Bruce Lee was Jewish?

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I just saw a headline about Apple discontinuing an app called "Jew or Not Jew?" Wondering what the heck that was, I looked it up. Then, I find a rather ridiculous site that would have involved massive research and data-gathering to be sure, and learned about Bruce Lee's purported Judaism:

Jew or Not Jew: Bruce Lee
#off topic forum
  • That article closes with: Verdict: Sadly, not a Jew. !

    Apparently, according to wikipedia, his name was lee jun fan! I MIGHT be wrong, but I think that means his last name is LEE!!!!! A LOT of asians take "anglo" names when abroad! That isn't racist, simply TRUE! I have worked with at least two chinese people named sam, which is probably the most popular chinese anglo name. Maybe bruce lee just thought bruce was better. MAYBE it is because it sounded like bruise! MAYBE he had a friend/relative named bruce. Maybe some government official thought he said bruce, when he said jun. Maybe SAG had other lees. Who knows?

    But if you want to fault him for changing his name, you better fault people like jerry lewis and nicolas cage! Heck, maybe tori spelling!

    Steve
    • [1] reply
    • ^Yep Steve

      I have a friend called Bruce Wong but his real name is Wong Ching Chung, Wong being his surname.

      His sisters are called Joyce and Grace but that is not their Chinese names.

      They are Taiwanese so maybe different but I'm sure it is the same.

      Dan
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Are you sure it wasn't JUDOism? :rolleyes:
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    • [1] reply
    • Bruce Lee was a Martial Arts Master and absolutely amazing. His religion, what ever it may be, will never take away from that.
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  • Bruce's family name was "Lee". The chinese always put their family name before their surname. I don't understand the logic in why, but they do. Bruce's father was named Lee Hoi Chuen, therefore in English you would call him Hoi Chuen Lee, or more officially Lee, Hoi Chuen.

    Bruce was born in Chinatown of San Francisco under the name Lee Jun Fan - a girls name. His parents lost their first born son and believing the gods didn't favor the birth of a boy gave Bruce a girls name to ward of the gods. His American name of Bruce was actually given to him by one of the nurses at the hospital he was born in. He and his family never called him Bruce until he went back to America. It wasn't until he enrolled in an English class in College did he use the name Bruce.

    He actually used his birth name as the name of his first official Gung Fu school - Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute. (The chinese pronounced Kung Fu as Gung Fu).
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    • Who can say? I imagine a lot of postmen have a HARD time! US addresses are basically BACKWARDS, if you thnk about it. They have the persons first name, then last, then place on the street, then street, then direction, then city, then state, then zip.

      You actually have to read it BACKWARDS to deliver it! And WHY do accounting systems often have you enter city, state, AND zip? If you have the zip, you AUTOMATICALLY know the city and state.

      Other countries may have them in a DIFFERENT order, and different items. And ZIP CODES? It is a pity the countries didn't get together and set them up the same way.

      I guess the chinese way DOES make a lot of sense.

      Steve
  • It's long been known Bruce Lee was at least a 1/4 German, and that he was an American citizen, not Chinese.

    It doesn't matter what he was. In the world of public opinion (and mine) anyone that practiced his art, like he did, was a citizen of planet badass.
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  • The Howard Stern show used to do a piece called... "Who's The Jew" where he would list 3 famous people and the audience had to guess which one was Jewish.

    This was about 15 years ago.

    BTW, Howard is Jewish.


    TL
  • Bruce Lee was an American citizen but his upbringing is in Hong Kong. Both his parents were citizens of Hong Kong. They went to America to give birth so that their son could be an American citizen. He eventually went back to America when he started getting into street fights in Hong Kong.

    In Hong Kong, most people under the age of 70 have an anglicized name as well. The main reason is that many are Christians over here and many churches encouraged the use of anglicized names for baptism and in schools run by them. Bruce Lee's mother was related to the Ho Tung family which is one of the most famous families in Hong Kong. They were never known to practice judiasm.
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    • Bruce Lee's maternal grandfather was Jewish German, as I understand it. Practicing Judaism and having Jewish background are not necessarily one and the same thing. I have some Celtic background but have never sacrificed animals to oak trees.
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    Bruce Lee was Jewish?

    I just saw a headline about Apple discontinuing an app called "Jew or Not Jew?" Wondering what the heck that was, I looked it up. Then, I find a rather ridiculous site that would have involved massive research and data-gathering to be sure, and learned about Bruce Lee's purported Judaism: Jew or Not Jew: Bruce Lee