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PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
Members here will still remember how a retired film actress made a comeback recently. Her appearance in a stage play is very attractive and all 100 shows are fully booked. Of course, it has to do with her personal attraction. Hong Kong is the place where Bruce LEE was born and grew up. If we can make full use of the Council's Film Archive to be completed soon to set up a Bruce Lee memorial gallery, we can surely attract Bruce Lee fans from all parts of the world to visit here and pay tribute to their idol. It will be a definite help to local tourism. I hope fellow Members will support the original motion and grab the chance before it is snatched by others.
With the above remarks, I support the original motion. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
MR. LAM MAN-FAI (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, Chinese martial art is an important part of Chinese culture. As there are many schools of the art and members have been very conservative and reluctant to pass on their expertise, not to mention spreading the art overseas, people gradually get the false impression that it is a performance act with no real combat power. Take Taichi as an example. Yang Luchan of Beijing who learned the art at Chenjiagou for several tens of years was actually an invincible boxer. However, Taichi is today considered a set of slow motion gimmicks for exercise only, not for practical combat. Little do we know about how Taichi covers concentration of strength to be directed to all parts of the body, focusing all strength on the target and releasing the effect far away. Bruce LEE with his profound mastery of martial art developed his own school of streamlining soft and hard disciplines for combat. He was known to people here and overseas. His greatest importance lied in combining modern technology through films and TV as the media with Chinese traditional martial art. His fame abroad and his taking Chinese martial art culture everywhere was in fact a cause for pride for Hong Kong and China. I therefore support Mr. Ip's motion.
This Council should not only set up a memorial gallery for Bruce LEE in the Film Archive to commemorate his contribution and encourage more young people to learn Chinese martial art, but also urge the SAR Government to make Taichi a subject in our school curriculum. This Council should allocate more resources to promote this. The setting up of a Bruce Lee memorial gallery will have positive effects towards this end.
The amendment has muddled up Chinese martial art culture with kungfu type films and film stars. A misunderstanding has been established and it would be difficult to take the lead in a positive way. The amendment has lost the intention to promote Chinese martial art culture.
The Film Archive should do more than just collect information about films. We should look to the influence of films. Some box office winners in their time have now been totally forgotten, others have remained in our memories because of their philosophical content. Films as the media have rung messages
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