Bruce Lee's House in Hong Kong to be Turned into Center for Chinese Studies

 A statue of Bruce Lee is displayed at his memorial exhibition Bruce Lee: Kung Fu, Art, Life at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Photo: AP
A statue of Bruce Lee is displayed at his memorial exhibition Bruce Lee: Kung Fu, Art, Life at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Photo: AP
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Bruce Lee's House in Hong Kong to be Turned into Center for Chinese Studies

 A statue of Bruce Lee is displayed at his memorial exhibition Bruce Lee: Kung Fu, Art, Life at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Photo: AP
A statue of Bruce Lee is displayed at his memorial exhibition Bruce Lee: Kung Fu, Art, Life at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Photo: AP

The former Hong Kong mansion of Kung fu legend Bruce Lee will become a center for Chinese studies next year to offer courses on Mandarin and music.

The South China Morning Post cited the sole trustee of the charitable trust which owns it (that was founded by late billionaire philanthropist Yu Pang-lin), who said it would keep the external structure of the mansion at Kowloon Tong intact after a renovation.

Pang Chi-ping, also Yu’s grandson, said: "We will convert the mansion into a center for Chinese studies next year, which provides courses like Mandarin and Chinese music for children."

He said renovation work on the 5,699 sq ft property, which had recently fallen into disrepair, would start soon after the Lunar New Year and classes were expected to begin in September next year, the German News Agency reported.

Yu’s grandson said that about 400 children, from kindergarten to secondary school, will be trained at the center every year. The center may also offer classes on martial arts in the future. But Pang said the trust would not use Lee’s name on publicity for the renovated site because they did not possess the late kung fu legend’s image rights.

US-born Lee, who lived in Hong Kong as a child before returning to the US aged 18, taught martial arts and starred in many martial arts films. He spent his last years with his family in the Kowloon Tong mansion before his death on July 20, 1973, at the age of 32.



Disasters Loom over South Asia with Forecast of Hotter, Wetter Monsoon

The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
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Disasters Loom over South Asia with Forecast of Hotter, Wetter Monsoon

The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)

Communities across Asia's Himalayan Hindu Kush region face heightened disaster risks this monsoon season with temperatures and rainfall expected to exceed normal levels, experts warned on Thursday.

Temperatures are expected to be up to two degrees Celsius hotter than average across the region, with forecasts for above-average rains, according to a monsoon outlook released by Kathmandu-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on Wednesday.

"Rising temperatures and more extreme rain raise the risk of water-induced disasters such as floods, landslides, and debris flows, and have longer-term impacts on glaciers, snow reserves, and permafrost," Arun Bhakta Shrestha, a senior adviser at ICIMOD, said in a statement.

The summer monsoon, which brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall, is vital for agriculture and therefore for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and for food security in a region that is home to around two billion people.

However, it also brings destruction through landslides and floods every year. Melting glaciers add to the volume of water, while unregulated construction in flood-prone areas exacerbates the damage.

"What we have seen over the years are also cascading disasters where, for example, heavy rainfall can lead to landslides, and landslides can actually block rivers. We need to be aware about such possibilities," Saswata Sanyal, manager of ICIMOD's Disaster Risk Reduction work, told AFP.

Last year's monsoon season brought devastating landslides and floods across South Asia and killed hundreds of people, including more than 300 in Nepal.

This year, Nepal has set up a monsoon response command post, led by its National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

"We are coordinating to stay prepared and to share data and alerts up to the local level for early response. Our security forces are on standby for rescue efforts," said agency spokesman Ram Bahadur KC.

Weather-related disasters are common during the monsoon season from June to September but experts say climate change, coupled with urbanization, is increasing their frequency and severity.

The UN's World Meteorological Organization said last year that increasingly intense floods and droughts are a "distress signal" of what is to come as climate change makes the planet's water cycle ever more unpredictable.