Bruce Lee’s Family Tree

Narration. Bruce Lee quotes read by AI voice over.

Immediate Family

Bruce Lee was born on November 27, 1940 at 7:12 AM in San Francisco. His Chinese name was Li Jun Fan. Jun was part of his Grandfather’s name and Fan is the Chinese Character for San Francisco so his name means, “Shake up and excite San Francisco” (A Life, page 21-22).

His parents were opera actor Hoi Chuen Li and rich socialite Grace Ho who had met when Hoi Chuen gave a private performance at the home of Grace’s uncle. Lee’s parents were in America because his father was on a year long tour for the Chinese opera. The parents left Lee’s three siblings, adopted sister Phoebe, sister Agnes, and brother Peter in Hong Kong with relatives (A Life, page 12, 16-17, 19).

Father’s family

Hoi Chuen was born to poor parents and lived in Foshan City, Southern China. He joined the opera as a boy and became a well known comedic actor. He was skilled in singing, acrobatics, and Gung Fu. In 1928 his opera troupe moved 60 miles south to Hong Kong to get wealthier audiences. Jun Miao Li was Lee’s paternal grandfather. He was a security guard and fisherman. He could barely speak due to a severe fever as a child and many thought he was mute. (A Life, pages 11- 12).

Mother’s Family

Grace Ho was of mixed descent and was one half English, one fourth Dutch Jewish, and one fourth Han Chinese. She grew up wealthy in Hong Kong and learned English and French. She studied western medicine and converted to Catholicism. At 18 she ran away to live with her Uncle Robert who was the wealthiest person in Hong Kong (A Life, page 12, 14).

Kom Tong Ho was Lee’s maternal grandfather. He was the second richest man in Hong Kong. He was a businessman but liked acting in Chinese opera. He married at 19 and had 13 concubines. There is some mystery as to the identity of Lee’s maternal grandmother. She may have been a British mistress who lived in Shanghai. However, she abandoned Grace who was raised by a concubine (A Life, page 14).

Mozes Hartog Bosman

Mozes Hartog Bosman was Lee’s maternal great grandfather. He was a Dutch Jew born in Rotterdam, Holland on August 29, 1839. He joined the Dutch East Asia Company as a teenager and went to Hong Kong in 1859. He made a fortune sending Chinese laborers to Dutch Guiana to work the sugar plantations and to California to build the Central Pacific Railroad. He was so influential that he was appointed the Dutch Consul to Hong Kong in 1866. However, he faced discrimination as a Jew and signed his correspondence as M. Bosman (A Life, page 13).

Sze Tai was Lee’s maternal great grandmother. She was born into a wealthy family and her feet were bound. However, her father died and she was sold as a concubine to Mozes to pay off the family debt. They had 6 children who were given the “Ho” surname because Mozes was from Holland.

Mozes went bankrupt in 1869 and abandoned his family. He moved to California and changed his name to Charles Henri Maurice Bosman. Sze Tai then become the 4th concubine of a cattle merchant named Kwok Chung. She convinced Kwok to pay for her children’s tuition to the influential Hong Kong Central School (A Life, Page 13).

Final Thoughts

Bruce Lee’s family had much ethnic and economic diversity. Bruce was one fourth English, one eighth Dutch Jewish, and five eights Han Chinese. Also, his parents were from different social classes. His mother was a wealthy socialite and his father was born poor and became a performer (A Life, page 21).

Lee faced much ethnic discrimination in his life. The other students in Ip Man’s school complained that he wasn’t 100% Chinese and shouldn’t be taught Gung Fu. He also faced discrimination for being too Chinese. He didn’t get the lead part in the t.v. series Kung Fu because people believed that it would be too risky to have a Chinese lead. Eventually David Carridane was cast in the lead role (Pierre Burton).

Bruce Lee trains with his master Ip Man.

The discrimination Lee faced must have shaped his world view. The talk show host Pierre Burton asked, “Do you still think of yourself as Chinese or do you think of yourself as North American?” Lee replied, “You know what I want to think of myself? As a human being. Because I mean I don’t want to sound like as Confucius say, but under the sky, under the heaven man, there is but one family. It just so happen man that people are different.” (Pierre Burton).

Bruce Lee teaching a diverse group of students in Seattle in 1963.

This world view can also be seen in the types of students he taught which included Japanese, Chinese, Caucasian, African American, and Filipinos. He was criticized by other Chinese for teaching caucasian students and eventually fought a Chinese challenger Wong Jack-man over this. Jesse Glover, an African American, was his first student. Jesse Glover asked Lee to teach him because no one was willing to teach an African American martial arts.

For more details about Bruce Lee’s family, check out this excellent Biography: Bruce Lee: A Life, Matthew Polly, Author, Simon & Schuster Publishing, 2019. Highly rated biography of Bruce Lee.

Resources:

Bruce Lee: A Life, Matthew Polly, Author, Simon & Schuster Publishing, 2019. Highly rated biography of Bruce Lee.

The Pierre Berton Show (aka The Lost Interview), aired December 9, 1971. Very important interview of Bruce Lee in Hong Kong. Lee talks about his life, philosophy, and martial arts. This episode was thought lost but was later found. This is difficult to get in its entirety. It was released on VHS tape and is available on DVD from Australia. Parts can be found on the excellent documentary, I am Bruce Lee. 25m (IMDB).

Family picture 1, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Family Picture 2, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Ip Man picture, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Grace Ho image, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Kom Tong Ho image , Arnold Wright, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Seattle Teaching image, from Doug Palmer.

Robert Lee image, Discogs

Sibilings Picture, Pinterest.

Phoebe Lee Picture, Wingchunnews.com.

Agnes Lee Picture, Brucelee.com.

Ho Cheun Li Picture, Bluray.com.

Linda Lee Cadwell Picture, marriedceleb.com.