This AP story in Singapore's TODAYonline tells of Hong Kong's plan to unveil a statue of Bruce Lee later in the year. The story claims that the statue will be a world's first, but it is certainly not the first statue of Bruce Lee to be announced. We recorded the story of a Bruce Lee statue in Mostar, Bosnia, late last year. And why did the Bosnians want a statue of Bruce:

"Out of all the ethnic heroes and those who have a material interest in acting as victims, we have chosen Bruce Lee. Now they can rack their brains trying to decide whether he is he Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim), Croat, or Serb," said Veselin Gatalo, one of the initiators of the idea.

An interesting element of the Hong Kong statue is that fans are being given the opportunity to vote online for Lee's pose (though I haven't found the website yet). The poses "all feature Lee in his classic poses - all with a bare torso and his signature weapon the nunchaku." The artist is "Deng Xiaoping sculptor" Cao Chongen, a professor of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art.

See also the BBC story here.

Labels: China

# posted @ 1:36 PM