[BlackDragon]

There is no doubt. Bruce Lee is a Legend. Bruce Jun Fan Lee (Chinese: 李振藩 Cantonese: Léi Janfàan Pinyin: Lǐ Zhènfán); born November 27, 1940 in San Francisco - July 20, 1973 in Hong Kong was a Chinese American martial artist and actor widely regarded as the most influential, famous and celebrated martial artist of the 20th century. Lee's films, especially his performance in the Hollywood-produced Enter the Dragon, elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level. His pioneering efforts paved the way for future martial artists and martial arts actors such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chuck Norris.

Lee's movies sparked the first major surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West. The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in Hong Kong, China, and the rest of the world. Lee became an iconic figure particularly to Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese national pride and Chinese nationalism in his movies.[1]

Many see Lee as a model blueprint for acquiring a strong and efficient body as well as developing a mastery of martial arts and hand to hand combat skills. Lee began the process of creating his own fighting system known as Jeet Kune Do. Bruce Lee's evaluation of traditional martial arts doctrines is nowadays seen as one of the first steps into popularising the modern style of mixed martial arts.


On the morning of November 27, 1940 (in the Chinese year of the Dragon), Lee Jun Fan was born in San Francisco. The mother, Grace had not planned on an American name, and the father, at the time, was performing a popular Chinese opera in New York. So it was one of the Hospital employee who thought of the name Bruce. The mother concurred and from then on it was Bruce Lee. A legend was born. Shortly afterward, the family returned to Hong Kong.


Bruce's Hong Kong film career began when he was only six years old. The director of his father's latest film saw him on the set and was so impressed that he offered him a part in his father's film. This was the beginning, leading to over twenty motion picture roles and steadily increasing popularity among Hong Kong audiences.


Bruce started training in the martial arts mainly to overcome his fear of being humiliated in a street fight. As a teenager he began to get into more and more fights for no reason at all. And if he didn't win he was furious. As a result, under the great master Yip Man's Wing Chun (meaning "beautiful springtime") teachings, Bruce became a proficient martial artist, not to mention a feared street fighter. However, Bruce actually had more than one teacher. As time went by, Bruce grew. His enthusiasm towards martial arts was more apparent. He was young, energetic and competitive. He soon became acquainted with Wing-chun's basic Kung Fu. Since he was very clever, Mr Yip loved him very much and taught him many secret techniques in Win Chun Kung Fu. He became an expert in Wing Chun Kung Fu.

Even before his wing chun he was trained in wu style tai chi by his father from an early age. Young Bruce learned the fundamentals of Wu style Tai Chi Chuan from his father, Lee Hoi Cheun. Lee's Wing Chun Sifu, Yip Man, was also a colleague and friend of Hong Kong Wu family teacher Wu Ta-chi. He always held that the principles of Tai Chi Chuan influenced his view of martial arts all through his life as an actor and a martial artist. While it is obvious that the style studied by his father was the Wu style, Lee was seen on at least one occasion demonstrating the 108 Basic Movements of the Yang form.

In between the learning of Tai Chi and Wing Chun, Lee also learned bits and pieces of the Kung fu style Hung Gar from a friend of his father. While we do not know how much he learned of this particular martial art, there are photographs of Bruce demonstrating animal stances and forms found within its teachings.

Bruce Lee began his formal martial arts training at the age of 14 in Wing Chun under Hong Kong Wing Chun master Yip Man. Bruce was introduced to Sifu Yip Man by William Cheung, who was then a live-in student of Yip Man, in early 1954. Like most martial arts schools at that time, Sifu Yip Man's classes were often taught by the highest ranking students. One of the highest ranking students under Yip Man at the time of Lee's training was Wong Shun-leung, who is understood to have had the largest influence. Lee would leave before learning the entire Wing Chun curriculum, but Wing Chun formed a base for his later explorations of martial arts and development of Jeet Kune Do. Bruce Lee was certainly "Great". Bruce Lee's first formal, organized bout came as a teenager at his high school in Hong Kong. He was to fight a young British boxer, a reigning two-time boxing champion. Bruce knocked his opponent out with repeated strikes, using the Wing Chun technique jik chung chuy.


When Bruce was about fourteen, he discovered that "dancing" could be a great deal of fun. He had a real Knack for it and rapidly became quite polished, never lacking eager partners. Much of the balance and footwork became evident in his later fighting style. His favorite was the Cha Cha, and he spent many hours practicing extremely complex dance routines. He eventually became the Hong Kong Cha Cha Champion.


At the age of 19, Bruce was becoming more and more involved in street fighting, and Gangs. So in 1959 his parents decide to sent him to live with friends in the United States, Where he would finish high school. He was to live with friends of his father. While he was staying in Seattle, Bruce was allowed to live in the restaurant's attic in exchange for his services as a busboy and waiter. Bruce finished high school and went on to college. By day he attended the University of Washington where he majored in philosophy and nights he was working in the restaurant. After a few months of this, he decided that this lifestyle was not for him. He quit his job at the restaurant and began teaching Kung-fu.
One of the most important events during these pivotal years was meeting his wife, Linda, while attending the University of Seattle. He earned his degree and soon began seeing great success in his Martial Arts school. He also began to develop his on style of martial arts.