Bruce Lee was a household name in the 1970s. Even today, nearly half a\ncentury later, he still remains one of the top martial arts icons. His peerless\nmartial skills, his mettle, and his signature look that exuded a devil-may care\nkind of confidence, have earned him innumerable fans around the world. Indeed,\nhe has made Chinese martial arts so popular in the western world that the word\n\u201ckung fu\u201d is now part of the English language. UM Registrar Paul Pang is a huge\nfan of Bruce Lee\u2019s, but unlike your average fan, Paul doesn\u2019t boast a wealth of\ncollections about this super star except for several books; in fact, what\nfascinates Paul the most about Bruce Lee is not his onscreen charisma as a martial\narts actor, but rather his passion for philosophy.<\/p>\n\n
Bruce Lee\u2019s\nPhilosophy<\/b><\/p>\n\n
Paul still remembers vividly how he used to watch as a small boy,\nspellbound, those fight scenes from Bruce Lee\u2019s films, which were all the rage\nin the 1970s. \u201cHe used to perform on TV how to break boards with his bare hands\nwithout relying on the strength of his arms. No one had done it like that before\nhim, and it was very difficult. It was simply amazing,\u201d Paul says, his face\nlighting up like it always does when he talks about his idol. One of his favourite\nsayings from Bruce Lee is, \u201cMartial arts means honestly expressing yourself.\u201d\nIt\u2019s not about winning; it\u2019s about knowing oneself and setting oneself free.<\/p>\n\n
This philosophical side of Bruce Lee is precisely what makes Paul so\ncrazy about him. Opening the book Bruce Lee:\nArtist of Life<\/i>, Paul says, \u201cBruce Lee was more than just an actor; he was a\nmartial artist, philosopher, poet, mentor, film producer, director, and\nscreenwriter. There have been a lot of martial artists in China, but few have\nbeen as well versed in philosophy as Bruce Lee. He majored in philosophy while\nstudying in the United States. He wrote prose and poetry and compared notes\nwith masters in various fields. During the 12 years he lived in the US, he read\n2,500 books, which was four books every week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The sofa next to Paul\u2019s office desk is stuffed with books, all of which\nare plastered with post-it notes. It turns out Paul has the habit of underlining\nand annotating sentences he likes when reading, so every time he finishes a\nbook, it would be full of notes. Those books about Bruce Lee\u2014he has read them\nso many times he has learned the gist of every page by heart.<\/p>\n\n
Bruce-Lee-Inspired\nStory-telling Method<\/b><\/p>\n\n
If kung fu was Bruce Lee\u2019s way of honestly expressing himself, then\ntelling his daughter bed-time stories is Paul\u2019s way of expressing himself and\nwhat he believes in.<\/p>\n\n
Paul has been telling his nine-year-old daughter bedtime stories since\nshe was three. But unlike most other parents, Paul has a unique way of telling\nstories. \u201cI have four principles for all the stories I tell my daughter,\u201d Paul explains.\n\u201cThey show the importance of being kind to others and helping those in need;\nthey are my way of honestly expressing myself; they are emotion-laden and have\nscenes that my daughter can easily relate to; and they teach the value of\ndiversity and being tolerant of others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Just like Bruce Lee has created his own martial way, Paul has invented\nan original way of telling stories which he says was inspired by his idol. \u201cI\ndon\u2019t use ready-made stories,\u201d says Paul. \u201cI always use children\u2019s favourite\ncharacters when I make up a story. For example, if I think friendship is about\nhaving fun together, I would make up a story about Cat the Chubby and Bear the\nFluffy having a party and giving each other presents. If I think friendship is\nabout helping each other in times of need, I would make up a story about\nPleasant Goat helping Lazy Sheep. I always weave those values which I genuinely\nbelieve in into the stories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Who could have imagined that Jeet Kune Do, an eclectic combat system\nfounded by Bruce Lee, which doesn\u2019t have any fixed routine but rather requires\nthe person to improvise based on the moves of his opponent, would one day\ninspire a father to create a unique story-telling method?<\/p>\n\n
By improvising the plot lines of the stories according to his daughter\u2019s\nreactions, Paul certainly has found a great way of honestly expressing himself and\nimparting his values to his child. And as for an interesting takeaway from this\nunlikely marriage between actions and words\u2014well, perhaps sometimes, with the\nright method, words can speak just as loud as actions.<\/p>
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Bruce Lee was a household name in the 1970s. Even today, nearly half a century later, he still remains one of the top martial arts icons. His peerless martial skills,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n