Bruce Lee’s wife, daughter open Hong Kong exhibit to mark kung fu star’s legacy

Bruce Lee’s wife, daughter open Hong Kong exhibit

HONG KONG — Bruce Lee’s wife and daughter on Tuesday unveiled an exhibition of the late kung fu star’s personal items, photos and movie posters in Hong Kong.

The exhibit, which includes a boxing head guard and a pair of sunglasses used by Lee, is part of a tribute to the late actor at the 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival. The festival is also hosting a seminar on his work this Sunday and screening nine of his movies in honor of what would have been his 70th birthday later this year.

“I think that he would be thrilled to know that his legacy has gone on and on for as long as it has and that it will continue to go on and inspire people for many, many more years to come,” said Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee Keasler, who attended the opening ceremony with her mother, Linda Lee Cadwell.

Lee became a chest-thumping source of Chinese pride by portraying characters that defended the Chinese and the working class from oppressors in films like “Return of the Dragon.” He died in Hong Kong in 1973 at age 32 from swelling of the brain.

“I think my father continues to be really influential because he was so unique. There hasn’t really been anyone like him,” Lee Keasler said.

Lee’s daughter said earlier that plans to convert her father’s old house in Hong Kong — now used as an hourly love motel — into a museum and to build a new museum in Seattle, where Lee studied and taught martial arts, are in the fundraising stage.