Fans of martial arts legend Bruce Lee fondly remember his life philosophy 50 years after his death

Lee began his career as a child actor in the 1940s and started learning Chinese kung fu when he was 13. He moved back to the US in 1959 and studied philosophy at the University of Washington.

The superstar fought hard against racist stereotypes in the US entertainment industry where Asian men were often portrayed as servants, unskilled workers or evil geniuses in Hollywood.

Lee eventually went back to Hong Kong and made hits like “The Big Boss” and “Fist of Fury.” His last film, “Enter the Dragon,” was released six days after his death and became his most popular movie.

He was one of the first Asian actors to attain Hollywood megastardom and fanned a kung fu craze that swept the world.

W Wong, the chairperson of a Bruce Lee fan club established nearly three decades ago in Hong Kong, said the group’s demographics are changing as members grow older and that it has only one member in his 20s.

“We face problems in passing on our work,” Wong said, although the group still has some 600 members.

An instructor at a martial arts institute in Hong Kong’s Jordan district says more than half of the studio’s Jeet Kune Do students came to learn the martial arts style because of Lee.

Teacher Ricky Fong said adaptability is important in Jeet Kune Do and life and pointed to one of Lee’s most famous sayings: “Be water, my friend.”

The phrase was frequently used by protesters in Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy movement to describe their guerrilla strategy of moving fluidly across the city.

One of Fong’s students, Adrian Li, said he admired Lee’s martial arts skills and philosophy. He added that Lee’s eagerness to keep learning has influenced him deeply.

“Not be bounded by anything. One can learn a lot,” he said.