The rundown house at 41 Cumberland Road in Hong Kong’s quiet district of Kowloon Tong might escape the notice of passers-by if it weren’t for a sign signaling that it is a “love hotel.”
Rooms are offered for rent by the hour, with a discount rate of HK$205 (US$25) buying amorous couples three hours in a tatty room off a narrow hallway decorated with a poster of a topless blonde.
It is a far cry from when the building was the home of kung fu icon Bruce Lee (李小龍) in the years before his untimely death in 1973 at the age of 32.
PHOTO: AFP
“The house has definitely been altered,” said Shannon Lee, the actor’s daughter, who recalled snickering when she learned about the home’s love hotel status in her mid-teens.
In glaring contrast to its current appearance, the now 40-year-old Lee remembers a Japanese-style pond out front, pets running around and plenty of exercise space for her father.
“I have very fond memories of it — my father definitely valued his privacy and there was space for him to work out and the kids to run around,” she said.
The fact that guests walk in the footsteps of the kung fu star might have faded into the mists of time had it not been for fans who rallied behind a plan to turn the hotel into a Lee memorial.
Following a public uproar, billionaire owner Yu Pang-lin (余彭年) agreed to cancel plans to sell the property, which he says is worth HK$100 million and instead donate it to honor Lee’s legacy.
Yu has said the home should be renovated to include a museum, a library, a cinema and martial arts area. Others, including Bruce Lee Club chairman Wong Yiu-keung (黃耀強), want the original floor plan preserved so visitors can imagine how it looked when the actor lived there.
“It should be a memorial house. After all it’s his former residence,” Wong said.
Lee — who was credited with catapulting the martial arts film genre into the mainstream with films including Fists of Fury and the posthumously released Enter the Dragon — died after a severe reaction to pain medication.
His widow, now living in the US, has provided a rough blueprint of the home’s original layout to help restoration efforts.
“My mom is definitely behind it,” Shannon Lee said.
“I’m really in favor of [the memorial]. It could be great for Hong Kong and great for my father and his legacy. I think the primary goal should be to preserve the house as much as possible to its original condition,” she said.
“The draw of this space was that it was his home,” she said. “That makes it very unique.”
A local design contest ended last month, but the memorial’s final look, building costs, who will pay them and when it opens remain unclear.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
RSS