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Bruce Lee statue unveiled in LA's Chinatown

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Press Trust of India Los Angeles
A 7-foot bronze statue of Bruce Lee was unveiled in LA's Chinatown with several hundred attend the ceremony to honour the legendary martial artist.

Lee's daughter Shannon said that the statue of her father comes to Chinatown after a five-year effort.

The statue, created by an artist in Guangzhou, China, the first such statue of her father in the US, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Though the statue will not be permanently installed until business leaders can raise USD 150,000 to install seating and a concrete plinth, the timing was right for the unveiling, Shannon Lee said. This year marks Lee's 40th death anniversary as well as Chinatown's 75th year of existence.
 

"Seeing it there in its permanent spot with the night sky of Chinatown ... It really struck me," Shannon Lee said.

Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco's Chinatown, lived in Oakland and opened several martial arts schools in Seattle's Chinatown.

But he was a regular in Los Angeles' Chinatown in the 1960s, opening a school on West College Street and working out at the Alpine Recreation Center, said Shannon.

Later, Lee starred in as Kato in a television adaptation of 'The Green Hornet', which launched a short film career that made a huge impact in pop culture.

Lee, who inspire a generation of people to take up martial arts, continues to influence people years after his death at the age of 32 in 1973.

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First Published: Jun 18 2013 | 1:20 PM IST

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