On July 20, 1973, a generation of superstar Bruce Lee died suddenly.
In the 48 years since Bruce Lee's death, he has never been forgotten. People talk about Bruce Lee in a tone of appreciation, admiration, amazement and regret, as if it is a remembrance of an era.
Why hasn't people been able to forget Bruce Lee? Why has he always been known as the number one Chinese superstar? After so many years after his death, mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan idols, traffic stars abound today, why is Bruce Lee still the only one in people's minds?
To find out, let's start with Bruce Lee's childhood.
Bruce Lee Childhood
1. Born in Chinatown, USA
Bruce Lee, formerly known as Lee Chun Fan (meaning: Wei Zhen Fan Bang), nicknamed Xiao Feng, was born on November 27, 1940 in Chinatown, San Francisco, United States. The li family has three generations of martial arts, and his grandfather is called Li Zhenbiao, who is a dart master who seeks life on the knife edge; his father is Li Haiquan, a famous martial artist in Cantonese opera in Guangdong in the 1940s and 50s, and his mother He Aiyu (also known as He Bairong/He Jintang: some Hong Kong and Taiwan material translation names) is a mixed Chinese and German, so Bruce Lee actually has 1/4 Of European ancestry.
Bruce Lee was very weak when he was young, and even had a little high and low feet, Li Haiquan taught his son to practice tai chi when he was 7 years old in order to make his son strong. Bruce Lee loved to dance cha-cha-cha-cha- In 1954, Bruce Lee studied Wing Chun under Ip Man. In addition, he also practiced White Crane Fist, Mantis Fist, Poke Foot, Hong Fist, Cut Fist, Shaolin Fist and other fists, laying a solid martial arts foundation for the later creation of "Cut Boxing".
"Xiaolong" is his stage name, which was given to him by Hong Kong cartoonist Yuan Buyun when he asked him to shoot a film of "The Little Road", Bruce Lee liked this stage name very much, and the only self-written, self-directed, and self-acting film in his lifetime was also called "Raptor Across the River".
When Bruce Lee was a few months old, the family returned to Live in Hong Kong. Because of his father's relationship, he has been in and out of the studio since he was a child, "Golden Gate Girl" is Bruce Lee's first film, when the film required a Chinese baby, Bruce Lee, who was only three months old, was carried to the screen by his father Li Haiquan, playing a baby named "Uncle" in "Golden Gate Girl". Bruce Lee's debut on the screen was "The Road to The Road" directed by Feng Feng (the father of Hong Kong's generation of beauty superstar Feng Baobao, who played Wu Zetian, Yang Guifei and Xi Shi).
Bruce Lee as Hosoru Shojo
The significance of "Xiao Lu Xiang" is extraordinary, when Bruce Lee, who was only ten years old at the time, was electrocuted on the big screen for the first time, and he played the little bandit "Xiao Lu Xiang", who died early in his parents, was not willing to be poor and had good intentions, and became a widely concerned child star at that time.
Since then, he has successively made films such as "The Beginning of Man", "Fugui Floating Clouds", "Lonely Hong of the Sea of People", "Tears of a Loving Mother", "Thunderstorm" and other films, extending and tempering his extensive drama path and excellent acting skills, and at the same time won the unanimous praise of Cantonese film directors, veteran actors and Hong Kong audiences.
At this time, Bruce Lee was already obsessed with martial arts, he learned boxing when he saw it, and he worked tirelessly, coupled with his brilliant intelligence, high comprehension, others spent several weeks to learn the moves, he learned in two or three days, thus laying the foundation for his future self-creation of "cut boxing".
In 1950, Bruce Lee went to Washington State University in Seattle to study theater, philosophy and psychology, where he studied diligently and practiced hard, and set up his own martial arts museum to receive apprenticeships. In 1964, he married Linda Emory, a white American girl of Irish descent who was an Irish law student at the same university, and had a son, Li Guohao, and a daughter, Li Xiangning.
Eleven years after the death of his father Bruce Lee, Lee also stepped onto the silver screen and starred in the TV series "Kung Fu Circle" in 1985. Unfortunately, in 1994, Li Guohao and Bai Ling starred in the movie "The Crow", and when filming a gunfight in the film, the prop gun actually fired a real bullet, and Li Guohao died of excessive blood loss in the abdomen.
When Bruce Lee died, Li Xiangning was only 4 years old, and his impressions of his father were later obtained from photos and movies, as well as the memories of his mother and brother Li Guohao. Although she had a vague impression of her father, Li Xiangning still had some pressure because of her identity, and later she turned this identity as "Bruce Lee's daughter" into a driving force, and when she was in college in the United States, she chose to study acting, and practiced martial arts with the help of her father's former friends, and later became an actor and producer.
Counting Bruce Lee's days in the United States, the most remarkable thing is that he put on a mask as an Oriental and played kato, the assistant of the protagonist Williams in the TV series "Green Hornet". After this, although Bruce Lee also participated in the performances of "Scandal and Blood" and "Blind Pursuit" produced by Hollywood, he had lofty ambitions, with a martial art, a passion, Bruce Lee was not interested in being a supporting role, and he wanted to lead an era by himself.
Bruce lee
2. Fight back to Hong Kong to show your fists
So, in 1970, Bruce Lee decided to return to Hong Kong to develop, and the history of Hong Kong cinema was rewritten.
When he first returned to Hong Kong, Bruce Lee was still unknown and did not attract any attention. For a while, he was depressed, and then Jiahe boss Zou Wenhuai decided to work with him after seeing Bruce Lee's extraordinary skills on TV.
In 1971, Bruce Lee's first fist and foot kung fu movie "Big Brother Tangshan" was born, and his trick of jumping into the air and kicking three kicks in a row kicked out a box office record of 3.19 million Hong Kong dollars, which was simply a stone-shattering, and the nickname of Li Sanjiao has never gone away.
Bruce Lee's "JingwuMen"
What is breathtaking is that Bruce Lee broke his box office record one after another in several films he starred in, first "Jingwumen" received more than 4 million, and his self-written, self-directed, and self-acted "Raptor Across the River" collected more than 5 million, creating the so-called Bruce Lee box office myth.
In addition to the box office hits in Hong Kong, Bruce Lee's four films have won a lot of success in Southeast Asia, Taiwan Province of China, Japan and even Europe and the United States, with both word-of-mouth and box office success. Hong Kong films also successfully entered the international film industry for the first time because of Bruce Lee, and Bruce Lee's unique and charming martial arts moves also attracted widespread attention in Hollywood, and the so-called "Chinese kung fu fever" also began to be popular around the world at that time. In the United States, Bruce Lee is an idol of young people, his posters, photos and other peripheral products have been snapped up, and even today, in Europe and the United States can still see all kinds of goods with Bruce Lee elements everywhere.
In real life, Bruce Lee is proud and cheerful, with a unique temperament, especially a dedicated lover, and he has a strict selection of his film style, story script, and character shaping. Because he was racially discriminated against when he lived in the United States and as a supporting actor in Hollywood, Bruce Lee showed a distinct Chinese national consciousness in the films he starred in.
3. The original charm on and off the screen
On the screen, Bruce Lee successfully created the image of a hero who was jealous and hateful, and with a magnificent righteousness, a martial art and a double stick, he knocked over the Orientals and Westerners one by one, and was very happy.
Bruce Lee in the film has a kind of trait, his arrogant and detached moves against people, the simple and powerful action, the majesty based on absolute self-confidence, the undisguised domineering arrogance, and completely smash the common rules and regulations in the 60s movie male protagonists.
Bruce Lee off-screen is no longer conceited and arrogant. The "Truncated Fist Dao" he created was full of philosophical ideas, "with the law of the impossible, and the infinite as the limit" to sublimate the martial arts realm.
Bruce Lee made great contributions to the development of modern martial arts and the performing arts of film. The kung fu films he starred in were popular overseas, and Chinese kung fu became famous all over the world. Many foreign dictionaries have a new word: "kung fu" (kung fu). In the minds of many foreigners, Kung Fu is Chinese martial arts, and Bruce Lee has become the embodiment of Kung Fu. Few Oriental martial artists have been able to break through the realm of nations and races like Bruce Lee, and their worldwide prestige has remained undiminished after his death. The appearance of Bruce Lee changed the image of "Chinese" in the eyes of foreigners as "bald head, long braid, flag suit", and many Western films have Chinese appeared as martial arts masters, making Westerners think that Chinese can do kung fu, and even come to China to learn martial arts.
Bruce Lee has an extraordinary influence on the world film industry, and after his death, he was selected by Time magazine as one of the "Top 20 Idols of the 21st Century". It can be said that without Bruce Lee, there would be no later Stephen Chow ghost horse funny kung fu, and there would be no jackie Chan, Jet Li and other martial arts superstars who are well-known in the international film world.
Bruce Lee's Big Brother Tangshan
The era when Bruce Lee was popular was the period when Stephen Chow grew up, the popularity of Bruce Lee movies, how many people were obsessed with it, and Stephen Chow was also one of them. The first time I saw Bruce Lee playing Chinese kung fu in the film, Stephen Chow was fascinated. Since then, the dream of becoming a martial artist like Bruce Lee and an actor has taken root in Stephen Chow's heart.
Kung Fu pays homage to Bruce Lee
So later we saw that in every movie of Stephen Chow, there was a shadow of Bruce Lee, almost every one. Bruce Lee's signature moves, images, costumes, spoken language, and tricks all appear in Stephen Chow's films. In the movie "Kung Fu", Stephen Chow borrowed Bruce Lee's creativity in kung fu, that is, inherited the essence of Bruce Lee's boxing "to be unable to have a law, to the infinite as a limited".
Kung Fu
After constantly struggling, Zhou Xingchi swam between the blue sky and white clouds, realized the smallness and true meaning of "man", finally defeated himself, and dissolved the tyranny of the Fire Cloud Evil God with an infinite mind, which was more powerful than beating him powerless to fight back, because Zhou Xingchi completely disintegrated his evil, and the two extremely destructive Rulai Divine Palms did not hit him, but transformed the limited external power of the Rulai Divine Palm into an inner infinite tolerance: "Want to learn? I teach you! "It's convincing.
"Kung Fu" shows that the real meaning of human struggle lies in whether you can face yourself squarely. Man, the greatest enemy is himself.
Bruce Lee's disciples were so pleased.
The New King of Comedy pays homage to Bruce Lee
There is also "The King of New Comedy" At the end of The Dream Award, people who look like Bruce Lee and dress up stand up and applaud And give Dream a thumbs up.
Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan
In a talk show, the host asked Jackie Chan a question: "The last time I saw Bruce Lee and what was his job like?" Jackie Chan hesitated for two seconds after listening to it and stood up directly, originally just sitting and saying a few words, but Jackie Chan stood up very seriously, which shows how much respect he has for Bruce Lee.
Jackie Chan said that when he met Bruce Lee, he was already a superstar, and he was just an ordinary martial artist. By chance, Jackie Chan got the opportunity to appear on the same camera as Bruce Lee, and it is a very high honor to know that as a fellow martial arts actor, it is a very high honor to appear with Bruce Lee, and Jackie Chan is very admired by Bruce Lee.
In 1976, he returned to the film industry and was renamed "Jackie Chan" by boss Lo Wei, which means another dragon after Bruce Lee. Years later, Jackie Chan rose to become an international superstar, and he did not forget to defeat the black masters in "City Hunter" by imitating Bruce Lee's moves in "Game of Death".
City Hunter's tribute to Bruce Lee
At that time, Hong Kong had the name of the Four Little Dragons, and among the Four Little Dragons, Bruce Lee and Bruce Leung had the most ironic relationship. Liang Xiaolong, who was born in the dragon suit, also has real kung fu, but he lost money in a movie with South Korean Aikido master Huang Renshi. So Liang Xiaolong told Bruce Lee about the loss.
Later, Bruce Lee invited Huang Renzhi to play a Japanese samurai in "Raptor Across the River", taught this Korean a lesson in the movie, and then quietly told Liang Xiaolong, I beat him to avenge you.
Hong Jinbao co-starred with Bruce Lee in "Dragon Fight Tiger Fight" in the early days.
Starting from Bruce Lee's first martial arts film", "Big Brother Tangshan", Lin Zhengying continued to be a martial arts instructor for Bruce Lee films, until after Bruce Lee's death, Lin Zhengying joined the Hong family class.
Yuanhua is one of the members of the Seven Little Blessings, and his martial arts skills are also incredible, because his body shape is similar to Bruce Lee's, and he plays a stand-in in Bruce Lee's movie, which is deeply appreciated by Bruce Lee.
Yuanhua and Bruce Lee
4. Leave behind cultural and spiritual wealth
Tomorrow and accidents, I really don't know which one comes first!
At a time when countless people believe that a generation of superstars from the East has risen, on July 20, 1973, Bruce Lee died in Hong Kong at the peak of his career at the age of 32, and the hospital released information that he died of "cerebral edema". At the time, his fifth film, Game of Death, was only halfway through.
Bruce Lee's Game of Death
Bruce Lee's death was a sensation at the time, mainly because he was a superstar in the spotlight, but also because he died suddenly and mysteriously.
It is said that he died violently in the incense cabinet of the Taiwanese actress Ding Pei, who was closely related, and the cause of death was even more controversial, some said that excessive practice caused internal injuries, some said that it was the consequence of smoking marijuana, some said that it was suicide, in short, the more outrageous it was, and later, the Hong Kong court even held a trial to investigate, and finally tried to put an end to all rumors.
Bruce Lee died young, and on the day of the funeral, thousands of people were empty, the funeral parlor was crowded, and tens of thousands of people from all walks of life went to pay homage to his remains. His body was then transported back to Seattle, USA, and during the funeral, the worshippers included his apprentice and Hollywood superstars Steve McQueen and James Coburn.
Bruce Lee ended everything he had in the film world and the martial arts world, accompanied by his wife and children, and buried in the West. For him, kung fu movies eventually become unfinished business like the moon in the mirror and the flowers in the water. Then, although Bruce Lee's era is over, he is still a deeply influential figure in the history of Chinese cinema.
Bruce Lee, with personal ability, walking alone in the world, internationally recognized martial artists, kung fu film performers, full use of Chinese and Western culture, the innovation of traditional martial arts, and pushed on the world martial arts, now in many European countries, Bruce Lee's boxing is like Japanese karate, to the public, martial arts, schools, police, army, etc. Promotion and application, which is the effect of Chinese martial arts for thousands of years few martial arts sects can develop, and with the decades after Bruce Lee's death, not only has it not been forgotten, And by more and more people chasing and revered, this is the unique and precious spiritual and cultural wealth he left to future generations, because of the uniqueness of boxing, bruce Lee spirit, I believe that thousands of years later, his martial arts like Chinese martial arts have been inherited and developed, at that time, people will still remember this legendary martial artist, but also marvel at his short 32 years of life, but can create immortal spirit and culture.
Six people in the coffin
Finally, by counting the six friends who helped Bruce Lee in his coffin when he died, we mourn and remember Bruce Lee's legendary life.
Tagore had a poem: "The sky has left no trace of a bird, but I have flown over." ”
Life is impermanent, and although Bruce Lee's life is short, what we are left with is profound and eternal. The sky was gone without a trace of wings, but the birds had indeed flown by, and the birds themselves knew, Bruce Lee himself.
The first coffin bearer: Peter Qin
He was a Chinese-American, and no one knew what kind of friendship he had with Bruce Lee or what kind of identity he really was. For decades after Bruce Lee's death, he took care of Bruce Lee's wife and daughter, but never spoke publicly about everything he had with Bruce Lee.
The second coffin bearer: Li Junjiu
He is the "father of taekwondo" in the United States.
The third coffin bearer: Takeyuki Kimura
He is the core figure of "Cut Boxing", and the two are considered to be friends for many years. Since Bruce Lee's death, Takeyuki Kimura has insisted on sweeping his grave once a week for decades. Takeyuki Kimura passed away on January 7, 2021, at the age of 96.
Fourth Coffin Bearer: Steve McQueen
He is a very famous tough guy superstar in Hollywood, and has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor several times.
Fifth Coffin Bearer: Danny InoShandu
He is the King of the Philippine Sticks.
Sixth Coffin Bearer: James Cobain
A famous film and television actor who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, he is the apprentice of the performance master Stella Adler.
Tombstone of Bruce Lee and his son Lee Kwok-ho
Bruce Lee Glory:
Pioneer of the world's martial arts revolution
Martial arts stuntman
Martial arts philosopher
Pioneer of UFC
Martial arts master
Pioneer of kung fu films
Founder of TruncheonDo
Chinese martial arts film actor
The first global promoter of Chinese Kung Fu
Hollywood's first Chinese actor
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I'm Eaves Accumulation Rain, focusing on book reviews, film reviews, and those things in front of and behind the scenes, if you are not there, who will I tell my story to?