Bruce Lee Theme Park in China

The AP is reporting that martial arts legend and international action film star Bruce Lee will get his own theme park to commemorate his movie, martial arts innovation and overall enormous athletic legacy.

In Bruce Lee's southern Chinese ancestral home of Shunde, ground was broke and the foundation laid for the park reported the president of his fan club. Amongst the attractions will be a statue of Lee and a huge memorial hall paying tribute to his martial arts mastery. The theme park will also host a martial arts teaching academy along with state of the art conference center, Wong Yiu-keung, chairman of the Hong Kong-based Bruce Lee Fan Club, told The Associated Press.

Wong couldn't confirm details of a report this past Monday in the Apple Daily newspaper that said the park boasted a budget of $25.5 million and was expected to be completed within three years. Wong was in attendance at the laying of the theme park's foundation in Shunde, near Hong Kong, on Sunday and reported that Lee's younger brother, Robert Lee, and actress Betty Ting Pei also attended. Wong wasn't certain who will be funding the theme park.

The newspaper said actress Ting Pei donated a set of nunchucks - classic martial arts weapons of Japanese origin - consisting of two sticks joined by a chain or rope that Bruce Lee once actually used.

Bruce Lee, despite misconceptions that he was Asian born was an American. He was born in San Francisco, while his parents, Chinese actors were on tour with their troupe. Tragically Lee died of an edema, or swelling of the brain, in Hong Kong in 1973. He was only 32. His long list of film credits include, "Fists of Fury","Return of the Dragon" and his last "Enter the Dragon", released after his untimely death and what most fans consider his masterpiece

Fans of the Little Dragon as he's more intimately known to them, are no doubt excited by this news. Lee's burial place, in Seattle, Washington, sees more than its share of fans making a pilgrimage to their hero's gravesite. When completed, the theme park would be a global meeting place for martial arts fans & Bruce Lee fans alike. Who knows, if this Chinese venture proves successful, American fans might soon be able to visit a similar theme park devoted to the Little Dragon here in the states.