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13th July, 2008
A developer who owns Bruce Lee’s old home in Hong Kong lobbied the government Thursday to turn the property into a museum.
Yu Pang-lin met Thursday with Hong Kong’s commerce and economic development secretary about his plans for the two-story house, currently used as an hourly motel.
The 86-year-old developer-turned-philanthropist had put the property on sale to raise money for victims of the recent earthquake in China’s Sichuan province, but changed his mind after fans of the late martial-arts star expressed worries about the building’s possible destruction.
He’s willing to donate the property, where Lee lived in 1972 and ‘73, and wants the Hong Kong government to set up a trust that will hold the property and spearhead efforts to plan and raise funds for the museum, said Michael Tien, a local politician who attended Thursday’s meeting.
Michael Choi, chairman of the property consultant company that was handling the sale of the property for Yu, said the house and the land it’s on fetched an offer of more than $13 million.
The press secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Secretary Frederick Ma didn’t immediately return calls about Yu’s proposal.
Lee, who died in Hong Kong in 1973 at age 32 from swelling of the brain, was born in San Francisco but grew up in Hong Kong.
His credits include “The Chinese Connection,” “Enter the Dragon” and “Return of the Dragon.”
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