Enter the Dragon...
"I have always been a martial artist by choice, an actor by profession, but above all, am actualising myself to be an artist of life."
There's no challenge in breaking a board. Boards don't hit back.
Early life:
Jun Fan Lee was born in the hour of the dragon, between 6-8 a.m., in the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac calendar, November 27, 1940 at the Chinese Hospital in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the United States.[3] His father, Lee Hoi-Chuen , was Chinese, and his Catholic mother, Grace , was of Chinese and German ancestry. Lee and his parents returned to Hong Kong when he was three months old. He was a citizen of the United States by birth and did not hold any other citizenships.
Names
Lee's Cantonese given name was Jun Fan (振藩; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhènfán).[14] At his birth, he additionally was given the English name of "Bruce" by a Dr. Mary Glover. Though Mrs. Lee had not initially planned on an English name for the child, she deemed it appropriate and would concur with Dr. Glover's addition.[15] However, his American name was never used within his family until he enrolled in La Salle College (a Hong Kong high school) at the age of 12,[14] and again at another high school (St. Francis Xavier's College in Kowloon), where Lee would come to represent the boxing team in inter-school events.
Lee initially had the birth name Li Yuen Kam[2] (æŽç‚«é‡‘); Mandarin Pinyin: LÇ Xuà njÄ«n) given to him by his mother, as at the time, Lee's father was away on a Chinese opera tour. This name would later be abandoned because of a conflict with the name of Bruce's grandfather, causing him to be renamed Jun Fan upon his father's return. Also of note is that Lee was given a feminine name, Sai Fung (ç´°é³³, literally "small phoenix"), which was used throughout his early childhood in keeping with a Chinese custom, traditionally thought to hide a child from evil spirits.
Lee's screen names were respectively Lee Siu Lung (in Cantonese), and Li Xiao Long (in Mandarin) (æŽå°é¾; Cantonese pengyam: Ley5 Siu² Long4; Mandarin Pinyin: LÇ XiÇŽolóng) which literally translates to "Lee the Little Dragon" in English. These names were first used by director è¢æ¥é›² of the 1950 Cantonese movie 細路祥, in which Lee would perform. It is possible that the name "Lee Little Dragon" was based on his childhood name of "small dragon", as, in Chinese tradition, the dragon and phoenix come in pairs to represent the male and female genders respectively. The more likely explanation is that he came to be called "Little Dragon" because, according to the Chinese zodiac, he was born in the Year of the Dragon.
Education and family
At age 12, Lee entered La Salle College. Then, he attended St. Francis Xavier's College. In 1959, at the age of 18, Lee got into a fight with, and badly beat, a feared Triad gang member's son.[10]His father became concerned about young Bruce's safety, and as a result, he and his wife decided to send Bruce to the United States to live with an old friend of his father's. Lee left with $100 in his pocket and the titles of 1958 Boxing Champion and the Crown Colony Cha Cha Champion of Hong Kong.[3] After living in San Francisco, he moved to Seattle to work for Ruby Chow, another friend of his father's. In 1959, Lee completed his high school education in Seattle and received his diploma from Edison Technical School. He enrolled at the University of Washington as a drama major and took some philosophy classes. It was at the University of Washington that he met his future wife Linda Emery, whom he would marry in 1964.He had two children with Linda, Brandon Lee (1965-1993) and Shannon Lee (1969-). Brandon, who would also become an actor like his father, died in an accident during the filming of The Crow in 1993. Shannon Lee also became an actress and appeared in some low-budget films since the mid 1990s, but has since quit acting.
Physical feats
Lee's phenomenal fitness meant he was capable of performing many exceptional physical feats. The following list are the physical feats that are documented and supported by reliable sources.
* Lee's striking speed from three feet with his hands down by his side reached "five hundredths" of a second.
* Lee could spring a 235lb (107kg) opponent 15 feet (4.6 metres) away with a 1 inch punch.
* Lee's combat movements were at times too fast to be captured on film at 24fps, so many scenes were shot in 32fps to put Lee in slow motion. Normally martial arts films are sped up.
* 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.
* Lee could perform push ups using only his thumbs
* Lee would hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer.
* Lee could throw grains of rice up into the air and then "catch them in mid-flight" using chopsticks.
* Lee performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger
* Lee performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.
* From a standing position, Lee could hold a 125lb (57kg) barbell straight out.
* Lee could break wooden boards 6inches (15cm) thick.
* Lee performed a side kick while training with James Coburn and broke a 150-lb (68kg) punching bag
* Lee could cause a 300-lb (136kg) bag to fly towards and thump the ceiling with a sidekick.
* In a move that has been dubbed "Dragon Flag", Lee could perform leg lifts with only his shoulder blades resting on the edge of a bench and suspend his legs and torso perfectly horizontal midair.
* Lee could "thrust" his fingers through unopened steel cans of Coca-Cola, at a time before cans were made of the softer aluminum metal.
* Lee can use one finger to leave "dramatic" indentations on pine wood.
Philosophy
Although Bruce Lee is best known as a martial artist and actor, Lee majored in philosophy at the University of Washington. Lee himself 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 philosophy often mirrored his fighting beliefs, though he was quick to claim that his martial arts were solely a metaphor for such teachings. His influences include Taoism, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Buddhism.
The following quotations reflect his fighting philosophy.
* "To tell the truth....I could beat anyone in the world."
* "If I tell you I'm good, you would probably think I'm boasting. If I tell you I'm no good, you know I'm lying."
* "Fighting is not something sought after, yet it is something that seeks you."
* "Be formless... shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle; it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot; it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, and it can crash. Be like water, my friend..."
* "Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it."
* "The more relaxed the muscles are, the more energy can flow through the body. Using muscular tensions to try to 'do' the punch or attempting to use brute force to knock someone over will only work to opposite effect."
* "Mere technical knowledge is only the beginning of Gung Fu. To master it, one must enter into the spirit of it."
* "There are lots of guys around the world that are lazy. They have big fat guts. They talk about chi power and things they can do, but don't believe it."
* "I'm not a master. I'm a student-master, meaning that I have the knowledge of a master and the expertise of a master, but I'm still learning. So I'm a student-master. I don't believe in the word 'master.' I consider the master as such when they close the casket."
* "Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there."
* "Jeet Kune Do: it's just a name; don't fuss over it. There's no such thing as a style if you understand the roots of combat."
* "Unfortunately, now in boxing people are only allowed to punch. In Judo, people are only allowed to throw. I do not despise these kinds of martial arts. What I mean is, we now find rigid forms which create differences among clans, and the world of martial art is shattered as a result."
* "I think the high state of martial art, in application, must have no absolute form. And, to tackle pattern A with pattern B may not be absolutely correct."
* "True observation begins when one is devoid of set patterns."
* "The other weakness is, when clans are formed, the people of a clan will hold their kind of martial art as the only truth and do not dare to reform or improve it. Thus they are confined in their own tiny little world. Their students become machines which imitate martial art forms."
* "Some people are tall; some are short. Some are stout; some are slim. There are various different kinds of people. If all of them learn the same martial art form, then who does it fit?"
* "Ultimately, martial art means honestly expressing yourself. It is easy for me to put on a show and be cocky so I can show you some really fancy movement. But to express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly enough; that, my friend, is very hard to do."
