Bruce Lee’s Former Mansion Will Be Demolished Soon

Boys and girls, we have some unfortunate news because a part of history will be demolished soon.

Kung Fu legend Bruce Lee’s former mansion is set to be torn down to make way for a Chinese studies centre.

According to a report in South China Morning Post, Yu Panglin Charitable Trust, which owns the mansion, said there are some structural problems with the building and maintaining it is impossible.

However, the vice-chairman of the management committee Joey Lee Man-lung said that a colourful mosaic left by Bruce Lee and four window frames of the mansion would remain there.

“We plan to run a centre that provides courses like Mandarin and Chinese music for children, so safety must come first," Lee said.

"Therefore, we made the difficult decision to demolish the building and build a new building from scratch on the site."

He added that the cost of renovating the place is equivalent to the cost of tearing down the place and erecting a new building. Hence this difficult decision.

While the demolition has gotten the green light from the Buildings Department and construction work is expected to start in the coming two weeks, naturally some quarters have not taken the matter lightly.

Bruce Lee Club chairman Wong You, who had called for the building to be turned into a museum since 2008 said he was disappointed with the move.

“I think fans of Bruce Lee around the world are disappointed with the news of the imminent demolition of the building,” he said.

The Hong Kong American actor lived in the mansion before his sudden death on 20 July 1973 at the age of 32.

Billionaire philanthropist Yu Pang-lin bought the house in 1974.