First Bruce Lee Museum In China

"In Shunde, Guangdong." "I beg your pardon?"

While Hong Kong has done little to preserve the memory of Kung Fu legend Bruce Lee, people in the southern province of Guangdong again demonstrate that they are sometimes even more enterprising than the capitalist SAR.

The first Bruce Lee Museum in China is in Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong, an industrial town which is famous for the production of household electric appliances.

A local fan of Bruce Lee discovered that Lee's father (a successful Cantonese opera performer) and grandfather were born in Junan in Shunde. Bruce Lee visited Shunde only once when he was five.

The connection between Bruce Lee and Shunde might be very small. But the provincial government gave funds to open a Bruce Lee Museum in the town in 2002. The Museum features some 500 items on the kung fu legend, including letters, film posters, photographs and other memorabilia, and is housed in an old-fashioned tea house.

Shunde, a two-hour boat ride from Hong Kong, lies to the northwest of Hong Kong and to the south of Guangzhou. The ferry service is provided by Chu Kong Passenger Transport.

Guangdong has never been put on most travellers' (including my) map. But there are signs that special museums will be blooming in the region (see the Shantou Cultural Revolution Museum). Rather quirky and small as they may now be, the museums do make the world's factory's factory a much more interesting place to visit.

Shunde Travel-related Links:
Foshan Tourist Office
Foshan Museum
Chu Kong Passanger Transport - Hong Kong-Shunde ferries
Guangdong Tourist Office

Shunde Government-related Links:
Junan Government
Shunde Government
Foshan Government
Guangdong Government

Comments

[Lonnie Hodge]

He was responsible a massive movement in the U.S....I still have questions about his death and his son's tragedy...

I hope more is done to recognize this phyiscal and cultural powerhouse.

Great site! I found you on the Best Asian Blogs site.

LON

[Letters from China]

Thank you very much, Professor Hodge.

[Mark Anthony Jones]

After reading this blog, this particular thread, I decided to visit Shunde for myself. I'm in Shunde right now in fact, and it's quite an interesting place actually. I plan to visit the Bruce Lee Museum sometime very soon. Yesterday I spent a lovely relaxing afternoon soaking up the atmosphere of the Qinghui gardens - one of the province's four most famous traditional Chinese garden compounds. It reminded me very much of the gardens that make Suzhou so famous.

You mentioned in your article above that Guangdong is not high on most people's travel list, but I highly recommend a vist to Liannan and its local environs, which is located near to the border with Guangxi and Hunan provinces. The whole area is breathtakingly beautiful - characterised by limestone karst peaks. It's much more beautiful than Guilin and Yangshuo, and it's not commercialised at all. I saw no other foreigners there at all, and few domestic tourists too. I have placed a few photos of an ancient village called Nangang, located on the slopes of a mountain in Liannan, on my travel blog for anyone interested in exploring this part of Guangdong province, and I have written about my experiences there as well. See http://www.freewebs.com/flowingwaters/ in the travelogues 2005 section. Photos can be found in the Photo Album section.

I plan to write up my experiences in Shunde too sometimes soon.

Thanks for the travel tip! Shunde has passed my expectations, and the local food isn't bad either, especially if you enjoy traditonal snacks served with ginger-flavoured milk curd (served in a bowl, it's a famous local speciality).

Mark Anthony Jones
Shunde, March 1, 2006

[vijayaraghavan]

i am from india