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Bruce
Lee Biography
Bruce Lee (Chinese: 李小龍; pinyin: Lǐ Xiăolóng, born Lee Jun-fan (Chinese: 李振藩; pinyin: Lǐ Zhènfān); 27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973) was a Chinese American[2] and Hong Kong actor,[3] martial arts instructor,[4] philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement. He is considered one of the most influential martial artists of the 20th century, and a cultural icon.[5]
Lee was born in San Francisco, California in the United States, to parents of Hong Kong heritage but raised in Hong Kong until his late teens. Upon reaching the age of 18, Lee emigrated to the United States to claim his U.S. Citizenship[6]
and receive his higher education. It was during this time he began
teaching martial arts, which soon led to film and television roles.
His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, and sparked a major surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West in the 1970s. The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in Hong Kong and the rest of the world as well. He is noted for his roles in five feature-length films, Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Way of the Dragon (1972), directed and written by Lee; Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973), directed by Robert Clouse; and The Game of Death (1978), directed by Lee.
Lee became an iconic figure known throughout the world and remains very popular among Asian audience and in particular among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese nationalism through his films.[7] While Lee initially trained in Wing Chun,
he later rejected well-defined martial art styles, favoring instead to
utilize useful techniques from various sources in the spirit of his
personal martial arts philosophy he dubbed Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist). Lee was born on 27 November 1940 at the Chinese Hospital in Chinatown, San Francisco.[8] His father Lee Hoi-chuen was Chinese, and his mother Grace Ho (何愛瑜), a Catholic, was of German and Chinese ancestry.[9][10][11][12] Lee was the fourth child of five children: Agnus, Phoebe, Peter, and Robert. Lee and his parents returned to Hong Kong when he was three months old.[13]
Names
Lee's Cantonese given name was Jun-fan.[14]
The name literally means "return again"; it was given to Lee by his
mother, who felt he would return to the United States once he came to of
age.[9] Because of his mother's superstitious nature, she originally named him Sai-fon, which is a girl's name.[15] The English name "Bruce" was thought to be given by the hospital attending physician, Dr. Mary Glover.[16]
Lee had three other Chinese names: Li Yuanxin (李源鑫), a family/clan name; Li Yuanjian (李元鑒), as a student name while he was attending La Salle College, and his Chinese stage name Li Xiaolong (李小龍; Xiaolong means "young dragon"). Lee's given name Jun-fan was originally written in Chinese as 震藩, however, the Jun (震) Chinese character was identical to part of his grandfather's name, Lee Jun-biu (李震彪). Hence, the Chinese character for Jun in Lee's name was changed to the homonym 振 instead, to avoid naming taboo in Chinese tradition.
Family
Lee's father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was one of the leading Cantonese opera and film actors at the time, and was embarking on a year-long Cantonese opera tour with his family on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. Lee Hoi-chuen had been touring the United States for many years and performing at numerous Chinese communities there.
Although a number of his peers decided to stay in the United States, Lee Hoi-chuen decided to go back to Hong Kong
after his wife gave birth to Bruce Lee. Within months, Hong Kong was
invaded and the Lees lived for three years and eight months under Japanese occupation.
After the war ended, Lee Hoi-chuen resumed his acting career and became
a more popular actor during Hong Kong's rebuilding years.
Lee's mother, Grace Ho, was from one of the wealthiest and most powerful clans in Hong Kong, the Ho-tungs. She was the niece of Sir Robert Ho-tung,[17][18]
patriarch of the clan. As such, the young Bruce Lee grew up in an
affluent and privileged environment. Despite this advantage of his
family's status and because of the mass number of people fleeing communist China to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong neighborhood Lee grew up in became over-crowded, dangerous, and full of gang rivalries:[15]
Post-war Hong Kong was a tough place to grow up. Gangs ruled the
city streets and Lee was often forced to fight them. But Bruce liked a
challenge and faced his adversaries head on. To his parents dismay,
Bruce's street fighting continued and the violent nature of his
confrontations was escalating.
After being involved in several street fights, Lee's parents decided
that he needed to be trained in the martial arts. Lee's first
introduction to martial arts was through his father. He learned the
fundamentals of Wu style tai chi chuan from his father.[19]
Wing Chun
The largest influence on Lee's martial arts development was his study of Wing Chun. Lee began training in Wing Chun at the age of 13 under the Wing Chun teacher Yip Man in 1954, after losing a fight with rival gang members. Yip's regular classes generally consisted of the forms practice, chi sao (sticking hands) drills, wooden dummy techniques, and free-sparring.[20] There was no set pattern to the classes.[20]
Yip tried to keep his students from fighting in the street gangs of
Hong Kong by encouraging them to fight in organized competitions.[21]
After a year into his Wing Chun training, most of Yip Man's other
students refused to train with Lee after they learnt of his ancestry
(his mother was of half-German ancestry) as the Chinese generally were
against teaching their martial arts techniques to non-Asians.[22][23]
Lee's sparring partner, Hawkins Cheung states, "Probably fewer than six
people in the whole Wing Chun clan were personally taught, or even
partly taught, by Yip Man".[24] However, Lee showed a keen interest in Wing Chun, and continued to train privately with Yip Man and Wong Shun Leung in 1955.[25]
Leaving Hong Kong
After attending Tak Sun School (德信學校) (a couple of blocks from his home at 218 Nathan Road, Kowloon), Lee entered the primary school division of La Salle College
in 1950 or 1952 (at the age of 12). In around 1956, due to poor
academic performance (or possibly poor conduct as well), he was
transferred to St. Francis Xavier's College (high school) where he would be mentored by Brother Edward, a Catholic monk (originally from Germany spending his entire adult life in China and then Hong Kong), teacher, and coach of the school boxing team.
In the spring of 1959, Lee got into yet another street fight and the police were called.[26] From all the way to his late teens, Lee's street fights became more frequent and included beating up the son of a feared triad family. Eventually, Lee's father decided for him to leave Hong Kong to pursue a safer and healthier avenue in the United States. His parents confirmed the police's fear that this time Lee's opponent had an organized crime background, and there was the possibility that a contract was out for his life.
The police detective came and he says "Excuse me Mr. Lee, your son
is really fighting bad in school. If he gets into just one more fight I
might have to put him in jail".
In April 1959, Lee's parents decided to send him to the United States
to meet up with his older sister Agnes Lee (李秋鳳), who was already
living with family friends in San Francisco.
New life in America
At the age of 18, Lee returned to the United States with $100 in his pocket and the titles of 1957 High School Boxing Champion and 1958 Crown colony Cha Cha Champion of Hong Kong.[8] After living in San Francisco for several months, he moved to Seattle in 1959, to continue his high school education, where he also worked for Ruby Chow as a live-in waiter at her restaurant.
Chow's husband was a co-worker and friend of Lee's father. Lee's
older brother Peter Lee (李忠琛) would also join him in Seattle for a short
stay before moving on to Minnesota to attend college. In December 1960, Lee completed his high school education and received his diploma from Edison Technical School (now Seattle Central Community College, located on Capitol Hill, Seattle).
In March 1961, Lee enrolled at the University of Washington, majoring in drama according to the university's alumni association information,[27] not in philosophy as claimed by Lee himself and many others. Lee also studied philosophy, psychology, and various other subjects.[28][29] It was at the University of Washington that he met his future wife Linda Emery, a fellow student studying to become a teacher, whom he married in August 1964.
Lee had two children with Linda Emery, Brandon Lee (1965–1993) and Shannon Lee (b. 1969).
Jun Fan Gung Fu
Lee began teaching martial arts in the United States in 1959. He
called what he taught Jun Fan Gung Fu (literally Bruce Lee's Kung Fu).
It was basically his approach to Wing Chun.[30] Lee taught friends he met in Seattle, starting with Judo practitioner Jesse Glover,
who later became his first assistant instructor. Lee opened his first
martial arts school, named the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, in
Seattle.
Lee dropped out of college in the spring of 1964 and moved to Oakland to live with James Yimm Lee
(嚴鏡海). James Lee was twenty years senior to Bruce Lee and a well known
Chinese martial artist in the area. Together, they founded the second
Jun Fan martial art studio in Oakland. James Lee was also responsible
for introducing Bruce Lee to Ed Parker, royalty of the U.S. martial arts world and organizer of the Long Beach International Karate Championships at which Bruce Lee was later "discovered" by Hollywood.
Jeet Kune Do
The Jeet Kune Do emblem is a registered trademark held by the Bruce Lee Estate. The Chinese characters around the Taijitu
symbol read: "Using no way as way" and "Having no limitation as
limitation" The arrows represent the endless interaction between yang
and yin.[31]
Main article: Jeet Kune Do
Jeet Kune Do originated in 1967. After taping one season of "The
Green Hornet", a show later replaced by "Batman", Lee found himself out
of work and opened The Jun Fan Institute of Gung Fu. A controversial
match with Wong Jack Man
influenced Lee's philosophy about martial arts. Lee concluded that the
fight had lasted too long and that he had failed to live up to his
potential using his Wing Chun
techniques. He took the view that traditional martial arts techniques
were too rigid and formalistic to be practical in scenarios of chaotic street fighting.
Lee decided to develop a system with an emphasis on "practicality,
flexibility, speed, and efficiency". He started to use different methods
of training such as weight training
for strength, running for endurance, stretching for flexibility, and
many others which he constantly adapted, including fencing and basic
boxing techniques.
Lee emphasized what he called "the style of no style". This consisted
of getting rid of the formalized approach which Lee claimed was
indicative of traditional styles. Lee felt the system he now called Jun
Fan Gung Fu was even too restrictive, and eventually evolved into a
philosophy and martial art he would come to call Jeet Kune Do or the Way of the Intercepting Fist.
It is a term he would later regret because Jeet Kune Do implied
specific parameters that styles connote whereas the idea of his martial
art was to exist outside of parameters and limitations.[32]
Long Beach International Karate Championships
At the invitation of Ed Parker, Lee appeared in the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships[33] and performed repetitions of two-finger pushups
(using the thumb and the index finger of one hand) with feet at
approximately a shoulder-width apart. In the same Long Beach event he
also performed the "One inch punch",[34]
the description of which is as follows: Lee stood upright, his right
foot forward with knees bent slightly, in front of a standing,
stationary partner. Lee's right arm was partly extended and his right
fist approximately an inch away from the partner's chest. Without
retracting his right arm, Lee then forcibly delivered the punch to his
partner while largely maintaining his posture, sending the partner
backwards and falling into a chair said to be placed behind the partner
to prevent injury, though his partner's momentum soon caused him to fall
to the floor. His volunteer was Bob Baker of Stockton, California.
"I told Bruce not to do this type of demonstration again", Baker
recalled. "When he punched me that last time, I had to stay home from
work because the pain in my chest was unbearable".[35]
It was at the 1964 championships where Lee first met Taekwondo master Jhoon Goo Rhee. The two developed a friendship — a relationship from which they benefited as martial artists. Rhee taught Lee the side kick in detail, and Lee taught Rhee the "non-telegraphic" punch.[36]
Lee appeared at the 1967 Long Beach International Karate Championships and performed various demonstrations, including the famous "unstoppable punch" against USKA world Karate champion Vic Moore.[33]
Lee told Moore that he was going to throw a straight punch to the face,
and all he had to do was to try and block it. Lee took several steps
back and asked if Moore was ready, when Moore nodded in affirmation, Lee
glided towards him until he was within striking range. He then threw a
straight punch directly at Moore's face, and stopped before impact. In
eight attempts, Moore failed to block any of the punches.[37]
Fight history
Lee was involved in competitive fights, some of which were arranged while others were not. Dan Inosanto stated, "There's no doubt in my mind that if Bruce Lee had gone into pro boxing, he could easily have ranked in the top three in the lightweight division or junior-welterweight division".[38]
Lee defeated three-time champion British boxer Gary Elms by way of knockout in the third round in the 1958 Hong Kong Inter-School amateur Boxing Championships by using Wing Chun traps and high/low-level straight punches.[39]
The following year, Lee became a member of the "Tigers of Junction
Street," and was involved in numerous gang-related street fights. "In
one of his last encounters, while removing his jacket the fellow he was
squaring off against sucker punched him and blackened his eye. Bruce
flew into a rage and went after him, knocking him out, breaking his
opponent's arm. The police were called as a result".[40] The incident took place on a Hong Kong rooftop at 10 P.M. on Wednesday, April 29, 1959.[41]
In 1962, Lee knocked out Uechi, a Japanese black belt Karateka,
in 11 seconds in a 1962 Full-Contact match in Seattle. It was refereed
by Jesse Glover. The incident took place in Seattle at a YMCA handball
court. Taki Kamura says the battle lasted 10 seconds in contrary to
Harts statement.[42]
Ed Hart states "The karate man arrived in his gi (uniform), complete
with black belt, while Bruce showed up in his street clothes and simply
took off his shoes. The fight lasted exactly 11 seconds – I know because
I was the time keeper – and Bruce had hit the guy something like 15
times and kicked him once. I thought he'd killed him".[43] The fight ended by Bruce knocking Uechi the length of the gymnasium.[44]
In Oakland, California in 1964 at Chinatown, Lee had a controversial private match with Wong Jack Man, a direct student of Ma Kin Fung known for his mastery of Xingyiquan, Northern Shaolin, and Tai chi chuan.
According to Lee, the Chinese community issued an ultimatum to him to
stop teaching non-Chinese; when he refused to comply he was challenged
to a combat match with Wong, the arrangement being that if Lee lost he
would have to shut down his school while if he won then Lee would be
free to teach Caucasians or anyone else.[40]
Wong denies this, stating that he requested to fight Lee after Lee
issued an open challenge during one of Lee's demonstrations at a
Chinatown theater, and that Wong himself did not discriminate against
Caucasians or other non-Chinese.[45] "That paper had all the names of the sifu from Chinatown, but they don't scare me". — Bruce Lee[46]
Individuals known to have witnessed the match included Cadwell, James
Lee (Bruce Lee's associate, no relation) and William Chen, a teacher of
Tai chi chuan. Wong and witness William Chen stated that the fight
lasted an unusually long 20–25 minutes.[45] According to Bruce Lee, Linda Lee Cadwell, and James Yimm Lee,
the fight lasted 3 minutes with a decisive victory for Bruce. "The
fight ensued, it was a no holds barred fight, it took three minutes.
Bruce got this guy down to the ground and said 'do you give up?' and the
man said he gave up". — Linda Lee Cadwell[40]
Wong Jack Man published his own account of the battle in the Chinese Pacific Weekly, a Chinese-language newspaper in San Francisco, which contained another challenge to Lee for a public rematch.[45]
Lee had no reciprocation to Wong's article nor were there any further
public announcements by either, but Lee had continued to teach
Caucasians.
Lee's eventual celebrity put him in the path of a number of men who
sought to make a name for themselves by causing a confrontation with
Lee. A challenger had invaded Lee's private home in Hong Kong
by trespassing into the backyard to incite Lee in combat. Lee finished
the challenger violently with a kick, infuriated over the home invasion.
Describing the incident, Herb Jackson states,
One time one fellow got over that wall, got into his yard and
challenged him and he says 'how good are you?' And Bruce was poppin mad.
He [Bruce] says 'he gets the idea, this guy, to come and invade my
home, my own private home, invade it and challenge me.' He said he got
so mad that he gave the hardest kick he ever gave anyone in his life.[47]
Bob Wall, USPK karate champion and Lee's co-star in Enter the Dragon,
recalled one encounter that transpired after a film extra kept taunting
Lee. The extra yelled that Lee was "a movie star, not a martial
artist," that he "wasn't much of a fighter". Lee answered his taunts by
asking him to jump down from the wall he was sitting on. Wall described
Lee's opponent as "a gang-banger type of guy from Hong Kong," a "damned
good martial artist," and observed that he was fast, strong, and bigger
than Bruce.[48]
This kid was good. He was strong and fast, and he was really trying
to punch Bruce's brains in. But Bruce just methodically took him apart.[49]
Bruce kept moving so well, this kid couldn't touch him...then all of a
sudden, Bruce got him and rammed his ass with the wall and swept him up,
proceeding to drop him and plant his knee into his opponent's chest,
locked his arm out straight, and nailed him in the face repeatedly". —
Bob Wall[50]
Acting career
Lee's father Lee Hoi-chuen was a famous Cantonese opera
star; because of this, Lee was introduced into films at a very young
age and appeared in several short black-and-white films as a child. Lee
had his first role as a baby who was carried onto the stage. By the time
he was 18, he had appeared in twenty films.[8]
While in the United States from 1959–1964, Lee abandoned thoughts of a film career in favor of pursuing martial arts. William Dozier invited Lee for an audition, where Lee so impressed the producers with his lightning-fast moves that he earned the role of Kato alongside Van Williams in the TV series The Green Hornet. The show lasted just one season, from 1966 to 1967. Lee also played Kato in three crossover episodes of Batman. This was followed by guest appearances in a host of television series, including Ironside (1967) and Here Come the Brides (1969). In 1969, Lee made a brief appearance in his first American film Marlowe where he played a henchman hired to intimidate private detective Philip Marlowe (played by James Garner)
by smashing up his office with leaping kicks and flashing punches, only
to later accidentally jump off a tall building while trying to kick
Marlowe off. In 1971, Lee appeared in four episodes of the television
series Longstreet as the martial arts instructor of the title character Mike Longstreet (played by James Franciscus).
According to statements made by Lee and also by Linda Lee Cadwell after Lee's death, in 1971 Lee pitched a television series of his own tentatively titled The Warrior, discussions which were also confirmed by Warner Bros. According to Cadwell, however, Lee's concept was retooled and renamed Kung Fu, but Warner Bros. gave Lee no credit.[51] Instead the role of the Shaolin monk in the Wild West, was awarded to then non-martial artist David Carradine because of the studio's fears that a Chinese leading man would not be embraced by the public.[52]
Books and documentaries about the show "Kung Fu" dispute Cadwell's
version. According to these sources, the show was created by two writers
and producers, Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander, and the reason Lee
was not cast was in part because of his ethnicity but more so because he
had a thick accent.[53]
In a 9 December 1971 television interview on The Pierre Berton Show, Lee made reference to both Warner Brothers and Paramount wanting him to do an American TV series. After Pierre Berton
comments, "there's a pretty good chance that you'll get a TV series in
the States called "The Warrior", in it, where you use what, the martial
arts in a Western setting?" Lee responds, "that was the original idea,
...both of them (Warner and Paramount), I think, they want me to be in a
modernized type of a thing, and they think that "The Western" type of
thing is out. Whereas I want to do the Western, because, you see, how
else can you justify all of the punching and kicking and violence,
except in the period of The West?" Later in the interview, Berton asks
Lee about "the problems that you face as a Chinese hero in an American
series. Have people come up in the industry and said 'well, we don't
know how the audience are going to take a non-American'"?. Lee responds
"Well, such question has been raised, in fact, it is being discussed.
That is why "The Warrior" is probably not going to be on". Lee adds,
"They think that business wise it is a risk. I don't blame them. If the
situation were reversed, and an American star were to come to Hong Kong,
and I was the man with the money, I would have my own concerns as to
whether the acceptance would be there".[54]
Not happy with his supporting roles in the United States., Lee returned to Hong Kong. Unaware that The Green Hornet
had been played to success in Hong Kong and was unofficially referred
to as "The Kato Show", he was surprised to be recognized on the street
as the star of the show. Lee was then offered a film contract by
director Raymond Chow to star in two films produced by production company Golden Harvest. Lee played his first leading role in The Big Boss (1971) which proved to be an enormous box office success across Asia and catapulted him to stardom. He soon followed up with Fist of Fury (1972) which broke the box office records set previously by The Big Boss.
Having finished his initial two-year contract, Lee negotiated a new
deal with Golden Harvest. Lee later formed his own company Concord
Productions Inc. (協和公司) with Chow. For his third film, Way of the Dragon (1972), he was given complete control of the film's production as the writer, director, star, and choreographer of the fight scenes. In 1964, at a demonstration in Long Beach, California, Lee had met Karate champion Chuck Norris. In Way of the Dragon Lee introduced Norris to moviegoers as his opponent in the final death fight at the Colosseum in Rome, today considered one of Lee's most legendary fight scenes and one of the most memorable fight scenes in martial arts film history.[55]
In late 1972, Lee began work on his fourth Golden Harvest Film, Game of Death. He began filming some scenes including his fight sequence with 7'2" American Basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a former student. Production was stopped when Warner Brothers offered Lee the opportunity to star in Enter the Dragon,
the first film to be produced jointly by Golden Harvest and Warner
Bros. This film would skyrocket Lee to fame in the United States and Europe. However, only a few months after the film's completion and six days before its 26 July 1973 release,[56] Lee died. Enter the Dragon
would go on to become one of the year's highest grossing films and
cement Lee as a martial arts legend. It was made for US$850,000 in 1973
(equivalent to $4 million adjusted for inflation as of 2007).[57] To date, Enter the Dragon has grossed over $200 million worldwide.[58] The film sparked a brief fad in martial arts, epitomized in songs such as "Kung Fu Fighting" and TV shows like Kung Fu.
Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon, and Raymond Chow attempted to finish Lee's incomplete film Game of Death which Lee was also set to write and direct. Lee had shot over 100 minutes of footage, including out-takes, for Game of Death before shooting was stopped to allow him to work on Enter the Dragon. In addition to Abdul-Jabbar, George Lazenby, Hapkido master Ji Han-Jae and another of Lee's students, Dan Inosanto
were also to appear in the film, which was to culminate in Lee's
character, Hai Tien (clad in the now-famous yellow track suit) taking on
a series of different challenge on each floor as they make their way
through a five-level pagoda. In a controversial move, Robert Clouse
finished the film using a look-alike and archive footage
of Lee from his other films with a new storyline and cast, which was
released in 1978. However, the cobbled-together film contained only
fifteen minutes of actual footage of Lee (he had printed many
unsuccessful takes)[59] while the rest had a Lee look-alike, Kim Tai Chung, and Yuen Biao as stunt double. The unused footage Lee had filmed was recovered 22 years later and included in the documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.[60]
Physical fitness and nutrition
Physical fitness
Lee was renowned for his physical fitness and vigorous, dedicated fitness regime to become as strong as he possibly could.
After his match with Wong Jack Man
in 1965, Lee changed his approach toward martial arts training. Lee
felt that many martial artists of his time did not spend enough time on
physical conditioning. Lee included all elements of total
fitness—muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance,
and flexibility. He tried traditional bodybuilding
techniques to build bulky muscles or mass. However, Lee was careful to
admonish that mental and spiritual preparation was fundamental to the
success of physical training in martial arts skills. In Tao of Jeet Kune Do, he wrote
Training is one of the most neglected phases of athletics. Too much
time is given to the development of skill and too little to the
development of the individual for participation. ... JKD, ultimately is
not a matter of petty techniques but of highly developed spirituality
and physique.[61]
The weight training
program that Lee used during a stay in Hong Kong in 1965, at only 24
years old, placed heavy emphasis on his arms. At that time he could
perform single bicep curls
at a weight of 70 to 80 lb (about 32 to 36 kg) for three sets of eight
repetitions, along with other forms of exercises, such as squats, push-ups, reverse curls, concentration curls, French presses, and both wrist curls and reverse wrist curls.[62]
The repetitions he performed were 6 to 12 reps (at the time). While
this method of training targeted his fast and slow twitch muscles, it
later resulted in weight gain or muscle mass, placing Lee a little over
160 lb (about 72 kg). Lee was documented as having well over 2,500 books
in his own personal library, and eventually concluded that "A stronger
muscle, is a bigger muscle", a conclusion he later disputed.[63]
Bruce forever experimented with his training routines to maximize his
physical abilities, and push the human body to its limits. He employed
many different routines and exercises including skipping rope, which served his training and bodybuilding purposes effectively.[64]
Lee believed that the abdominal muscles
were one of the most important muscle groups for a martial artist,
since virtually every movement requires some degree of abdominal work.
Mito Uyehara recalled that "Bruce always felt that if your stomach was
not developed, then you had no business doing any hard sparring".
According to Linda Lee Cadwell, even when not training, Lee would frequently perform sit ups and other abdominal exercises
in domestic living throughout the day, such as during watching TV. She
said of Lee, "Bruce was a fanatic about ab training. He was always doing
sit-ups, crunches, Roman chair movements, leg raises and V-ups".[65]
Lee trained from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., including stomach, flexibility,
and running, and from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. he would weight train and cycle.
A typical exercise for Lee would be to run a distance of two to six
miles in 15 to 45 minutes, in which he would vary speed in 3–5 minute
intervals. Lee would ride the equivalent of 10 miles (about 16
kilometers) in 45 minutes on a stationary bike.[66][67]
Lee would sometimes exercise with the jump rope and put in 800 jumps
after cycling. Lee would also do exercises to toughen the skin on his
fists, including thrusting his hands into buckets of harsh rocks and
gravel. He would do over 500 repetitions of this on a given day.[68]
An article of the S. China Post writes "When a doctor warned him not to
inflict too much violence on his body, Bruce dismissed his words. 'the
human brain can subjugate anything, even real pain' —Bruce Lee".[69]
Physical feats
Lee's phenomenal fitness meant he was capable of performing many exceptional physical feats.[70][71][72][73] The following list includes some of the physical feats that are attributed to Bruce Lee.
- Lee's striking speed from three feet with his hands down by his side reached five hundredths of a second.[74]
- Lee could take in one arm a 75 lb barbell
from a standing position with the barbell held flush against his chest
and slowly stick his arms out locking them, holding the barbell there
for several seconds.[75]
- In a speed demonstration, Lee could snatch a dime off a person's open palm before they could close it, and leave a penny behind.[76]
- Lee would hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer.[72]
- Lee could throw grains of rice up into the air and then catch them in mid-flight using chopsticks.[77]
- Lee performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger.[73][77][78]
- Lee performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.[79]
- Lee could cause a 300-lb (136.08 kg) bag to fly towards and thump the ceiling with a sidekick.[73]
Nutrition
According to Linda Lee Cadwell, soon after he moved to the United States, Lee started to take nutrition seriously and developed an interest in health foods, high-protein drinks and vitamin and mineral supplements. He later concluded that in order to achieve a high-performance body, one could not fuel it with a diet of junk food, and with "the wrong fuel" one's body would perform sluggishly or sloppily.[80] Lee also avoided baked goods and refined flour, describing them as providing calories which did nothing for his body.[81]
Lee consumed green vegetables and fruits every day. He always preferred to eat Chinese or other Asian food because he loved the variety that it had. Some of Lee's favourite Chinese dishes were beef in oyster sauce, tofu and steak and liver.[82] He also became a heavy advocate of dietary supplements, including Vitamin C, Lecithin granules, bee pollen, Vitamin E, rose hips (liquid form), wheat germ oil, Acerola — C and B-Folia.[83]
Lee disliked dairy food although he knew that for building muscle he must add milk and consume eggs. As a result he only ate dairy as part of cereals and protein drinks, usually using powdered milk
instead of fresh milk. Lee's diet included protein drinks; he always
tried to consume one or two daily, but discontinued drinking them later
on in his life. They typically included non-instant powdered milk which
is reported to have a higher concentration of calcium than other forms of powdered milk, eggs, wheat germ, peanut butter, banana, brewers yeast for its B vitamins, and Inositol and Lecithin supplements.[84] Linda Lee recalls Bruce Lee's waist fluctuated between 26 and 28 inches (66 to 71 centimeters). "He also drank his own juice concoctions made from vegetables and fruits, apples, celery, carrots and so on, prepared in an electric blender", she said.[85]
According to Lee, the size of portions and number of meals were just
as important. He would usually consume four or five smaller meals a day
rather than a couple of large meals, and would boost his metabolism by eating small healthy snacks such as fruits throughout the day.[84]
Fruit and vegetables provided him with the richest source of
carbohydrates, he was particularly keen on carrots which would make up
one half of the contents of the drink, with the remaining being split
between the other fruits and vegetables. The reason why Lee was so keen
on juicing vegetables and fruits is that he believed it allowed the body
to assimilate many nutrients more easily. The enzymes in the juiced
vegetables acting as organic catalysts
which increase the metabolism and absorption of nutrients. Given that
most of these enzymes are destroyed when vegetables are cooked, Lee
would try to consume them raw.[86]
Lee often drank a royal jelly and ginseng drink as they contain B-complex vitamins, including a high concentration of vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), acetylcholine, hormones, and eighteen amino acids which allow for a quick energy boost.[86] In traditional Chinese medicine,
ginseng is also said to improve circulation, increase blood supply,
allow quicker recovery times after exhaustion and stimulating the body.[87] In addition, Lee regularly drank black tea, often with honey or with milk and sugar.[88]
Philosophy
Although Lee is best known as a martial artist, he also studied drama and philosophy while a student at the University of Washington. He was well-read and had an extensive library. His own books on martial arts and fighting philosophy are known for their philosophical assertions both inside and outside of martial arts circles. His eclectic
philosophy often mirrored his fighting beliefs, though he was quick to
claim that his martial arts were solely a metaphor for such teachings.
He believed that any knowledge ultimately led to self-knowledge, and
said that his chosen method of self-expression was martial arts.[89] His influences include Taoism, Jiddu Krishnamurti and Buddhism.[90] On the other hand, Lee's philosophy was very much in opposition to the conservative world view advocated by Confucianism.[91] John Little states that Lee was an atheist. When asked in 1972 what his religious affiliation was, he replied "none whatsoever".[92] Also in 1972, when asked if he believed in God, he responded, "To be perfectly frank, I really do not".[89]
The following quotations reflect his fighting philosophy.
- "Be formless... shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup,
it becomes the cup. You pour water into a bottle; it becomes the
bottle. You put water into a teapot; it becomes the teapot. Now water
can flow, or creep or drip or crash! Be water, my friend..."[93]
- "All types of knowledge, ultimately leads to self knowledge"[94]
- "Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it".[95]
- "Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there".[96]
- "Quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough".[97]
- "I always learn something, and that is: to always be yourself. And
to express yourself, to have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look
for a successful personality and duplicate him".[98]
- "It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential".[99]
Death
Bruce Lee is buried next to his son Brandon in Lake View Cemetery, Seattle, U.S.A
On 10 May 1973, Lee collapsed in Golden Harvest studios while doing dubbing work for the movie Enter the Dragon. Suffering from seizures and headaches, he was immediately rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital where doctors diagnosed cerebral edema. They were able to reduce the swelling through the administration of mannitol. These same symptoms that occurred in his first collapse were later repeated on the day of his death.[100]
On 20 July 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong, to have dinner with former James Bond star George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda, Lee met producer Raymond Chow at 2 p.m. at home to discuss the making of the film Game of Death. They worked until 4 p.m. and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague Betty Ting Pei, a Taiwanese actress. The three went over the script at Ting's home, and then Chow left to attend a dinner meeting.[101][102]
Later Lee complained of a headache, and Ting gave him an analgesic (painkiller), Equagesic, which contained both aspirin and the muscle relaxant meprobamate.
Around 7:30 p.m., he went to lie down for a nap. When Lee did not turn
up for dinner, Chow came to the apartment but could not wake Lee up. A
doctor was summoned, who spent ten minutes attempting to revive him
before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee was dead by the time he reached the hospital.[103]
There was no visible external injury; however according to autopsy reports, his brain
had swollen considerably, from 1,400 to 1,575 grams (a 13% increase).
Lee was 32 years old. The only substance found during the autopsy was
Equagesic. On 15 October 2005, Chow stated in an interview that Lee died
from a hypersensitivity
to the muscle relaxant (meprobamate) in Equagesic, which he described
as a common ingredient in painkillers. When the doctors announced Lee's
death officially, it was ruled a "death by misadventure".[104]
Controversy occurred when Don Langford, Lee's personal physician in
Hong Kong, who had treated Lee during his first collapse believed that
"Equagesic was not at all involved in Bruce's first collapse".[105]
However, Donald Teare, a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard
who had overseen over 1000 autopsies, was the top expert assigned to
the Lee case. His conclusion was that the death was caused by an acute
cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the
prescription pain killing drug Equagesic, where Teare concluded "death
by misadventure".[106]
The preliminary opinion of the neurosurgeon
who saved Lee's life during his first seizure, Peter Wu, was that the
cause of death should have been attributed to either a reaction to
cannabis or Equagesic. However, Wu later backed off from this position:[105]
Professor Teare was a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland
Yard; he was brought in as an expert on cannabis and we can't contradict
his testimony. The dosage of cannabis is neither precise nor
predictable, but I've never known of anyone dying simply from taking it.
Lee's wife Linda returned to her hometown of Seattle, and had him buried at lot 276 of Lakeview Cemetery. Pallbearers at his funeral on 31 July 1973 included Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Chuck Norris, George Lazenby, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin, and Lee's brother Robert.
Lee's iconic status and untimely demise fed many theories about his death, including murder involving the triads and a supposed curse on him and his family.[107] Black Belt magazine in 1985 carried the speculation that the death of Bruce Lee in 1973 may have been caused by "a delayed reaction to a Dim Mak
strike he received several weeks prior to his collapse". As well other
authors have said the death of Bruce Lee may have been due to a
"Vibrating Palm technique".[108]
Legacy
Certified instructors
Bruce Lee personally certified only 3 instructors. Taky Kimura, James Yimm Lee, and Dan Inosanto.
Inosanto holds the 3rd rank (Instructor) directly from Bruce Lee in
Jeet Kune Do, Jun Fan Gung Fu, and Bruce Lee's Tao of Chinese Gung Fu.
Taky Kimura holds a 5th rank in Jun Fan Gung Fu. James Yimm Lee (now
deceased) held a 3rd rank in Jun Fan Gung Fu. Ted Wong holds 2nd rank in
Jeet Kune Do certified directly by Bruce Lee and was later promoted to
Instructor under Dan Inosanto; feeling that Bruce would have wanted to
promote him. Other Jeet Kune Do instructors since Lee's death have been
certified directly by Dan Inosanto, some with remaining Bruce Lee signed
certificates.
James Yimm Lee, a close friend of Lee, died without certifying
additional students. The sole exception to this being Gary Dill who
studied Jeet Kune Do under James and received permission via a personal
letter from him in 1972 to pass on his learning of JKD to others. Taky
Kimura, to date, has certified only one person in Jun Fan Gung Fu: his son Andy Kimura. Dan Inosanto continued to teach and certify select students in Jeet Kune Do
for over 30 years, making it possible for thousands of martial arts
practitioners to trace their training lineage back to Bruce Lee. Prior
to his death, Lee told his then only two living instructors Kimura and
Inosanto (James Yimm Lee had died in 1972) to dismantle his schools.
Both Taky Kimura and Dan Inosanto were allowed to teach small classes
thereafter, under the guideline "keep the numbers low, but the quality
high". Bruce also instructed several World Karate Champions including Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis,
and Mike Stone. Between all 3 of them, during their training with Bruce
they won every Karate Championship in the United States.[109]
Hong Kong legacy
There are a number of stories (perhaps apocryphal) surrounding Lee that are still repeated in Hong Kong culture. One is that his early 70s interview on the TVB show Enjoy Yourself Tonight cleared the busy streets of Hong Kong as everyone was watching the interview at home.
On 6 January 2009, it was announced that Bruce's Hong Kong home (41
Cumberland Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong) will be preserved and transformed
into a tourist site by philanthropist Yu Pang-lin.[110]
Awards and honors
Bruce Lee was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.[5]
Martial arts lineage
Lee's familiarity of the Art of War was infinitely diverse from his
studious life-time focus; Lee was trained in Wu Tai Chi Chuan (also
known as Ng-ga) and Jing Mo Tam Tui for the twelve sets. Lee also was
trained in the martial art Choy Li Fut. Lee's perspectives were wide and
never ending still as it included Western Boxing, Épée fencing, Judo,
Praying Mantis, Hsing-I, and Jujitsu.
When Bruce arrived in the U.S he (already) had training in Wu Style
Tai Chi, sometimes in Hong Kong called Ng-ga. And he had of course
training in western boxing. He had training in fencing from his brother,
that's Epee, that goes from toe to head. He had training obviously in
Wing Chun. And the other area was the training he had received in Buk
Pie, or Tam Toi, he was twelve sets in Tam Toi. And I believe he had
traded with a Choy Li Fut man.
Media
Books authored
Selected filmography
For a complete list of Bruce Lee's filmography see
Films
Television
See also
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