Hong Kong museum lauds legendary life of kung fu actor Bruce Lee

"Bruce Lee: a Timeless Classic" opened to the public on Wednesday at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum to commemorate the death of the kung fu actor 50 years ago.

Entering the exhibition hall, a bust of Bruce Lee in his classic yellow track suit worn in the film "Game of Death" takes center stage, attracting many visitors to pose for a photo and pay tribute to the film star who helped popularize martial arts movies in the 1970s.
Other exhibits include magazines, stamps and posters related to Lee. The museum is showing some of Lee’s most famous films to showcase his on-screen persona, and is also holding a four-day camp with the Bruce Lee Foundation to invite 30 Hong Kong pupils to learn about Lee’s achievements and his philosophy on life.

The internationally renowned megastar Lee was born in San Francisco, the United States in 1940 and grew up in Hong Kong. He appeared in his first film while as an infant, serving as a stand-in for an American baby in "Golden Gate Girl" (1941).
From 1946 onwards, Lee appeared in roughly 20 films as a child actor, including "My Son A-Chang" in 1950 that gained him recognition as an emerging free-spirited star. He also studied kung fu and dance during his years in Hong Kong before returning to the U.S. at the age of 18.
In the United States, Lee impressed audiences with his kung fu roles in the TV series "The Green Hornet," the TV show "Ironside and Longstreet" and the film "Marlowe" – a film noted for a scene where Lee destroyed an entire office using kickboxing and karate moves within the space of a minute. In the 1960s, He opened several martial arts schools in the U.S. and mostly taught a style he called Jeet Kune Do, or "The Way of the Intercepting Fist."

However, contrary to the general belief in America that an Asian actor couldn't attract audiences in a lead role, Lee left the U.S. for Hong Kong in 1971 and starred in a number of classic kung fu movies, including "The Big Boss," "Fist of Fury," "The Way of the Dragon" and "Enter the Dragon." He broke box-office records throughout Asia through these films, and his achievements in martial arts took the world by storm and made him an international icon. In 1973, during the time he was working on the film "Game of Death," Lee suddenly died from a swelling of the brain caused by an allergic reaction to headache medication.
Although his life ended at the age of just 32, Lee managed to create a legacy of his own and for Chinese martial arts in both China and across the world, thanks to his persistence in combining martial arts with cinema and creating a positive image of Chinese people.