Is there a specific reason why Bruce Lee taught foreigners? I wonder why Lee had such an open mind and allowed for reforms and expansion of Kung Fu. Are there certain historical events that made changed his views? If you know the answer to this, it would be really great if you can share with me.|||No, he was far from being first. Many Chinese, especially from South China, i.e. called Cantonese who populate Chinatowns all around the world, and the Lees were Cantonese, are strong racists who do not want to teach their skills to any foreigners, including people from North China, but some Northern Chinese or Mandarins are more liberal in such matters. I was once caught in a mini-Civil War among Chinese. My girlfriend was Miss Chu from Beijing, and my best male friends were Mr. Cheung and Mr Chan, both Cantonese-Americans. Soon after they first met in my presence, Mr. Cheung complained about Miss Chu to me, and it seemed unreasonable. Mr. Chan was intimidated by a rather big and strong lady who outweighed him by 33 lbs. of solid muscle. Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco, and his family soon moved back to Hong Kong where he remained until he was 17 years old, so he saw hordes of non-Chinese all of his life, and he wasn't as racist as some of his fellow Cantonese were. Indeed, he had some "Daak Gwok Baak Faan" (German White Foreigner) blood himself, so many Cantonese people hated him. Bruce Lee debuted in movies in 1947 when he was just six years old. He made several when he was a boy in Hong Kong, and he wanted to continue that in America. It helped his career to teach everyone who wanted to learn some martial arts. He taught some American movie stars, e.g. James Coburn. Desire for fame overcame racism for him.
Incidentally FYI, the Chinese term for Martial Arts is Wu Shu in Mandarin or Mou Seut in Cantonese. Kung Fu just means Great Skill and can apply to any profession, not just Martial Arts. I try to achieve Kung Fu in painting, writing, powerlifting, weightlifting, etc. and not just in martial arts.|||No. I've read accounts from American sailors in Shanghai in the 1930s who trained under Chinese teachers in such things as chin-na, taichi, and "chinese boxing".
We will never know if there was one overriding reason among several that influenced his decision. But to understand Lee's character and his growth into adulthood after he arrived from Hong Kong.we have to remember 3 things.
First, the culture of the 1960s was a very unusual one in the US and much of the free world. You'll have to do some in depth reading to fully understand it, but in simple words it was the Flower Child or Hippie generation where young people were questioning and rebelling against the established order and beliefs -nonconformity was cool and everything else was square. Arriving in the US at the start of this era, Lee seemed to have embraced it. In his own words, he did not think of himself as just a Chinese or an American, but a mid-Pacific man. However, this was not an instant spontaneous embracing of this new attitude because from several biographers we know he resented very much how he was treated by caucasian customers at the restaurant he was working at (Ruby Chow). The vast majority of his students from the early years were asians or minorities such as blacks. The change or maybe the solidifying of his openness to teaching non-Asians appear to occur at the time he enrolled in college where he would have been exposed to a more open-minded class of people his age - one of whom would become his wife.
Second, Lee had always had a rebel-streak in his personality. Long before he was a movie star in the west, he was a well know child actor in Hong Kong. The roles he played (and quite will at it) was typically as a juvenile delinquent. He was kind of a rebel without a cause at a very young age. I suspect when Lee arrived in the US, this aspect of rebelliousness eventually included breaking from the Asian communities establish beliefs of not teach non-Asians.
Third, Lee was a martial artist. The ultimate aim of any knowledge is truth. This is no different for a martial artist and in his pursuit of the truths in martial art, Lee must have come face to face with the hypocrisy of being a martial artist while holding to the position of not teaching someone just because of the color of their skin. In other words, he was able to rise above the racisms from both sides of the Pacific.|||NOn... He is the first to teach JKD a hybrid martial arts system and life philosophy founded him with direct, non classical and straightforward movements. The system works on the use of different 'tools' for different situations in the United States of America.|||There were Chinese artists who taught non-chinese. The specific question has to do with the fact that Ip Man was influenced by the Boxer Rebellion and did not believe in teaching kung fu to Westerners. The Chinese martial arts community in San Francisco had a similar idea, although there were people who taught kung fu to westerners prior to Lee. Most Americans only knew of kung fu at all because of Bruce Lee's Kato character, and the idea of a commercial martial arts school
was perhaps less common than today. Lee deserves credit because his movies started the martial arts craze in the West. Many actors and instructors (of all styles) owe their living to what Mr. Lee started. One view of jeet kune do origins says that Bruce Lee created his own art because he promised his kung fu brothers in Hong Kong not to teach wing chun to Americans. IDK what the truth is.|||i am absolutely sure there were several foreigners that were doing that before him.
bruce might just be one of the few who marketed it on the media because he is a part martial artist/actor/entertainer from the start.
WW 1 %26amp; 2 veterans took fighting lessons from orientals|||He was the first to do it publicly and used his fame to flaunt the fact. It didnt sit too well with the Traditionalists.|||I highly doubt he was the first to do it period though I don't know for sure. He was one of the first to advertise he would teach Foreigners.|||Bruce lee was himself a foreigner as far as the Chinese were concerned|||I'm thinking you get your information from the popular movie version of his life. There were several kung fu schools teaching when Bruce Lee arrived from Hong Kong. His school became one of the most popular because he was a performer since an early age and broke into Hollywood not too long after he came here for college. Because of racist immigration laws of the time severely limiting Asian immigration, his popularity translated to schools teaching almost exclusively non-Asian students.|||Lee was actually half german, so he was never really attached to all the chinese ethnocentrism. Also, many people had taught foreigners before, in many cases it happened during WWII when US GIs were stationed in China.|||i don't know guess he's just naturally born to kick ***
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