The winning entry to redesign Bruce Lee's house in Hong Kong came from a Hong Kong team. Image source: bruceleeresidence.com

When organizers announced in July that there would be a competition to redesign Bruce Lee’s house in Hong Kong, the news made a global splash.

Tourism and business leaders in this free port are quite savvy. The name Bruce Lee is recognized worldwide. When he was alive, his skills were lightning fast.

I blogged about the competition, since Bruce Lee once lived in Seattle and met his wife in the city and taught some of his first students in the International District.

In fact, his first martial arts studio was in the basement of the red building in this video. And Jesse Glover, a Seattle resident, was his first student.

I kept checking the Hong Kong organizers’ Web site from time to time for the design winners – and just realized the winning drawings have been out since January.

I’ve included two images here, the winning entry and second-place entry from the winning group. It really is better, though, to visit the organizers’ Web site (go to “updates” at the bottom) and see the images directly.

Here are easy links for the professional group winners, which includes the top name from a team:

1. Yuen Gi Tsun Jimmy of Hong Kong
2. Witold Opalinski of Poland
3. Wang Shanxiang of China

 Here are the winners for the open group:

1. Lau Chun Yiu Agnus of Hong Kong
2. Wong Wai Shan of Hong Kong
3. Sum Chi Wai of Hong Kong

 You also can enlarge them to get a better sense of what details might go into a renovation of the martial arts’ star house.

As you can see in Yuen Gi Tsun’s winning entry, visitors would be able to go under the house.

I think Sum Chi Wai’s icons of the martial arts star, who also was a writer and read a great deal of philosophy, are noteworthy.

This time around, though, the January announcement of the winners didn’t seem to make as loud of a media splash. CNN had a short blog post.

AFP move a February story, which pointed out that:

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. The tourism board is hoping the attraction can draw visitors from inside and outside the city, and boost Hong Kong’s hard-hit film industry.

The article also noted that the owner of the house, located at No. 41 Cumberland Road Kowloon Tong, had wanted to sell it. People balked.

The owner, Yu-Pang Lin, offered to donate the house – which reportedly is or was a love hotel – in his honor.

From the AFP story:

Yu has said the home should be renovated to include a museum, library, a cinema and martial arts area. Others, including Bruce Lee Club chairman, Wong Yiu-keung, 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.

Since it appears that money to support the renovation project is an issue and the direction might have hit an obstacle, that might explain why there wasn’t as much fanfare as compared to the unveiling of the design competition.

It does look like Shannon Lee, the daughter of Bruce Lee, supports the project, according to the AFP story.

On the 35th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s passing, his family traveled to Seattle to mark that date and talk with his supporters.

They also unveiled drawings and more details for a three-story Bruce Lee Action Museum, which they hope would be built in Seattle and cover an entire city block.

As much as $50 million could be devoted to the musem and its construction.

I haven’t heard of any update since I talked with the family at that event in 2008.

But the family’s architect said – at that time – that they looked around for open pieces of property in Seattle. Raising money, certainly, remained a goal.

Given how the country’s hard economic times are still being felt, including in Seattle, I know one thing: If the family does go forward with a Bruce Lee Action Museum in Seattle, secures the money and breaks ground, there will be many smiles in the city.

And just how fast was Bruce Lee?

At one point, he talked with a journalist with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, my former employer.

Lee asked the journalist to hold out his open palm with a coin in it.

Lee told the journalist to close his fingers and hand as fast as he could. Lee said he would try and swipe that coin out with his hand.

The journalist shut his hand, making a fist as fast as he could.

Lee raised his hand and showed the journalist the coin.

I read about it in an archived story in the P-I.

The second place entry for the professional group came from Witold Opalinski of Poland. Image source: bruceleeresidence.com

Sum Chi Wai of Hong Kong placed third in the open competition to redesign Bruce Lee's Hong Kong house. Image source: bruceleeresidence.com

Image source: LikeCool.com

Image source: LikeCool.com

I’m grateful to LikeCool.com, which originally posted these eye-catching, cut-out images of Bruce Lee and his clothing.

And thanks to the crew at The Wing Luke Asian Museum, which posted the image links on Facebook.

As a journalist, I had the good fortune of writing about former Seattle resident Bruce Lee.

In researching his life, I interviewed his first student, Seattle resident Jesse Glover, and another pupil, Taky Kimura, who lives in the area.

Here are passages from my story last year about how these men became Lee’s students and friends.

Jesse Glover, who is in his 70s (Seafair is a summer festival in Seattle): 

After Glover saw Lee perform during a Seafair demonstration and realized Lee had stellar skills, he spotted him as the two walked to Edison Technical School (now Seattle Central Community College). Glover tried to get Lee’s attention by running in front of him and kicking telephone poles. ‘He probably thought I was nuts,’ he said. The two started practicing at Glover’s apartment. During their first session, Glover tried to attack Lee. But Lee countered the move and grabbed Glover’s arms, applying pressure to them. Before Glover could move his arms, Lee already knew which way his opponent was going to move. ‘Right away,’ Glover said, ‘I knew this guy was unique.’

 Taky Kimura, who is in his 80s:

Kimura…recalls one phrase Lee often uttered: ‘Be like water.’

Kimura believes Lee said that so his students could adapt — like water — to fast-changing situations. He realized Lee was fast when they once practiced together. Lee quickly had him on the ground. Lee’s controlled hits were so fast and fierce that Kimura felt a breeze hitting his forehead. But Lee was not physically touching him. ‘It scared the holy hell out of me,’ he recalled. Kimura, who is Japanese-American, said he long had low self-esteem. Lee told him to be proud. ‘I believe with all my heart that he left a tremendous message of righteousness and to feel good about yourself,’ Kimura said.

If you’re a fan, there’s the recently re-launched Bruce Lee Web site, which has videos, a blog and a link to Facebook.

Hong Kong officials are asking for design plans to turn Bruce Lee's house into a memorial and tourist attraction. Photo source: BaronRock flickr account

Architects around the world and ordinary people are pulling their best design ideas together following this week’s call for entries to restore Bruce Lee’s former house in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong officials and Yu Pang-Lin, the property owner, announced the competition Monday, the 36th anniversary of the international martial arts star’s death, according to a statement from the region’s Commerce and Economic Development Bureau.

Competition guidelines call for the original facade and layout of Lee’s two-story house at No. 41 Cumberland Road Kowloon Tong to be respected. The plan also calls for an exhibition hall, library, audio-visual room and a “kung fu” corner.

Officials did not release information regarding the estimated budget or say who would cover the costs.

Yu is donating the approximately 5,600-square-foot house and property to the Hong Kong government. Lee lived at the house until he passed away at the age of 32 on July 20, 1973, according to the competition Web site.

The site includes a YouTube video link showing the house’s interior.

Interested parties must register by Aug. 31 and submit their plans by Oct. 15. Entries will be accepted in English and Chinese.

A seven-member jury including Lee’s daughter, Shannon, will select the winning entry. The competition results are expected to be announced in November or December with an awards ceremony scheduled for next year.

The Hong Kong Commerce and Economic Development Bureau explained that the competition is designed to recognize Lee’s exceptional martial arts skills and film career, as well as turn the location into a tourist destination.

Hong Kong officials plan to make at least two films about Lee, including one documenting the restoration project, and would like to show them inside the new building.

The Associated Press reported that the house is the site of a love motel.

Judges will pick the winning proposal based on design creativity and feasibility, project advisor Bernard Lim said in a statement. Design harmony with the neighborhood also is a factor.

Competition officials reserve the right not to use any aspect of a plan.

Professional architects, interior designers, landscape architects, planners and surveyors can submit proposals in one category. Members of the public can file proposals in another competition category.

The professional category carries a first-place cash price of $50,000 HK dollars, or about $6,450 US dollars. The first-place prize for the public category is a trophy.

Lee once lived in Seattle, Wash. and is buried at Lake View Cemetery, which is in the city. 

Last year, the Lee family unveiled plans to build a Bruce Lee Action Museum in Seattle, a structure that could cost up to $50 million and occupy an entire city block.

Before a Seattle ceremony to mark the 35th anniversary of his death, Shannon Lee, his daughter, explained that her dad loved the West Coast city.

“His happiest times were from his time spent in Seattle,” she said.

He met his wife, Linda Lee Cadwell, in Seattle and also opened his first training studio in the city’s International District, which includes Chinatown. Their first date was at the Space Needle restaurant.

While Lee is known for his role as Kato, the fighting chauffeur, in the 1960s television series, The Green Hornet, his widow said in an interview last year that she wants him also to be remembered for his love of Eastern and Western philosophy.

Lee consistently demonstrated fast and superior skills, particularly when he used his own special style of martial arts. It was called Jeet Kune Do, which translates into “Way of the Intercepting Fist.”

His widow last year recalled that his own studying broadened his outlook. While martial arts were part of her husband’s life, she said he developed his own philosophy and realized that fighting was not always necessary.

Several of his former students still live in the Seattle area. His first student, Jesse Glover, attended last year’s Seattle memorial for Lee.

To learn more about Lee, visit his official Web site, which includes video, or his foundation Web site.

To see photos and a video of Shaolin-trained monks perform martial arts at the University of Washington, click here.

Photo credit: Copyright Dan DeLong/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

I should start with a disclosure: That’s not me. Not even years ago.

In 2006, photographer Dan DeLong and I dropped by the University of Washington to watch some visiting Shaolin-trained monks give a martial arts demonstration.

They impressed a huge crowd by soaring through the air, twirling, bouncing and kicking. In short, good, amazing stuff.

It probably helped that most of the monks were either in their teens or twenties. But their training and discipline were evident.

The above photograph has never been shown publicly, at least to my knowledge. The next day’s print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer had limited space and featured the image after the jump.

Photo credit: Copyright Dan DeLong/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

I never inspected those spears that the monks used to hold that one young man up. They could have been made of some type of special material so the tips would not hurt him.

But my hunch is that they put them under special points of his body, places where they knew there was strength. Obviously, he was in excellent physical shape.

Dan, thanks for sharing the incredible photographs with me. 

You can visit Shaolin Temple – one of the major birthplaces for martial arts - in Henan province.

Just keep in mind: It’s a tourist attraction. There are many training schools directly outside the temple.

When I visited, I bought a ticket and watched an introductory movie.

It showed a monk squat and use his teeth to pick up the end of a wooden table. He walked with the table in his mouth and other monks picked up cups of tea from it.

Other scenes showed monks standing on their heads. Another shot showed one withstanding the force of a wooden log getting rammed into his stomach - courtesy of other monks.

The Web site, Shaolin.com, gives an explanation similar to what I heard of how Shaolin-style martial arts began.

An Indian Buddhist monk, who went by Tamo (or possibly Damo) in Chinese, had arrived at the temple and observed other monks:

Most of their routine paralleled that of the Irish monks of the Middle Ages, who spent hours each day hunched over tables where they transcribed handwritten texts. Consequently, the Shaolin monks lacked the physical and mental stamina needed to perform even the most basic of Buddhist meditation practices.

Tamo countered this weakness by teaching them moving exercises, designed to both enhance chi flow and build strength. These sets, modified from Indian yogas (mainly hatha, and raja) were based on the movements of the 18 main animals in Indo-Chinese iconography (e.g., tiger, deer, leopard, cobra, snake, dragon, etc.), were the beginnings of Shaolin Kung Fu.

I’ve included an impressive video clip from a guy named Ben, who lives in Seattle. He was in the audience that day at the University of Washington.

Luckily, he had his video camera. It’s popular online, based on the number of people who have viewed it. Ben, thanks for posting it.

UPDATE: I should note that Bruce Lee, known for his stellar martial arts skills, once lived in Seattle. His daughter told me last year that his “happiest times” were in the Emerald City.