Everybody is Kung Fu fighting

Hailed as cinema's first martial arts hero and a bridge between the cultures of East and West, Bruce Lee helped to put Hong Kong on the movie world map.

So why are some in the city commemorating the 40th anniversary of his death in a toilet?

"In 1958, Bruce Lee was a student at St Francis Xavier's [college]," Wong Yiu-keung, chairman of the Bruce Lee Club, explains.

"One day, he was caught in a fight in a washroom by one of the fathers.

"But the priest also boxed back in his home country. So, he didn't punish him. Instead, he invited him to the boxing classes.

"Lee later participated in an interschool competition and won." The incident was significant in Lee, who died from swelling of the brain aged just 32, deciding to channel his love of martial arts into something positive.

A short time afterwards, he opened a martial arts school in the US, where he was born.

Fans of Lee will visit his Hong Kong alma mater at the weekend as one of several stops on an unofficial "Bruce Lee trail" in the former British colony, where the star spent his childhood.

Other points on the walk include Lee's statue on the Avenue of the Stars and the Bruce Lee Club house, both in the Tsim Sha Tsui neighbourhood of the southern Chinese city, which is without a permanent museum dedicated to the screen legend.

Fans will also take in a monastery in the New Territories, which featured in Enter the Dragon.

A five-year exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, featuring memorabilia from his life and films including his iconic yellow jump-suit, was due to be opened on Saturday by his daughter Shannon Lee.

"The way I know my father is not through media," Lee, who was four when her father died, said on Friday.

"It's through his friends and my family. It's also through his own words, because he wrote a lot."

Lee's untimely death in Hong Kong in 1973 left fans reeling.

"I remember the funeral because it was just so chaotic. There were so many people," she said.

Lee inspired a new generation of actors such as Jackie Chan and helped break down barriers for Asian actors in Hollywood.