Bruce Lee aficionados gathered at a Hong Kong mini-museum dedicated to the legendary martial artist to bid farewell to the site on Tuesday, as operating expenses forced the itinerant archive to close once again.
The Bruce Lee Club, which was founded by the Lee family, had put a collection of about 2,000 artefacts, including decades-old magazines and a large sculpture showing the superstar’s iconic moves, on display in the bustling Yau Ma Tei neighbourhood in 2001. But a rent increase shut the project in 2016.
Three years and a move to industrial Kwun Tong later, the club began welcoming visitors to see the collection again just before democracy protests roiled the city, dampening tourism.
In a statement, the club wrote that the social movement followed by the Covid-19 pandemic had “severely disrupted” plans for the archive.
“We anticipated a recovery, yet reality fell short,” it said. “The accumulated expenses over these six years have compelled us to rethink how to most effectively utilise our resources to sustain the flame of Bruce Lee’s spirit.”
It added that it will “explore new ways” to engage with the public, but for now, ahead of what would have been Lee’s 85th birthday, it is shutting shop.
At least temporarily, all the assorted ephemera related to the Hong Kong icon will be boxed up and stored.
Born in San Francisco in 1940, Bruce Lee was raised in British-run Hong Kong and had an early brush with fame as a child actor. He later became one of the first Asian men to achieve Hollywood stardom before his death at the age of 32.
‘Never give up’
At the unassuming Kwun Tong archive on Tuesday, visitor and martial arts coach Andy Tong called it a “great pity” to lose the place.
“(Lee) helped build the image of the Chinese and overseas Chinese in the Western world,” Tong, 46, said.
While the superstar is widely beloved and celebrated in the city, with frequent retrospectives and exhibitions staged, fans have struggled to ensure organised and systematic preservation.
In 2004, petitioners successfully managed to get a bronze statue of Lee installed on Hong Kong’s famed harbourfront, but a campaign to revitalise his former residence failed to spare it from demolition in 2019.
Bruce Lee Club’s chairman W Wong said the Hong Kong government lacks long-term and continuous planning for preserving Lee’s legacy.
But he added the Club “will never give up” their dedication to championing Lee’s spirit.
“Although Bruce has passed away, his spirit continues to inspire people of all kinds,” Lee’s 76-year-old brother Robert Lee told AFP.
“I believe, rather than hope, the spirit of Bruce Lee will forever remain here (in Hong Kong).”
