Hong Kong Action Heros & Kung Fu Legends - 武打明星

[trueapprentice]

1. Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee (Jun Fan, 李振藩, 李小龍; 27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973) was an American-born Chinese Hong Kong actor, martial artist, philosopher, film director, screenwriter, practitioner of Wing Chun and founder of the Jeet Kune Do concept. He is considered by many as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century, and a cultural icon.[3] He was also the father of actor Brandon Lee and of actress Shannon Lee. His younger brother Robert was a musician and member of a popular Hong Kong beat band called The Thunderbirds.[4]

Lee was born in San Francisco, California, and raised in Hong Kong until his late teens. 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 the second major surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West. 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 mainly 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 Bruce Lee; Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973), directed by Robert Clouse, and The Game of Death (1978).

Lee became an iconic figure, particularly among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese national pride and Chinese nationalism in his movies.[5] He primarily practiced Chinese martial arts ("Kung Fu," in the popular westernized term)[6] particularly Wing Chun

More at - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Lee

Quotes of Bruce Lee -

The Three Stages of Cultivation - The first is the primitive stage. It is a stage of original ignorance in which a person knows nothing about the art of combat. In a fight, he simply blocks and strikes instinctively without a concern for what is right and wrong. Of course, he may not be so-called scientific, but, nevertheless, being himself, his attacks or defenses are fluid. The second stage—the stage of sophistication, or mechanical stage—begins when a person starts his training. He is taught the different ways of blocking, striking, kicking, standing, breathing, and thinking—unquestionably, he has gained the scientific knowledge of combat, but unfortunately his original self and sense of freedom are lost, and his action no longer flows by itself. His mind tends to freeze at different movements for calculations and analysis, and even worse, he might be called “intellectually bound” and maintain himself outside of the actual reality. · The third stage—the stage of artlessness, or spontaneous stage—occurs when, after years of serious and hard practice, the student realizes that after all, gung fu is nothing special. And instead of trying to impose on his mind, he adjusts himself to his opponent like water pressing on an earthen wall. It flows through the slightest crack. There is nothing to try to do but try to be purposeless and formless, like water. All of his classical techniques and standard styles are minimized, if not wiped out, and nothingness prevails. He is no longer confined.

More at - http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bruce_Lee

How we remember Bruce Lee - iconic images :

In Bruce's famous yellow fighting suit in his last film ever (Game of Death) & in traditional chinese costumes as the Big Brother of Canton 唐山大兄


Bruce is great with the Nunchaku or commonly called nunchucks:


Enter the Dragon - lean mean fighting machine