How Bruce Lee made it 'cool' to be Chinese growing up in America

Jeff Chinn is rightly very proud of his extensive collection of Bruce Lee memorabilia - he is also proud to be Chinese, thanks in no small part to the late martial arts legend.

Chinn, 54, has been collecting Lee-related items since his fascination for the kung fu artist took hold more than 40 years ago.

Today, he has almost 10,000 items in his "Bruce Room" in San Francisco, 230 of which are now on show at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Sha Tin until July 20, 2018, as part of a larger exhibition, "Bruce Lee: Kung Fu Art Life".

Chinn's collection, however, is far from being just a material obsession; it is a personal story of how his idol Lee made being Chinese "cool" and inspired an American-Chinese boy growing up in a climate of racial discrimination in the 1970s.

"Before [seeing Bruce Lee], I was always ashamed of being Chinese," Chinn said.

"When you look at the stereotypes ... In films, when Caucasian people played Chinese, they would tape their eyes," he added, stretching his eyes to create the obligatory "slits".