserve the trace of this influential actor, martial artist and philosopher.”
If the government does not listen to the voice of the fans, the club said it would also consider crowdfunding the money to buy the site, which is where the martial arts master spent his last years with his family.
The club estimated that restoring the 5,699 sq ft property to how it looked when Lee lived there would cost around HK$100 million (US$12.8 million), while the estimated price of the site would be from HK$300 million to HK$400 million.
“I won’t say [crowdfunding] HK$500 million would be impossible, but I’m not very confident about it happening at short notice.”
The block at 41 Cumberland Road in Kowloon Tong is owned by the Yu Panglin Charitable Trust, founded by billionaire philanthropist Yu Pang-lin, who died in 2015.

Wong Yiu-keung, chairman of the Bruce Lee Club, says he wants the mansion to become a museum. Photo: Felix Wong

Last week, the trust told the Post it would begin demolishing the house in two weeks to make way for a Chinese studies centre, marking a change of heart by the trust, which had pledged to keep the property intact and improve it. It cited a consultant’s appraisal to justify the rethink, saying structural problems with the building made it difficult to maintain it.

The building at 41 Cumberland Road in Kowloon Tong is owned by the Yu Panglin Charitable Trust, founded by billionaire philanthropist Yu Pang-lin, who died in 2015. Photo: Felix Wong

In the online petition, the fan club suggested preserving the residence as a “Bruce Lee Memorial Hall”, as a unique international tourist attraction, an idea first raised by Wong in 2008 which met with no response.
Joey Lee Man-lung, vice-chairman of the charitable trust, said on Friday that he agreed with the fan club’s demands of the government to preserve the building as two generations of Yu’s family had also made the same call.
“The wish of the Bruce Lee Club was once ours, so we are not against the club’s raising the preservation request,” Lee said. “If the government responds positively, we would like to sit down and discuss any better suggestions.”
But the Development Bureau said on Friday it did not receive a preservation proposal from the building owner.
Yu Pang-lin bought the house in 1974 for about HK$1 million. At one point, according to historians, the building was used as a short-stay love hotel.
Yu had planned to sell it in 2008 to raise funds for victims of the Sichuan earthquake, but he dropped the idea when fans urged him to preserve the property and restore it.
The same year, Yu Pang-lin offered to donate the property to the government to turn it into a Bruce Lee museum. But after a two-year discussion, the plan was abandoned as they did not reach an agreement on Yu’s request to raise the maximum floor space allowed for the plot.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Fans of Bruce Lee take fight to save mansion global

[GeneChing]

Bruce Lee: Kung Fu, Art, Life

HONG KONG[URL=“https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article-hong-kongs-bruce-lee-kung-fu-art-life-exhibition-helps-dispel/”]
Hong Kong’s Bruce Lee: Kung Fu, Art, Life exhibition helps dispel Chinese stereotypes
PETER NOWAK
HONG KONG
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
PUBLISHED 19 HOURS AGO
UPDATED AUGUST 6, 2019

Chinese actor Bruce Lee’s legacy is enshrined at the Hong Kong Museum, tucked away from the city’s touristy hustle in quieter Tai Wai.

HANDOUT

Bruce Lee was a world-famous martial artist and actor, but to at least one fan, he was much more.

"He was the first person I heard say, ‘I’m proud to be Chinese,’” Jeff Chinn, a San Francisco-based collector of Bruce Lee memorabilia, says in a looping video documentary at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. “That made me proud.”

The actor’s legacy is enshrined at the museum, tucked away from the city’s touristy hustle in quieter Tai Wai. Comprising 850 square metres on the cavernous building’s second floor, the Bruce Lee: Kung Fu, Art, Life exhibit showcases his life and accomplishments through memorabilia, photos, videos and writings.

Lee was Hong Kong’s – and therefore China’s – first global star, breaking through as the kung-fu-fighting sidekick Kato on the 1960s TV show The Green Hornet before becoming a sensation in the 1970s through hit films such as The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon.

The success of the movies – driven by his fighting prowess and powerful charisma – launched the martial arts genre and supercharged the Hong Kong film industry. Many credit Lee, who died in 1973 from what is believed to be overexertion, with paving the way for Asian actors in Hollywood and thus allowing the likes of Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Donnie Yen to become stars in their own rights.

As Chinn – who has contributed more than 200 items to the exhibit – puts it, he also helped dispel Chinese stereotypes and uplift a generation of fans. The exhibit is thus a can’t-miss for aficionados of the genre and of Asian entertainment in general.

The Bruce Lee: Kung Fu, Art, Life exhibit showcases his life and accomplishments through memorabilia, photos, videos and writings.

HANDOUT

Aside from Lee’s workout equipment, movie posters and the famous yellow jumpsuit he wore in the 1972 film Game of Death, the exhibit also houses his personal notes and letters to his wife, Linda.

In those materials, he muses on a variety of subjects such as the proper way to dance the cha-cha and how much he missed Linda while on location, like when he was in Thailand filming The Big Boss (1971) or in Switzerland giving self defence lessons to director Roman Polanski.

The exhibit opened in 2013 and was supposed to run till 2018, but it has proved popular with more than 600,000 annual visitors, prompting an extension till at least next July (2020).

Still, the temporary nature of the exhibit – as well as Hong Kong’s overall reluctance to honour its martial arts film heritage – is exasperating to fans and historians alike.

For years, the city refused to fund even a statue to honour Lee. A 2.5-metre bronze monument is now part of the recently reopened harbourside Avenue of Stars, but only because a local fan club raised the necessary funding in 2005.

Despite that, Hong Kong was still ignominiously beaten to the honour by Mostar, a town in Bosnia of all places, where a statue was erected a few months before.

Ricardo Mak King-sang, director of the Advanced Institute for Contemporary China Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University and the author of a history of martial arts in the city, says there has been talk of turning Lee’s former house in Hong Kong into a permanent museum, but a tangible plan has yet to materialize.

“This is incomprehensible,” he says. “The whole idea has not worked and nobody knows why.”

A spokesperson for the Hong Kong Heritage Museum says the organization has been in contact with the Bruce Lee Foundation, the Los Angeles-based charity that promotes the actor’s image, about making the exhibit permanent, but she did not elaborate on details.

The Avenue of Stars, which reopened in January as part of a US$2.6 billion makeover of the Tsim Sha Tsui harbour-side area, does hold some appeal for fans of martial arts films. Aside from Lee’s statue, the 457-metre promenade mirrors Hollywood’s Walk of Fame with handprints and embossed signatures from Hong Kong’s film luminaries.

Jackie Chan is represented, as are other actors including Sammo Hung and Stephen Chow. Raymond Chow and Leonard Ho, producers and founders of Golden Harvest, the studio that churned out kung fu hits in the 1970s and 1980s, are also memorialized with plaques.

Aside from martial arts stars, the Avenue of Stars also pays tribute to other Hong Kong film greats, such as actress Anita Mui and Wong Kar-wai, director of films such as In the Mood for Love and Chungking Express.

Martial arts fans may also be interested in attending a performance at the Xiqu Centre, the US$346 million venue devoted to Chinese opera that also opened in January. Bruce’s father Lee Hoi-chuen and Jackie Chan were both performers in Chinese opera, which requires actors to move with martial-arts precision.

Kung fu aficionados can also take a class with Master Sam Lau in Kowloon. Now 72, Lau learned the art of Wing Chun under Yip Man, the same instructor who taught Lee and who has since been popularized in films starring Donnie Chen.

Lau also laments the lack of local emphasis on Hong Kong’s martial arts legacy. Most of the interest in its history these days is from foreigners.

“It’s regrettable that they don’t pay much attention to it.” he says.

Interesting in context of the HK protests now.

[GeneChing]

Crane’s Nest demolished

Bruce Lee’s last home is being demolished
Photo: Inkstone/Viola Zhou
by Viola Zhou

The former Hong Kong mansion of Bruce Lee is now being torn down, despite calls from Lee’s fans to preserve the property known as “Crane’s Nest” as a museum.

The two-story, 5,700 square-foot townhouse, located in the upscale district of Kowloon Tong, was where the martial arts legend spent his final years. But it will soon be demolished to make way for a Chinese cultural studies center.

The demolition work kicked off on Tuesday. In the morning, the entrance to the compound was locked, while several construction workers worked around the main building, which was surrounded by bamboo scaffolds.

The owner of the property said the existing building had fallen into disrepair. But the decision still disappointed Lee’s fans, who have for years lobbied the Hong Kong government to turn the site into a museum to honor the late actor, who passed away in 1973 but still has a massive global following.

Bruce Lee, his wife Linda Lee Cadwell and son Brandon and daughter Shannon were pictured in the 1970s. Photo: Bruce Lee Foundation

“The former home of a superstar is finally turning into ashes, since the property owner and the government gave up on saving it,” the Bruce Lee Club, a Hong Kong-based fan group, posted on its Facebook page on Tuesday.

Born in San Francisco and raised in Hong Kong, Lee is one of Hong Kong’s most famous and universally adored cultural icons.

But besides a statue on the seafront, a waxwork at Madame Tussaud’s and a temporary exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the city has few other tributes to Lee.

Some Hongkongers visited the mansion on its last day. Eleanor Xian, 50, said she came to take photos of the house for her family members, who were loyal fans of Lee.

“There’s nothing we can do,” Xian said. “Hong Kong’s land is too precious. It could only be used to make money, not for conservation.”

The demolition work of Lee’s former home kicked off on Tuesday. Photo: Inkstone/Viola Zhou

Lee lived in the house with his wife Linda and two children, Shannon and Brandon, after they moved to Hong Kong in 1971 in order to further his acting career.

After Lee died suddenly in 1973, his widow and children moved back to the US. The following year, Chinese businessman Yu Pang-lin, a toilet cleaner-turned-billionaire, bought the property for about HK$1 million or $127,000.

Many of Yu’s properties were rented by love hotel operators, earning him a moniker that he detested: “Love Hotel King.” The Lee house was also converted into a love hotel that charged guests by hour.

In 2010, Yu wanted to donate the place, worth millions of dollars, to the government to build a Bruce Lee museum, but the two sides failed to agree on a redevelopment plan.

Lee’s former home was pictured in November 2018. Photo: SCMP/Nora Tam

After Yu passed away in 2015, his entire estate, including the mansion, was donated to the Yu Panglin Charitable Trust.

The trust originally tried to renovate the house. But after assessing its condition, the trust estimated that repairs could cost $2.55 million, similar to the cost of demolishing the building and erecting a new one.

A new building, due to be finished next year, will house a Chinese studies center that teaches children subjects like Mandarin and Chinese music, according to the trust.

Viola Zhou
Viola is a multimedia producer at Inkstone. Previously, she wrote about Chinese politics for the South China Morning Post.

Sad to hear that after all that talk, nothing was accomplished.

[GeneChing]

More on Bruce’s mansion

Kung fu legend Bruce Lee’s former mansion demolished
Gary Cheung, South China Morning Post
Posted at Oct 08 2019 08:52 AM

Born in the United States, Bruce Lee lived in his home in Kowloon Tong before his untimely death in 1973. Handout photo via South China Morning Post

Bruce Lee’s former home has been torn down despite a decade-long campaign by fans of the late kung fu legend to preserve the mansion.

Demolition work on the two-story building at 41 Cumberland Road in Kowloon Tong was finished on Sept. 28.

Only a mosaic left by Lee on the wall outside the mansion, and four window frames from the building that will be installed in the center for Chinese studies to be built on the original site, remains.

Joey Lee Man-lung, vice-chairman of the management committee of the Yu Panglin Charitable Trust which owned the house, said they regretted the failure to preserve the building after the trust did not receive any new proposals from the government to preserve the home.

In November last year, the trust said it planned to turn the house into a center for Chinese studies to offer courses on Mandarin and music.

In July, it was decided to demolish the mansion after structural problems were discovered that made maintaining the building unfeasible.

The appraisal of the consultant hired by the trust, carried out earlier this year, found that concrete spalling had deteriorated on a large number of reinforced concrete beams. The report described the condition of the concrete as “extremely bad”.

Based on the consultant’s assessment, Joey Lee estimated renovating and repairing the 5,699 sq ft property would cost about HK$20 million (US$2.55 million), similar to the cost of demolishing the building and erecting a new one.

The Yu Panglin Charitable Trust was founded by billionaire philanthropist Yu Pang-lin who died in 2015.

Joey Lee said the construction of the new building was expected to be completed by August next year.

Bruce Lee lived in Hong Kong as a child before returning to the United States, where he was born, at the age of 18. He taught martial arts and starred in many films, rising to global stardom.

He spent his last years with his family in the Kowloon Tong mansion before his sudden death on July 20, 1973, at the age of 32.

Yu bought the house in 1974 for about HK$1 million. At one point, according to historians, the house was used as a short-stay love hotel.

The billionaire had planned to sell it in 2008 to raise funds for victims of the Sichuan earthquake, but dropped the idea when fans urged him to preserve the property and restore it. Bruce Lee affectionately called the mansion The Crane’s Nest.

Yu had offered to donate the house to the government for it to be turned into a Bruce Lee museum. He asked the government to relax land usage restrictions and allow him to build two or three basement floors so the proposed museum could include a cinema, martial arts training center, library and exhibition hall.

But Yu and officials failed to reach an agreement and the plan was scrapped in 2011.

Bruce Lee’s former home on 41 Cumberland Road in Kowloon Tong has been demolished. Martin Chan, South China Morning Post

The Bruce Lee Club launched an international online petition in July to urge the government to preserve the kung fu legend’s former mansion.

Wong Yiu-keung, the club’s chairman, criticized the government for abandoning the plan to preserve the house, when there had been a good chance to reach a deal nearly 10 years ago.

“The government has let all Hongkongers and Lee’s fans around the world down,” Wong said.

“If you ask me how I feel about the demolition of Bruce Lee’s house, I would condemn this government.”

A spokesman for the Development Bureau said on Friday the building was not a graded historic building, and the bureau had not received any conservation proposals from the owner.

“We will explore suitable economic incentives to encourage owners to conserve their graded historic buildings,” the spokesman said. “The form of economic incentives will be considered on a case-by-case basis having regard to the circumstances of each individual case.”

Cumberland blues…

[GeneChing]

Slightly OT

Bruce Lee’s studio in L.A.'s Chinatown has reopened after 50 years
“It’s a landmark. The teaching, philosophy, and mindset of Bruce Lee have influenced people and martial arts around the world for decades," studio owner Eric Carr said.

Bruce Lee on the set of “Enter the Dragon” in 1973.Sunset Boulevard / Corbis via Getty Images
Oct. 23, 2019, 2:07 PM PDT
By Kimmy Yam

Bruce Lee’s martial arts studio in Los Angeles’ Chinatown has been resurrected nearly 50 years after it shut its doors.

This past Sunday, martial artist Eric Carr reopened the place where the iconic Lee originally taught his students his personal style of Jeet Kune Do (JKD), which translates to “way of intercepting fist.”

Carr, whose teacher Jerry Poteet was one of Lee’s select, original students, told NBC News in a phone interview that he felt compelled to resurrect the studio to preserve the martial arts legend’s legacy and to continue Poteet’s mission.

“It’s a landmark. The teaching, philosophy, and mindset of Bruce Lee have influenced people and martial arts around the world for decades,” Carr said. Poteet, who privately trained with Lee at both his house and studio and died in 2012, dedicated his life to keeping the art of JKD alive, Carr added.

"It was Jerry’s wish for everyone he trained to carry the flame,” Carr said. “This was my small part in giving back and bringing the art home and accomplishing a dream on my own path.”

The studio had remained relatively vacant since 1969, aside from a stint as a dentist’s office. Though Lee, who died in 1973, had opened other studios in Seattle’s Chinatown, the L.A. location was his only one in the area. While there, he taught his fighting style and philosophy, one that’s rooted in the interception of an opponent’s technique or intent. The principles of simplicity, directness and freedom are also key to Jeet Kune Do.

Carr, who says he consulted Lee’s family in the reopening process, explained that he aims to pass the craft on to future generations in its pure form, offering one-on-one classes, seminars and children’s classes.

“JKD is the life’s work of Bruce Lee, and I want to offer an authentic experience and will stick to the essence of Jeet Kune Do, Bruce’s methods and his philosophy, and personal training mindset and spirit,” he said.

Lee has remained a critical figure among Asian Americans and beyond because of his work in both martial arts and entertainment. He not only prompted a wave of martial arts-themed movies in Hollywood, but also served as an emblem of strength and power during a time when many Asian male actors were constrained to the stereotypical roles of threatening villains or sexless nerds.

For Carr, Lee is “proof of what’s possible in life, in the face of adversity,” which is why he personally felt it important the martial artist’s teachings remain alive.

“He has in many ways paved ways for humanity as well as martial artists. His study, exploration, path, message and philosophy, approach to unity and self expression, can be applied to any area of life, and he gives us examples and clues on how to accomplish whatever we put our energy towards,” Carr said.

Though the studio has been open for only a few days, Carr says it’s been well received with many potential students who are interested in training in authentic JKD while in Lee’s actual studio, just as others had decades ago.

“They want to be close to the man who has had such an influence in their lives,” he said, “and become a part of that history and live the experience.”

Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee’s daughter, did not return NBC News’ request for comment.

Carr has his advertising worked out, as long as Shannon doesn’t shut him down.

[GeneChing]

An ad for this just popped up on one of my feeds

GOLD MOUNTAIN: CHINESE CALIFORNIAN STORIES
All-new signature exhibition opening January 26, 2020

Discover the history and contributions of Chinese Americans to California from the Gold Rush to the present day in Gold Mountain: Chinese California Stories.

This all-new signature exhibition explores how Chinese immigrants came to California in search of a better life, then stayed and helped to build the modern state. In so doing over the last 150 years, they triumphed over racism and other obstacles with ingenuity and perseverance.

In their stories, visitors will see the contributions that Californians of Chinese descent have made to our states economy, governance, and culture, and recognize the strength that comes from the states rich diversity.

I hope to make it over for this but I’m already scheduled for JAN 26. It’s the day after CNY.

THREADS
Chinese-American Museums
Bruce Lee Museums and Gallery Exhibits

[GeneChing]

We Are Bruce Lee

“We Are Bruce Lee” Exhibit at CHSA in SF Chinatown (Opening Fall 2021)

BE DONORS, MY FRIENDS
Your donation helps the Chinese Historical Society of America create a major exhibition on the legacy of Bruce Lee to engage, teach and inspire visitors from around the world.

GIVE YOUR SUPPORT
Your donations are essential for the build out of the We Are Bruce Lee exhibit, development of related programs, marketing, and operations for the exhibit, which is expected to run for five years. Through their generosity, all of our exhibit team and advisors have devoted pro bono hours to develop this exhibit. The We Are Bruce Lee exhibit in San Francisco Chinatown is presented by the Chinese Historical Society of America, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization dedicated to promoting the history, culture and legacy of the Chinese in America. Your donations are tax deductible, CHSA Federal Tax ID 94-6122446.

Questions? Contact CHSA Interim Executive Director Pam Wong at pwong@chsa.org.

UPCOMING EVENTS
[URL=“https://www.wearebrucelee.org/events”]NOV
27
BIRTHDAY BLITZ

In celebration of Bruce Lees 80th birthday on November 27, 2020, join us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the first sneak peek of the We Are Bruce Lee exhibition, including interviews and surprise guest appearances. Talk show personality Toan Lam hosts. To receive show updates and exhibit news, sign our mailing list.

Shannon Lee mentioned November 80th birthday celebrations when I interviewed her for Warrior and her book Be Water, My Friend: The Teachings of Bruce Lee

[GeneChing]

We Are Bruce Lee SF Birthday Blitz: Collectors Film Trailer

//youtu.be/CybcKwIjxW0

This needs it’s own thread independent of Bruce-Lee-Museums-and-Gallery-Exhibits

[GeneChing]

Academy Museum

[URL=“https://www.academymuseum.org/en/exhibitions/stories-of-cinema/soc2/significant-movies-and-moviemakers/bruce-lee”]SIGNIFICANT MOVIES AND MOVIEMAKERS:
BRUCE LEE

Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon (Hong Kong/USA, 1973). Courtesy of Core Collection, Production Files, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Bruce Lee (1940–1973) left behind a legacy that transcends generations, genres, and cultures. Lee got his start acting in Hong Kong as a child and began martial arts training at age 13. His first US role, as Kato on the 1960s television show The Green Hornet (1966–67), combined his acting and fighting skills. Fame did not immediately follow. After struggling to find work in Hollywood, Lee returned to Hong Kong and went on to achieve international stardom for martial arts films including The Way of the Dragon (Meng long guo jiang, Hong Kong, 1972)—which he wrote, directed, and coproduced—and Enter the Dragon (Hong Kong/USA, 1973). Despite his untimely death at the age of 32, Lee remains one of the most iconic performers of all time.

Significant Movies and Moviemakers: Bruce Lee considers the career of the multi-talented producer, actor, director, and martial artist through his own writings and through key objects from his filmography. Visitors encounter rare materials such as hand-drawn fight-scene choreography for an iconic moment in Enter the Dragon, as well as a more philosophical text written by Lee. Among other objects, the gallery also features a pair of nunchaku used by Lee as well as a costume from Enter the Dragon next to a fast-paced montage of famous fight scenes.

Special exhibit at the Academy of Motion Pictures Museum.