有一个纪念for Bruce Lee in Seattle, where the global icon is buried, and a plaque dedicated to him at St. Xavier’s College in Hong Kong, where he was educated in his youth. Now the San Francisco native will be the subject of an extended exhibition in his hometown at the Chinese Historical Society of America in Chinatown — about two blocks from the Chinese Hospital on Jackson Street, where he was born.
“We Are Bruce Lee: Under the Sky, One Family,” which marks CHSA’s reopening and is expected to run for three years starting April 24, will feature artifacts from Lee’s film, television, martial arts and writing careers sourced from the private collections of several noted Bruce Lee fans including Perry Lee (no relation) of Seattle, San Franciscan Jeff Chinn and Hillsborough’s Kenneth Hao, as well as from the Bruce Lee Foundation. Items include promo trailer celluloid reels from his final five films; on-set photos and magazine covers from his time as Kato from “The Green Hornet” TV series that ran in 1966-67; and his exercise equipment, including his weight bench.
Jane Chin, the exhibit’s project lead, told The Chronicle in an exclusive interview that the long-in-the planning project came about as a way to revitalize interest in Chinatown, which had been severely impacted by the pandemic both economically and socially.
“The idea of bringing native son Bruce Lee back to San Francisco was just a mesmerizing story to me,” Chin said in a phone interview from her home in San Francisco. But focusing on Lee’s brief time in the Bay Area proved challenging, Chin noted, prompting CHSA to expand the exhibit’s scope.
Lee was born on Nov. 27, 1940, while his opera singer father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was performing in the city on tour with the Chinese Opera. He was raised in Hong Kong and left for Seattle when he was 18, and later studied philosophy at the University of Washington. Hong Kong and Seattle currently have Bruce Lee exhibits, so “We Are Bruce Lee” completes a geographic trinity of his early years.
Considered the first Asian American superstar thanks to his appearances in films and TV, he died on July 20, 1973, from cerebral edema and a subsequent allergic reaction to medication. But Lee has since remained part of the cultural zeitgeist and an influence to artists, athletes and more throughout the world.
“We were looking around for the story we could tell and a place where we could do it. All that took time to germinate, for the Bruce Lee story is not just that he was a movie star or a martial arts star,” Chin said. “As you really delve into him, you realize he was a deep thinker and a philosopher and a visionary.”
李也是统一者,下巴补充说,指的是how Lee wanted to share his knowledge of martial arts with others to cultivate relationships between ethnic communities. After developing his own style of martial arts, Jeet Kune Do (“the way of the intercepting fist”), Lee opened the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Seattle, before branching out to Oakland and Los Angeles.
“He worked with Black Americans to teach them kung fu, so the message about him standing up, being a unifier and bridging communities is one thing that we really want to present in these times,” Chin said.
In fact, Chin said the “Under the Sky, One Family” title of the exhibition was taken from a television interview on “The Pierre Burton Show” in 1971 where Lee stated, “Under the sky, under the heavens, man, there is but one family.”
That theme of unity is underscored by CHSA’s collaboration with the African American Art and Culture Complex, the Fillmore Collective and Oakland-based Shades Magazine. The multimedia section of “We Are Bruce Lee” also combines contributions from artists of color, which again aligns with Lee’s philosophy.
Among those artists are Elaine Chu and Marina Perez-Wong of the Bay Area-based Twin Walls Mural Co. The pair created “Be the Bridge,” a 24-by-10-foot mural that will be on display in CHSA’s Yick Gallery. The expansive piece depicts a shirtless Lee with outstretched arms and clenched fists at the center, flanked by San Francisco and Hong Kong skylines, and surrounded by painted historic images — many which were inspired by photos provided by his daughter Shannon Lee, who chairs the Bruce Lee Foundation.
“We love the idea of Bruce Lee as a bridge,” said Chu in a joint phone interview with Perez-Wong of their mural. Perez-Wong added: “Elaine and I have been following his philosophy, that we are one part of a whole, since we were little. So that’s what our mural is about — that definition of intersectionality.”
Shannon Lee approved Chu and Perez-Wong’s mural proposal last July and provided feedback during the 18-month process of creating it, including during a museum visit on Feb. 19 before she served as the honorary marshal at this year’s San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade.
“We worked hard to come up with a theme that reflected the overall exhibit and what resonates to us about Bruce Lee,” Chu explained.
Music producer Mike Dinkins and vocalist De’Ahna Turner, also known as the Oakland duo Mike and Dee, composed a score and created a soundscape for the mural along with curating the exhibit’s official playlist. Dominic Cheng, Jeffrey Yip and Anum Awan, of the East Bay art collective and creative studio Macro Waves, also created art to be projected on top of the mural as well as on two blank walls.
“It’s been a labor of love,” said Chin of the exhibit. “But the love is for Chinatown as much as for telling the story of San Francisco’s native son. We hope the exhibit will attract visitors from all over and revitalize the community.”
“We Are Bruce Lee: Under the Sky, One Family”:Opens April 24. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. daily through May 1; Wednesdays through Sundays thereafter. Through April 2025. $20 general admission; $10 for students and seniors 55 and older; free to members. Chinese Historical Society of America, 965 Clay St., S.F.www.wearebrucelee.org
Editor’s note: The original story misstated the location of Bruce Lee’s memorials.