Skip to main content

Kung Fu festival honours Bruce Lee

Tuesday, July 28, 2009 HONG KONG: The first international kung fu festival in Hong Kong has kicked off, 36 years after the death of Bruce Lee, the world's kung fu movie icon.More than a thousand martial artists from 19 different countries are expected to turn out to put their kung fu abilities to the test.The festival, which is scheduled to continue until early August, aims to promote and develop Chinese martial arts, through holding a number of bare-handed and armed martial arts competitions.Prior to the event, Hong Kong, home to many renowned kung fu legends, marked the 36th anniversary of the first kung fu movie sensation Bruce Lee last Monday (July 20).Though the popularity of kung fu has taken different forms over the past three decades, many people who practice the sport still claim Bruce Lee as the original and the best.A 19-year-old competitor from Czech said she was inspired by Chinese kung fu movies, including Bruce Lee's movies, to start martial arts herself."Bruce is the first. He is number one. No one is as good as him. That's my opinion. I have read his book. He is not just a warrior. He is very intelligent, very philosophical," said Jana.In mainland China, various kung fu movies hit the theatre every year. Though people are given a variety of choices, most claim Lee's old movies as the most significant influence in their lives.A competitor from mainland China, Xiao Qing, says Bruce Lee's old movies allow people to learn martial arts moves."When we were practicing kung fu, a movie called The Legend of Bruce Lee hit the TV. A lot of people watched it, and discuss about him," noted Xiao.But it's been the life of Bruce Lee, rather than his martial arts moves, which has taken centre stage in commemorative celebrations of the star's life.An exhibition of Lee's life opened in a shopping centre in Hong Kong, drawing huge crowds.Families queued in front of Lee's life size wax figure and showed interest in Lee's old collection.The exhibition also showcased other rare collections including Lee's Hong Kong driver license and books authored by the star.Wong Yiu-keung, chairman of the organiser of the exhibition, has been pushing for Lee's remains to be preserved and protected.In the meantime, he says he's relieved the Hong Kong government is making moves to turn Lee's former residence into a museum."I'm relieved that his house is still around more than 30 years after his death and we can still preserve it. Having withstood the test of time, Bruce Lee's significance and honour have become clearer. Of course, if Bruce Lee's house had been preserved earlier, that would be even better. But now it's not too late. At least the house hasn't been demolished and we can still restore it," said Wong.Hong Kong's Commerce and Economic Development Bureau last January approved the preservation of the one-time residence of the kung fu legend, and approved plans to transform it into a major tourist attraction.The green light comes after a long-running struggle by fans to save the 5,700 square-foot, two-storey town house from an inglorious fate as a seedy love motel in a leafy Kowloon suburb.Parts of the home will be recreated, including Lee's study and training hall stacked with martial arts weaponry and other paraphernalia of his discipline.The fate of Lee's last home had hung in the balance for years, until its owner, real estate and hotel tycoon Yu Pang-lin, made a surprise decision last year to donate it to the city where the martial arts master first shot to fame.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

India's swine flu death rate is increasing

Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...

Suicide bombings kill 18 in Iraq

Thursday, August 13, 2009 MOSUL: At least 18 people, most of them members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect, were killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up on Thursday in a packed cafe in northern Iraq, a local government official said.At least 31 people were also wounded after the bombers detonated suicide belts packed with explosives in the cafe in Kalaa town, in the district of Sanjar, local district chief Dakheel Qassem Hasoon, told a foreign news agency."Two suicide bombers entered the Cafe Barbaroz at 4:30 pm (1330 GMT) and blew themselves up, killing 18 civilians and wounding 31. Most of the victims were Yazidis," Hasoon said.Kalaa, northwest of the insurgent stronghold of Mosul in northern Nineveh province is predominantly populated by the minority Yazidi religious sect, as well as Arabs and Kurds.The attack is the deadliest since Monday, when 51 people were killed across Iraq, including 28 members of the tiny Shabak sect cut down when two truck bombs det...

US drones to target Taliban in Afghan war

Friday, July 31, 2009 WASHINGTON: The US military plans to use more drone aircraft to target Taliban militants in Afghanistan while focusing less on hunting down Al-Qaeda figures, report said on Thursday.Although defeating the Al-Qaeda terror network remains an overriding goal for Washington, officials now believe the best way to pursue that objective is to ensure stability in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan instead of Al-Qaeda manhunts, the paper said, citing US government and Defense Department officials.It was more important to prevent a slide towards violence and anarchy that could be exploited by Al-Qaeda, which used Afghanistan to stage its attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the officials said."We might still be too focused on Bin Laden," an official said. "We should probably reassess our priorities."The shift in priorities for the drone fleet comes despite President Barack Obama's declaration that defeating and dismantling Al-Qaeda ...