Reno Martial Arts
里諾武術
Bruce Lee
History of Kung Fu
Read * Jeet Kune Do::
Learn Bruce Lee's Punch!
Bruce Lee was born November 27, 1940 "the Chinese year of the Dragon" in San Francisco. Bruce was the third child of Lee Hou-Cheun and mother Gracie Lee. Being born in San Francisco was somewhat accidental due to the fact that his father was a minor star of the Cantonese Opera Company, who were touring the Bay area at that time.
Bruce Lee Legends
At birth, Bruce Lee was actually given the name Lee Jun Fan [which means "Return Again"] by his parents. According to legend, his parents had a strange feeling that some day their son would return to the USA. Several realiable online sources suggest that Bruce Lee's father was extremely supersticious. His father in particular feared that that there was following the male members of the family for several generations. So, for a while, Bruce Lee was renamed (Sai Fon)- a girl's name which means Little Pheonix... don't ask. Okay, you asked... By giving his newborn son a girl's name, the evil demons would be unable to find little baby Bruce Lee... or so the ancient legend goes!
Shortly before leaving the hospital, a nurse suggested that it might be a good idea to give the baby an English "Christian" name to avoid any complications with his American birth certificate. The nurse suggested the name Bruce Lee, and the newborn's parents agreed.
Bruce Lee * China
A few month later Bruce Lee and Family were back in Hong Kong, living in a small, overpopulated two room flat. Address:218 Nathan Road, Kowloon. Overpopulation however, was probably the least of their problems, as the early years of Bruce's life were overshadowed by the Japanese occupation of 1942-1945.
Some say that one of Bruce's earliest childhood memories was standing on the roof of his flat, shaking his fist at low flying Japanese war planes! The eventual ending of the Second World War brought the recovery of the Chinese entertainment industry. Before long Bruce Lee's father was back on the road earning a living as a working actor.
Baby Bruce Lee Movies
Around the age of five Bruce Lee would accompany his father to his film locations and eventually, through his father's connections, he was given a role in a film- The Beginning of a Boy. He was only 6 years old.
Shortly thereafter he also appeared in the movie "The Birth of Mankind" and "My Son - Ah Cheun". At the age of 8 years old, Lee appeared another film entitled "Fu Gui Yun" meaning "Wealth is like a Dream". What is special about this film was that during this film, Bruce was nicknamed of Siu Lung meaning "Little Dragon." This nickname would go on to remain with Lee through the rest of his life.
By 18, Bruce Lee had appeared in over 20 films- the most famous of which being The Orphan, a 1958 Hong Kong classic in which he played the role of a juvenile delinquent. By his own admission, Bruce Lee was exactly the same kind of character offscreen, as the sort of gang-thug he had played in The Orphan. Years later, in 1967 he told Black Belt magazine, "I was a punk and went looking for fights".
Bruce Lee Trouble
His mother said of him; "he was eventually expelled for disruptive behaviour", his parents responded by immediately enrolling him in another Hong Kong catholic college by the name of St Francis Xavier. There was no improvement.
Years later Bruce explained, "Kids in Hong Kong have nothing to look forward to. The whites have all the best jobs and the rest of us had to work for them. That's why most of the kids become punks... Kids in slums can never get out".
During this period of his life, Bruce often found himself involved in street fights. Sometimes he would arm himself with a toilet chain, though more often than not he would just use his fists and feet.
Kung Fu Fighting
One day Bruce ran home from school and told his parents that he was being bullied. He then asked his parents if they would allow him to take Kung Fu lessons as a means of learning to defend himself from the bullies. His father, eventually, and somewhat reluctantly, agreed pay for Kung Fu lessons from Sifu Yip Man- a grand master of the Wing Chun style of Kung Fu.
For several years Bruce Lee went to the Yip Man's school of Wing Chun, rapidly growing in proficiency year by year. Bruce Lee was small, quite slight of build, and the fluid, economical style of Wing Chun seemed to suit him well. Within only a few years Yip Man had not only succeded in training Bruce Lee in the physical aspects of the martial arts, but he also changed Bruce Lee's mental focus.
Bruce Lee was now becoming increasingly interested in the philosophical aspects of Kung Fu. Martial arts and street fighting, however, were not Bruce Lee's only pass times as a teenager, at 14 he enrolled in dancing lessons and later went on to become the Cha Cha Champion of Hong Kong! This unlikely departure from Lee's violent world was perhaps as strong an indication that Bruce Lee truely wanted a life that would include artistic expression and entertainment.
Lee's focus on his martial arts grew more intense day by day. Bruce, however, never forgot his street fighting days and remained extremely mindful of the fact that in a real self defence situation there would be no graceful bows, nor any respect for ancient rules.
Bruce Lee started to gradually form his own ideas about what made an effective martial arts style. He was convinced that the key to being succesful in a martial artist was to eliminate the element of surprize by remaining "completely adaptable".
Bruce Lee & Choy Li Fut
Lee's time with Yip Man came to an abrupt ending when in early 1959 a challenge was issued to the students of Yip Man's school by the pupils of a rival Kung Fu school. The two groups met on the rooftop of an apartment block for what was meant to be a good-willed, non contact contest. However, the event quickly turned into an ugly and violent affair. During a sparring match, a boy from the rival establishment (the Choy Li Fut School) gave Bruce a black eye. Bruce responded to this by delivering a series of devastating straight punches and high kicks in a fit of uncontrolled rage. Although the boy escaped with only a lost tooth, his parents complained to the police and Bruce Lee soon found himself under arrest.
After a quick jail stint, Lee's parents agreed that the only wise thing left to do would be to send Bruce away from Hong Kong out of trouble. And so, back to San Franciso, the city of his birth. After an 18 day boat trip, Lee finally made it to San Francisco with $115 dollars. Bruce had spent much of his time on the boat trip teaching cha-cha dancing to some of the passengers. He also decided to distance himself from the name Lee Jun Fan and diligently practiced his English on fellow passengers as often as he could. By the time the boat arrived in San Francisco, the Hong Kong street kid, Lee Jun Fan, had been transformed into Bruce Lee- an English speaking US citizen.
Bruce Lee * America
For the first few weeks in San Francisco, Bruce earned a little money by giving dance lessons, however the amount he made was barely enough to pay for the most basic of provisions. Eventually, a restaurant owner offered Bruce a room in return for his evening services as a waiter. Bruce happily took the waiter's job and later enrolled at Edison Technical School as a day student. Within a short time he earned his high school diploma. In 1962, he enrolled for a degree in philosophy at the University of Washington.
It was during his time at university that Bruce Lee started to teach Kung-Fu. At first he taught to small groups of Asian enthusiasts, but soon, against tradition, he started teaching to anyone who was interested, even white people. Bruce Lee was obsessed with the idea of developing a version of kung fu which was simple and practical in a real-life situation. In fact, he once stated, "oriental self-defence is baloney. It looks good but it doesn't work." These convictions led Bruce to formulate a new version of Kung Fu which Bruce would later name "Jeet Kune Do".
Bruce Lee Jeet Kune Do
Tensions reached a head when a Japanese Karate Black Belt challenged Bruce to a fight to determine who had the superior method. According to eye witness reports, Bruce quickly executed a series of straight punches followed by a kick to his opponent's head. The fight was over within a few seconds.
Word of his exceptional martial art talent soon spread like wildfire among his peers and Bruce Lee soon realized that he could use his Kung Fu skills to earn some money. Late in 1963 he opened the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute at 4750 University Way in Seattle. This was the first of what Bruce hoped would become a large chain of kwoons. The joining fee was $22 per month.
Just over a year after opening his school, Bruce went on his first date with Linda Emery. She was a Caucasian girl of English and Swedish decent, a fellow student at the University of Washington and Linda was also a student of Bruce Lee's martial arts classes. Despite fears that her mother would object to Linda dating a "Chinaman", the couple dated regularly well into the summer of 1964.
More Bruce Lee History
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