Hong Kong- The billionaire owner of the Hong Kong home where Bruce Lee spent his last years confirmed Monday he is to give the building to be turned into a museum to the kung fu legend. News of the donation of the home in the city's Kowloon Tong residential district, currently being used as a short-time hotel, delighted Bruce Lee fans across the city.
The house had been due to be sold by owner, tycoon Yu Panglin, to raise money for earthquake relief in China's Sichuan province but the sale of the house brought an outcry from fans.
Bids of more than 13 million US dollars were received for the 530- square-metre residence in Cumberland Street before Yu suddenly decided last week to take it off the market.
On Monday, Yu was quoted in TV and radio reports confirming that he is donating the house to the community to create a permanent memorial to the kung fu star who died in 1973.
Lee - star of films such as Fists of Fury and Enter the Dragon - lived with his wife, Linda Lee-Cadwell, in the house, which he affectionately named the Crane's Nest, in the years leading to his death.
He died mysteriously at the age of 32 at the peak of his stardom at the home of an actress friend in another part of Kowloon Tong.
Although there is a statue to Lee in Hong Kong, officials in the former British colony have been reluctant to commemorate the city's most famous star, apparently wary of his hell-raising reputation.
Bruce Lee Club chairman Wong Yiu-keung said he was "excited and delighted" at news of the museum. "It is my wish and the wish of all Bruce Lee's fans throughout the years," he told one newspaper website.
"I respect Mr Yu very much for donating such a gift to the people in Hong Kong."
The Hong Kong government's Tourism Commission is already studying overseas examples for museums such as the Beatles Story in Liverpool and Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in Tennessee.
