Conservation And Charity

Should Bruce Lee’s former home be put on the market to raise funds for the needy? That is the delicate question facing us in Hong Kong after it was revealed that the Cumberland Road property will be disposed of by its current owner, the billionaire hotel developer Yu Panglin (acclaimed in last year’s Time 100 issue for his philanthropy).
Mr Yu says he will devote the proceeds of this sale and the sale of four other properties to the relief of victims of the Sichuan earthquake. This is a generous offer, but at the same time it threatens a de facto monument to Hong Kong’s greatest movie icon, since there is no guarantee that whoever buys Lee’s old home will preserve it.
One can take the utilitarian view that fame is but a passing thing, and that the pulverization of Lee’s frankly ugly former manse will conceivably be to the benefit of thousands of people. (It will raise, it is estimated, something in the region of $13 million.) But it would be a shame to act in haste.
Despite the cultural importance of Lee to both Eurasians and Chinese (see this article for more), and his contribution to martial arts (noted here), there is presently no museum to his memory in Hong Kong—a lacuna that puzzles many visitors. Fans have long suggested that his former home be used for the purpose. The only other monument to Lee’s memory—a statue on Kowloon’s Avenue of Stars—is very popular, but manifestly inadequate.
The aims of Bruce Lee fans and Mr Yu need not be incompatible, however. Perhaps it would be possible for the Cumberland Road property to be run as a Bruce Lee museum, with some portion of the proceeds given to Chinese charities. It would take much longer to realize the millions that a quick sale could fetch. But with Lee’s memory undimmed, the venture could be a steady, long-term earner for its beneficiaries.