Bruce Lee is a man who needs no introduction. He is a martial arts legend with lightning-quick fighting style. The facial expressions he makes during the fight are known worldwide. Not only this, he is well-known worldwide for his concise philosophical statements. Besides martial artist, he is famous as a movie star and cultural icon. Bruce Lee is considered to be the sole person responsible for changing the film industry in Hong Kong. He is the man who brought Kung Fu into Western culture.
Want to know more about this ambitious man? He was a tireless superman of intense energy who can overcome every handicap as life offered him. Furthermore, he was the world’s first international Chinese superstar who crossed the barriers of race and nationality.
Here are a few surprising facts about this remarkable man that may surprise you. He dies at a very young age, and he can make more if God gave him more time.
Bruce Lee: 10 Facts About legendary Martial Artist
1. Bruce Lee was partly German
Bruce Lee was partly German because his grandfather was a purebred German Catholic. This reality worked against him at the time of his admission to Kung Fu School. They were reluctant to admit him due to his “non-pure” Chinese status, an interesting fact about Bruce Lee.
2. He tried contact lenses
Bruce Lee was the first person who used contact lenses. Despite his quick reactions and insightful precision, he had terrible eyesight and suffered from near-sightedness. That’s why Lee was a strong proponent of Chun’s contact-centered movement because it allowed him to rely more on touch than sight. However, he could not wear lenses for a long time due to discomfort.
3. The Unstoppable Punch
Due to some pretty impressive moves of Bruce Lee, including something “The unstoppable Punch,” he is known as fighting master. Lee very confidently claimed that his punch was so fast that no opponent could block him. So, in 1967, a test was conducted to confirm this potential of Lee at the Long Beach International Karate Championship. Vic Moore, a 10th-degree black belt and a four-time Karate world champion, was the competitor of Lee in this competition. This competition amazed the people as Lee punched Moore’s face eight times, and Moore blocked none of his punch. Hence, Lee was able to prove his claim in this competition, a fascinating fact about Bruce Lee.
4. Bruce Lee had exemplary artistic skills
Only a few people are aware an artist was hidden inside Bruce Lee. In addition to a martial arts practitioner, he was also a talented sketch artist.
5. He never went into a swimming pool after childhood
Bruce Lee was much afraid and never went into a swimming pool after his childhood. It was because of an unfavorable accident that occurred when he was very young. At the age of 16, Bruce pushed his sister into a swimming pool as a joke, and she sunk his head underwater until he promised not to do this again. From then on, he acquired Aquaphobia and was afraid to go into the swimming pool again.
6. He was a cha-cha dancing champion
Bruce Lee loved the Cha-Cha, but do you know he was also champion of a dance competition in Hong Kong. In 1958, Lee shocked the spectators and judges when he won the Hong Kong’s Cha Cha championship. Apart from being an extraordinary martial artist, Bruce took a keen interest in dance studies. He used to keep books with sketched choreography and notated dance steps to perfect. His love for dance also appeared in one of his action films, The Big Boss. He performed a unique role in this movie. His role was to lead a group of working men around in a victorious cha-cha dance. This dance practice was unique for Asian cinema at that time. Bruce Lee had moves and charisma to pull the dance scenes off, which made him the winner of the Cha-Cha championship.
7. Bruce Lee punctured cola cans with his fingers
People remained open-mouthed when Bruce Lee punctured holes only with two fingers in beaten sheets of aluminum cola cans, a well-known fact about Bruce Lee.
8. Street Fights
Bruce Lee started participating in street fights at a young age. Street fighting was much popular in Hong Kong at that time. He quickly became a much popular fighter in illegal matches’ throughout the city. However, after a police crackdown on street fights, Lee and his friends would engage in rooftop battles and escaped from any police officer. From here, he got real-life experience and engaging in fights by watching kids fights and assessing their style. Later, he studied martial arts under Ip Man and got the real-life fighting experience, an interesting fact about Bruce Lee. However, it is rumored that lee was moved to America after defeated another man in gang activities and got American citizenship. Hence, Bruce Lee gained much repute in the world of illegal fighting along with improving himself as a martial arts legend.
9. He Was Too Fast For Cameras
Action movies mostly rely on to make fighting scenes more dangerous and dramatic. However, Bruce Lee has a different issue, and movie directors want to slow down his actions rather than the sped up. The reason was his martial arts moves that were too fast for the camera to capture. People wanted to see Lee’s skills, but he was also skilled for his own good. Same was the case on Lee’s television show “The Green Hornet” some of the original scenes were reshot because it seems he was standing still while evil villains convulsed and dropped all around him. Also, movie directors used shooting frame rates for his films so his actions could be caught without missing his epic fight scene.
10. Lee’s Legacy
Most facts in this article are from when Lee was alive, but there is an odd fact surrounding his death. He died from a medical allergy while he was filming his last movie, “Game of Death.” But Lee had not finished filming his scenes. About 100 minutes had shot for the movie when Lee died. His death was very unexpected.
Conclusion
I hope you will enjoy these fascinating facts about Bruce Lee. A multi-talented person with extraordinary martial art skills lived an exciting life. His outstanding tricks amused as well as shocked the spectators and made him Unique among other legendary martial artists.
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