Bruce Lee theme park to be built in China

Plans also include martial-arts academy, conference center

AP file	Although Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco, the theme park will be located in his southern Chinese ancestral home of Shunde.

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updated 2:21 p.m. ET Nov. 27, 2006

HONG KONG - A theme park with a statue and memorial hall will be built at Bruce Lee’s southern Chinese ancestral home of Shunde, the president of his fan club said Monday.

The park will also contain a martial arts academy and conference center, Wong Yiu-keung, chairman of the Hong Kong-based Bruce Lee Club, told The Associated Press.

Wong said he couldn’t confirm details of a report Monday in the Apple Daily newspaper that said the park was budgeted at $25.5 million and was expected to be completed in three years.

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Wong said he attended the laying of the theme park’s foundation in Shunde, near Hong Kong, on Sunday. He said Lee’s younger brother, Robert Lee, and actress Betty Ting Pei also attended.

The newspaper said Ting donated a set of nunchucks — a weapon consisting of two sticks joined by a chain or rope — that Lee once used.

Lee, who was born in San Francisco, died of an edema, or swelling of the brain, in Hong Kong in 1973. He was 32. His action films included “Fists of Fury” and “Enter the Dragon.”

Wong said he wasn’t certain who is funding the theme park.