Seattle, a city full of oriental flair. Whenever you walk through the streets of Seattle, you can feel the strong Chinese elements. Walking out of the train station, you will hear Chinese people who are familiar with the local accent enthusiastically soliciting their own business;The poster of Bruce Lee fluttering in front of the martial arts hall reveals people's reverence for him.
No matter what country or nationality you come from, you can find a common respect for Bruce Lee here. “kongfu!"Every year, people from all over the world gather at Capitel Mountain, which is the resting place of Bruce Lee.
At the foot of the mountain, the water waves of Washington Lake gently ripple, and the back of the mountain facing the lake, is completely in line with the customs of the Chinese, and is a treasure of feng shui.
In the cemetery on the hill, you can find the tombstones of Bruce Lee and his son Li Guohao. Bruce Lee's tombstone bears his own real name, Li Zhenfan, while his son Li Guohao's tombstone is close to his father.
Under Bruce Lee's tombstone, there is a stone carved book, the pages of which are turned in half, with a black and white Tai Chi pattern on the left, two sentences engraved next to it, and a paragraph in English on the right.
These 12 words reveal Bruce Lee's short and magnificent life in a unique way: "The impossible is the law, and the infinite is limited." and "your inspiration continues to guide us toward our personal liberation." ”
Behavior is the manifestation of thoughts. ）
Brave and fearless, experienced and escaping from the world. Bruce Lee on the poster, his eyes are like torches, his muscles are bulging, his tense abdominal muscles and his body posture is ready to go, like a tiger staring at the enemy, full of danger.
This is the deepest impression people have of Bruce Lee, this male body that perfectly shows the power of the East, and makes the aesthetics of the world unified. However, what is less known is that Bruce Lee not only had a thousand degrees of myopia before embarking on the road of martial arts, but even the height of his left and right legs was one inch apart.
It was out of his parents' worries and the pursuit of physical conditioning that he chose the path of martial arts.
Bruce Lee's debut took place when he was three months old, when his father, Lee Haiquan, was touring San Francisco, USA. San Francisco was nicknamed "San Francisco", so Li Haiquan named his child Li Zhenfan, which was later renamed "Zhen".
His father was a well-known comedian. Bruce Lee first came into contact with the silver screen in a Cantonese film called The Golden Gate Girl, which needed a baby actor.
After the filming of this film was completed, Li Haiquan returned to Hong Kong with his wife and children, and Bruce Lee's road to child stardom also opened in Hong Kong.
Since his father was an actor, the handsome Bruce Lee made a name for himself in the entertainment industry since he was a child. His passion for acting is immense, and he seems to be more diligent and hardworking compared to children his age.
In order to take care of his studies, the director assigned him roles on holidays or nights. This is already quite a lot of schoolwork for a young child, and coupled with acting, it simply squeezes out his personal time.
However, Bruce Lee never complained, he actively followed his father, and no matter when and where, rain or shine, he would arrive at the studio on time to complete the task. In fact, he is not interested in going to school, and with the title of a little prodigy in the film industry, he prefers the feeling of being in the spotlight.
He often plays cynical troubled teenagers in films, which influenced his life path to a certain extent, and his unique performing arts style is also inseparable from his upbringing.
On April 12, 1951, he used"Bruce Lee"This stage name made its debut, and since then the name has accompanied him throughout his life. In 1953, despite his weak constitution, he was dissatisfied with what he had learned, believing that these could only strengthen his body and could not be used in actual combat.
With the help of friends, at the age of 13, he studied under Wing Chun master Ip Man. At this time, Bruce Lee had already begun to show his rebellious character.
In 1956, a brawl with British students caused Bruce Lee to transfer to the second class of St. Francis College and join the school boxing team. In 1958, he won the boxing championship on behalf of the school, but on and off the field, he had frequent fights with his classmates, and even beat a classmate who practiced Cai Li Buddha boxing to a coma and was warned by the police.
In order to keep him out of the limelight, protect himself, and at the same time have the purpose of sharpening him, Bruce Lee's parents decided to send him to the United States. When he left, all he had was a driver's license, broken English, martial arts and cha cha dance skills.
But he was not afraid of difficulties, full of loneliness, and with these in his heart, he arrived in a strange country and began a new chapter in his life legend.
In 1959, Bruce Lee opened Cha Cha Dance School in San Francisco and began his martial arts journey. San Francisco was his starting point, and after four months of adaptation, he chose Seattle to continue his education and founded his first martial arts club.
Here, he not only accepted the first ** Jesse Glover, but also met many martial arts fans. In 1960, he won an easy challenge to the karate genre, and since then he has established himself in the martial arts world and become a grandmaster of a generation.
Bruce Lee seems to have broken out of his cocoon into a butterfly overnight, looking at the world with mature thoughts, and no longer thinking that fists can solve all problems. He is still diligent in practicing, but he no longer frequently participates in brawls, and will never take the initiative unless provoked, which is in stark contrast to his image of a hot-blooded young man in Hong Kong.
In May 1961, he was admitted to Washington State University, where he became a freshman in the Department of Philosophy and began to explore more possibilities for the future. This study experience is reflected in Bruce Lee's words and deeds, during college, in addition to concentrating on his studies, he also studied Chinese martial arts in depth, integrating the strengths of hundreds of schools, absorbing excellent elements from abroad, and creating his own boxing style, which is his own school.
In 1962, he founded the Zhenfan Guoshu Gym in Seattle, and with the record of defeating the three dans of karate and the four sword-wielding gangsters in karate in just 11 seconds, his Guoshu gym became famous and attracted many students to come to learn.
This experience was crucial to Bruce Lee, who devoted himself to the study of martial arts theory and constantly optimized the training methods suitable for his students. The Bruce Lee school he founded on the basis of Chinese martial arts has built a perfect system, which is a great progress in Chinese martial arts civilization.
In addition, Bruce Lee's love life also ushered in the spring, and he met his bright, beautiful, and empathetic college classmate Linda Emory at the Guoshu Museum. They fell in love with each other, and soon entered the palace of marriage and established their own family.
Bruce Lee, who was newly married, experienced the heaviest blow in his life. In 1965, his son Li Guohao was born, but seven days later, his father Li Haiquan died.
This blow left Bruce Lee so sad that he devoted all his energy to the study of martial arts, and Jeet Kune Do was born. At first, he said, he didn't want to give the martial art a name because it might limit its development, but without a name, it couldn't be promoted on a large scale.
Therefore, he eventually chose the name of Jeet Kune Do. After experiencing the ups and downs of life, he returned to the film and television industry. The opportunity came when he defeated three-time U.S. Karate Champion Loris and got an audition for a kung fu series.
The following year, he signed with Twentieth Century Fox and became an actor.
In just 8 years, Bruce Lee has become a well-known film and television superstar in Hollywood. He has won many championships in martial arts competitions across the country, and the Zhenfan Guoshu Hall has attracted martial arts masters from all over the world to study.
Bruce Lee's status as a grandmaster in the martial arts world is unshakable, and his reputation is as high as the sky. The reason why Bruce Lee was able to achieve such a prominent international status is directly related to his international image.
At that time, foreigners' impression of China was still at the stage of "the sick man of East Asia". However, Bruce Lee, with his unique acting image, strong martial arts skills and tough guy temperament, completely reversed the weak image of the Chinese and played an important positive role in China's foreign exchanges.
At that time, the gangsters in Seattle would stay away when they saw the Chinese, and shouted: "Chinese, all know kung fu!" ”
A popular superstar, but unfortunately died early, "Jingwumen" is Bruce Lee's pinnacle work, which can be called a classic. In his hands, the nunchuck became a symbol of Chinese kung fu and even had an impact on American legislation.
Because many American young people imitate Bruce Lee to play nunchucks, resulting in frequent cases in various places, in order to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents, some areas clearly identify nunchucks as extremely dangerous items, and even compared with ***.
The subsequent "Enter the Dragon" set off a Chinese martial arts frenzy in Hollywood, and many blockbusters of the same period were suppressed by it, and posters of Bruce Lee were posted on the streets and alleys, and people expected his new works to bring more surprises to the world.
Tomorrow and accidents, no one knows who will come first. When Bruce Lee was filming "Enter the Dragon", he interrupted the filming of "Game of Death" for the sake of this movie.
In June 1973, he returned to Hong Kong to restart filming of Game of Death. However, something happened that no one expected. On July 20, he went to the house of his friend actress Ding Pei as a guest, and soon after he complained of a headache, Ding Pei gave him his room and gave him painkillers.
However, after Bruce Lee fell asleep, Ding Pei tried to wake him up to go to the appointment in the evening, but was surprised to find that he had stopped breathing, and he left us forever at the age of 32.
The sudden death of this globally watched star was a huge shock. After examination, the hospital confirmed that the cause of death was cerebral edema. **Subsequently, it was found that it contained only painkillers in its body, ruling out the possibility of **.
Linda immediately flew to Hong Kong, where her 8-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter followed her mother to see her father one last time. The legendary superstar is now lying quietly in a coffin, still wearing the blue clothes from "Jingwumen", and can no longer show the world the charm of Chinese kung fu.
His wife and children knelt on either side of the coffin. The young children did not yet know what was going on, thinking that the father was just asleep and would soon wake up and let them sit on their arms and play.
was originally a foreseeable tragedy, but Bruce Lee paid a great price for the pursuit of the top of martial arts and the ultimate in his acting career. He had his sweat glands removed and his body functioned with the help of electric shocks and drugs, but all of this took a toll on his health.
Under the pressure of his body day after day, he collapsed. When Bruce Lee was buried at the Kowloon Funeral Parlor, fans and friends from all over the world gathered to see him off on his last journey.
His departure made everyone feel deep grief, and the "Art Sea Star Sinking" on the mourning hall is a portrayal of their inner pain.
Bruce Lee's life came to an end in Game of Death, which is undoubtedly a huge irony. On July 25, after the farewell service for his remains, he was buried in his second hometown, Seattle.
Here, he founded the Kokushu Museum, took university courses, and spent his youth building a love nest with his lover. Seattle, for Bruce Lee, is the birthplace of his martial arts school and has a deep meaning.
His grave is located here, with Princess Anne, daughter of the Dani family, an Indian tribal leader, and a walk down the hill with views of beautiful Lake Washington.
The red tombstone is engraved with his name, Li Zhenfan, and the black and white Tai Chi diagram symbolizes his great achievement of wandering between Chinese and Western cultures throughout his life and perfectly integrating them through martial arts.
This rainy city quietly sees off the hero of his time in the drizzle. However, many years later, on the right side of the red tombstone, a black tombstone was erected, and in this way the two great martial artists were forever attached to each other.
It can only be said that fate is indeed a little cruel to them. The son inherited his father's business, but fate played a joke, Li Guohao, who attended his father's funeral that year, grew up and inherited his father's mantle and became a rising star.
His father is a world-renowned kung fu superstar, and he has also developed a good body of muscles and martial arts. This strong young man, while taking care of his mother and sister, constantly sharpened himself, inherited from his father not only kung fu, but also perseverance.
His debut was in the movie "Kung Fu Circle", playing the role of his father's double. On the huge stage of Hollywood, it is not easy for Li Guohao to become an international superstar, he has to go through a long and arduous struggle.
The films he took on were small roles and low-budget films, but he was never discouraged, he inherited his father's strong will, no matter how big or small the job, he would give it his all.
Many people have high expectations for him, believing that he will be able to perfectly replicate his father's path and become a kung fu superstar for the next generation. He himself is confident in this, but he doesn't want to just repeat his father's path, he wants people to really remember his name, and he wants to go out on his own unique path.
The invisible hand of fate closely links the fate of father and son. In 1993, Li Guohao was invited to play the role of a rock singer in a big-budget movie.
The film is called "The Crow" and tells the story of a rock singer who dies in an accident and returns to the world with the help of the power of the crow to avenge himself. Li Guohao accepted the script with confidence and threw himself into the shooting, eager to take the opportunity to make a difference.
However, something unexpected happened.
On March 31, 1993, there was an accident in the last shootout scene of the movie "The Crow". When actor Lee Kwok-ho and the rival actor completed the action, the rival actor was supposed to shoot a fake prop, but the result was a real bullet, and Lee Kwok-ho was seriously injured as a result.
Although the crew quickly rushed him to the hospital, due to the severity of his injuries, the hospital could not save his life with a blood volume of five **. Lee Kwok Ho left us forever at the age of 28.
In just 20 years, Linda lost her husband and son, and their lives were dedicated to the film industry. Lee was buried next to his father, and now he is always by his father's side.
Bruce Lee once said: "The impossible is the law, and the infinite is the finite." This sentence is full of philosophical meaning, not only his highest definition of Jeet Kune Do, but also contains the thinking of the two generations of the Li family, father and son.
The finite and the infinite are the two major parts of the universe, and the two embrace each other, as if they were in harmony with nature. They presented Chinese Kung Fu to the world in the form of a movie, making "Kung Fu without borders" a reality.
The selflessness and breadth of the grandmasters' hearts and minds are exactly the creed that Bruce Lee pursued throughout his life, and it is also their deep understanding of life.
Pure is often the best, without much embellishment. "