Five-year exhibition of Bruce Lee opens in Hong Kong

Marking the 40^th^ anniversary of the passing away of the internationally renowned martial arts movie star Bruce Lee, a large-scale exhibition “Bruce Lee: Kung Fu, Art, Life is being presented at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum on Saturday.

Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary John Tsang attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition held on Friday, and Shannon Lee, Lee’s daughter guided a media preview.

Occupying a total area of 850 square meters, the exhibition features more than 600 precious relics related to Bruce Lee on loan from a number of local and overseas collectors, including memorabilia of Lee and his costumes, books and gym equipment, as well as his articles.

Familiar items, such as the yellow tracksuit Lee wore in “Game of Death, will be on display.

Bruce Lee's yellow tracksuit, which he wore in his last film Game of Death on display. (APD/Alyssa Lin)

Died at the age of 32, Bruce Lee starred in only five films as an adult, and only three of them were released before his early death.

As Hong Kong’s city legacy, Bruce Lee enjoys great popularity in the U.S. as a Kung Fu star and influenced Chinese children who were brought up there.

Kenneth Hao, a Chinese American collector of Lee’s conceptual drawings for the fight scenes in the film Enter the Dragon, who loaned his collections to the exhibition told APD that to him, the most exciting part of Lee has been how he had redefined the Asian male. “Bruce Lee stimulated enormous pride and interest not only in just Chinese American boys, but any boy under certain age, Hao said.

Bruce Lee's conceptual drawings for the fight scenes in the film Enter the Dragon . (APD/Alyssa Lin)

“I grew up in the U.S as an immigrant, trying to define yourself, especially as a Chinese American is not that easy, he said. “A lot of Chinese Americans are viewed as very humble, quiet and academic. Bruce Lee was something very different, he was much more exciting and charismatic.

Grew up in the U.S. in the 1970, Hao said even today, Lee’s life was very interesting to him as a 40-year-old man for the way Lee drove himself and fought for his life. “Bruce Lee was not just an action figure, he was something much more important, in terms of the intelligence, his personal philosophy, and how he influence so may other actors in Martial arts.

The exhibition will run for the next five years at the museum in Shatin, and it is an alternative of converting Lee’s former Kowloon Tong home into a museum in commemoration. According to the government, many discussions have been held with the property owner over a two-year period, but an acceptable proposal could not be agreed upon.