This week, fans are conducting exhibitions and martial arts classes in Hong Kong to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the famous martial artist Bruce Lee’s passing in 1973.
At a time when racial stereotypes were prevalent, the celebrity paved the way for Asian males in Hollywood. Lee demonstrated that Asian males may be more than just valets or bad guys.
Lee, who was raised in Hong Kong after being born in San Francisco, continued his education there.
Before getting the part of Kato in the television series “The Green Hornet,” he taught martial arts and received little roles in Hollywood.
A martial arts movie called “The Big Boss” that he landed as the lead after returning to Hong Kong gave him his big break and, after the 1971 release of the movie, made him well-known throughout Asia.
Lee’s reputation as a ruthless, lightning-fast fighter was cemented by the success of “Fist of Fury” and “The Way of the Dragon” at the box office the following year.
His brain swelled, resulting in his death in 1973 at the age of just 32, and this was linked to a negative reaction to medications. “Enter the Dragon,” his fourth significant motion picture, had just wrapped up filming when he began work on his fifth.
Lee expressed a sort of Chinese culture in his films, according to film expert Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park, who taught Lee’s films at the University of Hong Kong.
“I would call Bruce Lee a paragon of Sinophone soft power success with Hong Kong characteristics,” he says .
The scenes where he bares his torso and flexes his muscles were essential because they show how ripped bodies can belong to Asian heroes as well.
“He made Asian men sexy, and that is something I don’t think we talk about enough,” Magnan-Park says.