Lee Hoi Chuen's Grave, Cheung Sha Wan

Lee Hoi Chuen was not just famous (in HK, at least) for being a Cantonese opera and movie actor, he also gained significant fame in later life (well, perhaps posthumously...) because he was the father of Bruce Lee. 

I was told about his final resting place several years ago, but had put it on the back burner for the fact that trying to find a grave in a Hong Kong cemetery is a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It wasn't until I moved to Kowloon, in the vicinity of St Raphael's Catholic Cemetery, that the Lee grave came back on the radar - largely because I was beginning to pass the place on a fairly regular basis on the bus or in a taxi. Also, it's almost exactly 50 years to the day since he died (7th Feb 1965) so I thought perhaps this was a good time to post.

Fist of the Unicorn – another ‘lost’ Bruce Lee location rediscovered

Not long after finally nailing down the location for the fight scene between Sammo Hung and Bruce Lee at the beginning of Enter The Dragon, I turned my attention to the next Lee-related film location challenge. Strictly speaking the film in question, Fist of the Unicorn (a.k.a Unicorn Fist/Bruce Lee and I), wasn't a Lee film at all - he had simply come to the set as a favour to his friend (the star, Unicorn Chan) and helped choreograph a fight scene. The location involved was a seemingly non-descript rural place with a small river and, other than that, no clues were obvious. It was an interesting bit of investigation and worthwhile repeating for any curious Lee fans who didn't read it when I originally posted back in 2011.

I was curious about this place simply because I couldn't find any other information about it, and I was in full-on Lee location finding mode. This place seemed to have eluded other fans and so I figured it would be good to have a stab and see what I could find.

A Family Walk from Pak Fa Lam to Ho Chung

On the first day of the new year, it seemed like a good idea to go for a wander and take advantage of the relatively nice weather. Also, it felt like it was time to start with some new stuff rather than just spend the next two years porting over all my old (and, with hindsight, often very crappy) blog posts.

Tackling a stage of one of the larger hiking trails seemed to be a bit too much, especially for the kids, so instead a quick look on the LCSD website revealed a so-called "family hike" that looked like it might be interesting. The walk (seen here) official walk starts at a small cemetery in Pak Fa Lam and finishes in Ho Chung village, but because we caught the bus our walk started proper when we alighted next to the petrol station opposite Anderson Road.

The thing that grabbed my attention for this little excursion is the fact that it goes past the resting place of Dr Sun Yat Sen's mother: Lady Yang (楊氏).

Connaught Road fifty years later, Hong Kong Island

We haven't had one for a while, but for several years we would receive a ‘heritage’ calendar from my wife's company. They were (and still are) rather nicely produced and featured a ‘heritage’ photo on each month - each year highlighting a different photographer or era of photos. Out of the 4 or 5 years we had them, 2 of those years were dedicated the the photographs of Hedda Morrison, who visited Hong Kong in both 1947 and again later in 1959 documenting both trips with some very impressive and interesting pictures.

I found one picture of Connaught Road (taken during her 1959 trip) quite interesting for a couple of reasons. First, and perhaps most obviously, the picture (see below) shows Connaught Road at a time when it was right on the waterfront. You can even see the old Blake Pier in the foreground (it now stands next to Murray House in Stanley). However, most amateur history enthusiasts, like myself, will already know how much of the harbourfront has changed over the years. What is more interesting to me is the fact that there are two buildings on this photograph that are still standing today - over fifty years later! In HK that is quite an impressive achievement.