Hong Kong: Celebrating Our Home: Volume 4, Autumn 2007 p14

Sifu Yip Man

© 1989, Lee, Linda

Bruce practicing Kung Fu

© 1989, Lee, Linda

Bruce acted in movie The Big Boss.

© 1989, Lee, Linda.

Be water like Bruce Lee?

by Gary Wong Kwok Leung

To most Hong Kong people, the most legendary Chinese Kung Fu star in their minds is Bruce Lee.

Bruce’s life was full of mysteries. His Kung Fu and action movies left a strong impression in people’s

minds all over the world. This article will tell you some background information about Bruce Lee’s life,

how he brought about pride to Hong Kong people and how Hong Kong people can celebrate him. You

will soon know why so many people in the world admire and appreciate this Hong Kong-made Kung

Fu master so much although he passed away 34 years ago.

Bruce learnt Kung Fu in his childhood only to protect himself; he never thought

of being a super-star one day. Bruce’s parents and baby Bruce returned to

Hong Kong when he was three-month-old from San Francisco. Since then,

they had lived in Hong Kong for 18 years. Bruce was a talented child and later

he began to attend the prestigious school La Salle College. By that time, he

was just a weak child and knew nothing about Kung Fu. As Hong Kong was a

British Colony at that time, English boys often bullied little Bruce and

sometimes he got into fight with them. These laid the reason for him to learn

martial arts. When he was 13 years old, he had his first and the only master in

his life – Master Yip Man, a teacher of Wing Chun style of Kung Fu. That was

the start of Bruce Lee’s life of Kung Fu (Lee, 1975).

Bruce helped promoting Hong Kong-made movies and

action stars to the world. He took part in 5 movies,

namely The Big Boss, Fists of fury, Way of the Dragon,

Enter the Dragon and Game of Death (Bruce Lee

Foundation, 2006). The public was fascinated by

Bruce’s Kung Fu and soon he became one of the most

famous action stars in

the world. People from

the world began to

notice Hong Kong Kung Fu movies, and some Hong Kong-made

Kung Fu stars such as Jackie Chan and Jet Lee learnt from Bruce’s

movies.

Bruce also promoted Kung Fu to all over the world. He set up Jun Fan

Jeet Kune Do (“Jun Fan” is Bruce’s Chinese name), a kind of Kung Fu

that included techniques of several types of fighting in the world but it

was more practical. Jeet means “intercepting” or “stopping”, “Kune”

means “fists”, and Do is “the way”. In English then, Jeet Kune Do is

Hong Kong: Celebrating Our Home: Volume 4, Autumn 2007 p15

Membership card of Jun Fan Kung Fu Institute

© 1989, Lee, Linda

“the way of intercepting the fist” (Bruce Lee Foundation, 2006). Bruce also established Jun Fan Gung

Fu Institute all over the world, aimed at teaching people from different nations Kung Fu. This made

people all over the world become aware of Kung Fu – one of the greatest arts of the Chinese.

“Empty your mind. Be Formless, shapeless-

like water. If you put water into a cup, it

becomes the cup. You put it into a bottle, it

becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it

becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or

it can brash. Be water, my friend,” said

Bruce Lee in an interview (Little, 1999). His

life is just like water, formless and shapeless.

Thirty-four years after his death, his Kung Fu

Institute and Kung Fu movies still have great

influences in the world. As Bruce is one of

the most important people in Hong Kong, we

should treasure everything about him. To celebrate this Hong Kong-made super star, we should learn

more about him and help promoting the arts of Kung Fu to people all over the world. This Hong Kong-

made Chinese is forever a superstar in the hearts of all Hong Kong people, and also the world.

References

Bruce Lee foundation. 2006. Timeline. <http://www.bruceleefoundation.com>

Retrieved 20 March 2007.

Lee, L. 1975. The Tao of Jeet Kune Do. United States of America: Ohara Publications, Inc.

Lee, L. 1989. The Bruce Lee Story. United States of America: Ohara Publications, Inc.

Little, J.R. 1999. Bruce Lee – Words from a Master. United States of America: Contemporary Books.