Just Saying | Why does Hong Kong treat Bruce Lee like an outcast and refuse to honour its greatest son?

A story this newspaper published last week about martial arts icon Bruce Lee got me thinking again about a question that has bothered me for many years: why does Hong Kong shun its most famous son?

The story featured a dedicated fan from San Francisco with an extensive collection of Bruce Lee memorabilia, some of which he has lent to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Jeff Chinn spoke of how his idol made it “cool” to be Chinese while growing up in a climate of racial discrimination in the 1970s.

Thank you for reminding us, Jeff Chinn. And let me extend the tribute by declaring that it’s not just Chinese people who owe a debt of gratitude to the late kung fu legend. Bruce Lee changed the derogatory perception in the West that Asians were mostly a faceless mob of timid little people to be pitied or pushed around. He gave us respect.

He was a cultural phenomenon who took on a Hollywood film industry that used yellow-face portrayals of Asians – remember John Wayne as Genghis Khan with his eyes taped back to look more “Oriental” in The Conqueror? 

Cinema-goers brought up on a diet of racist stereotypes such as Dr Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan didn’t know what hit them when Lee kicked and punched his way onto the scene. He gave us “face” – dignity and pride in the social context that Asian people understand so well.

And look at us in Hong Kong, still unwilling to pay official tribute to our biggest hero. We can’t even name a road after him – Arbuthnot, Cadogan, Gutzlaff, Lambeth, pick any name except that of the most recognisable and idolised Hongkonger ever.