 |
| Old photogram from The Grandma & The Dragon |
The Beans are visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.They have just arrived to honor Bruce Lee, an old Grandma's friend who was a specialist in martial arts, in her opinion, the best one ever.
Lee Jun-fan (1940-1973), known professionally as Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong and American actor, film director, martial artist, martial arts instructor, philosopher, and founder of the martial art Jeet Kune Do, one of the wushu or kungfu styles.
Lee was the son of Cantonese opera star Lee Hoi-chuen. He is widely considered by commentators, critics, media, and other martial artists to be one of the most influential martial artists of all time, and a pop culture icon of the 20th century. He is often credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films.
More information: Bruce Lee
Lee was born in Chinatown, San Francisco and was raised in Kowloon, Hong Kong, with his family, until his late teens. He was introduced to the film industry by his father, and appeared in several films as a child actor.
Lee moved to the United States at the age of 18 to receive his higher education at the University of Washington, in Seattle, and it was during this time that he began teaching martial arts.
 |
| Old Grandma's memories in Chinatown, 1940 |
His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, sparking a surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West in the 1970s and influencing martial arts and martial arts films in the US, Hong Kong, and the rest of the world.
He is noted for his roles in five feature-length films: Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Golden Harvest's Way of the Dragon (1972); Enter the Dragon (1973) and The Game of Death (1978). Lee became an iconic figure known throughout the world, particularly among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese nationalism in his films. He trained in the art of Wing Chun and later combined his other influences from various sources into the spirit of his personal martial arts philosophy, which he dubbed Jeet Kune Do.
Lee held dual nationality in Hong Kong and the US. He died in Kowloon Tong at the age of 32.
More information: Bruce Lee Foundation
Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself,
do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.
Bruce Lee
The Chinatown centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street in San Francisco is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese enclave outside Asia.
It is the oldest of the four notable Chinatowns in the city. Since its establishment in 1848, it has been highly important and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in North America. Chinatown is an enclave that continues to retain its own customs, languages, places of worship, social clubs, and identity.
It is the oldest of the four notable Chinatowns in the city. Since its establishment in 1848, it has been highly important and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in North America. Chinatown is an enclave that continues to retain its own customs, languages, places of worship, social clubs, and identity.
 |
| The Beans arriving to Chinatown in San Francisco |
Working-class Hong Kong Chinese immigrants began arriving in large numbers in the 1960s. Despite their status and professional qualifications in Hong Kong, many took low-paying employment in restaurants and garment factories in Chinatown because of limited English. An increase in Cantonese-speaking immigrants from Hong Kong and Mainland China has gradually led to the replacement in Chinatown of the Taishanese dialect by the standard Cantonese dialect.
More information: San Francisco by The Grandma
San Francisco's Chinatown was the port of entry for early Hoisanese and Zhongshanese Chinese immigrants from the Guangdong province of southern China from the 1850s to the 1900s.
 |
| The Grandma seeing a Chinatown painting |
From the mid-1870s, Tong wars sprang up over turf battles concerning criminal enterprises. At the height of the criminal tongs during the 1880s and 1890s, twenty to thirty tongs ran highly profitable gambling houses, brothels, opium dens, and slave trade enterprises in Chinatown.
More information: History
Overcrowding, segregation, graft, and the lack of governmental control contributed to conditions that sustained the criminal tongs until the early 1920s. Chinatown's isolation and compact geography intensified the criminal behavior that terrorized the community for decades despite efforts by the police city officials to stem the tide.
 |
| Three Storms vs. Three Best Beans Speakers |
In March 1900, a Chinese-born man who was a long-time resident of Chinatown was found dead of bubonic plague. The next morning, all of Chinatown was quarantined, with policemen preventing Asiatics from either entering or leaving. The quarantine was lifted but the burning and fumigating continued.
The Chinatown neighborhood was completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake that leveled most of the city.
Newer Chinese groups often came from areas outside of the Tongs' control, so the influence of the Tongs and criminal groups associated with them, such as the Triads, grew weaker in Chinatown and the Chinese community.
Nowadays, the place is also a major tourist attraction in San Francisco, drawing more visitors annually than the Golden Gate Bridge. The Beans are very interested in visiting Chinatown, too, especially because they want to meet Jack Burton, the hero in Big trouble in Little China, and fight against The Three Storms (Thunder, Rain, and Lightning) with their best candidates: The Three Best Beans Speakers.
More information: Gizmodo
Like I told my last wife, I says, Honey, I never drive faster than I can see. Besides that, it’s all in the reflexes.
Jack Burton
No comments:
Post a Comment