The Dragon Lives: Towering Over Hong Kong &…Bosnia?

Bruce Lee Statues Unveiled

Kung Fu film star Bruce Lee will be remembered with a bronze statue marking his 65th birthday.

The city of Hong Kong recently hosted a weeklong festival to honor the memory of the late action film star Bruce Lee.

The seven-day event featured showings of Lee’s successful films, tours of relevant Lee related-sites around the city, including a visit to Lee’s family home where he was raised as a youngster and schools he attended, plus a large fan appreciation gathering.

The festival itself was organized to help celebrate the unveiling of a statue of the martial arts legend, which was created by Chinese sculptor Cao Chongen. The festival, backed by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, began on November 25th and was continued until December 1st of 2005.

The statue of Lee was partly funded by the Hong Kong Bruce Lee Fan Club, but the club had asked the government to contribute towards the cost of casting the bronze tribute. The club received the government approval it needed to unveil the statue.

Robert Lee, Bruce’s brother, appeared to preside over the official unveiling ceremony of the six-foot-six-inch tall statue on Hong Kong’s Avenue of the Stars-Walk of Fame on November 27th said the chairman of the Hong Kong Bruce Lee Fan Club.

Fans were also able to discuss various Bruce Lee topics at a Hong Kong gathering on the first day, which would’ve been Lee’s 65th birthday.

Bruce Lee fans were able to choose the design for the Hong Kong statue of the Kung Fu icon.

More than 57,000 Lee fans were invited to choose their favorite design out of a list of three proposed on the Internet. The three design choices all featured Lee in his classic poses – some with bare torso and his signature nunchaka in hand.

The two-meter high bronze statue chosen displays Lee in his familiar bare-chested stance, which resembles a pose from his 1972 film “Fists of Fury”.

Organizers hoped this statue would be the first statue of Bruce Lee on public display in the world. However, a similar statue of Bruce Lee was also unveiled earlier in November, in the Bosnian city of Mostar, which makes it the first official statue of the martial arts icon.