Bruce Lee’s decision to teach kung fu in California during the 1960s was highly controversial; here's why. Before co-starring in The Green Hornet, teaching martial arts to Americans was Lee’s primary source of income in the United States. After leaving his career as a child actor in Hong Kong behind and moving to the U.S, Lee enrolled at the University of Washington and eventually began opening up kung fu schools.
He even founded his own style of martial arts in 1964, known today as Jeet Kune Do. Bruce Lee spent a large amount of his time training students in kung fu and performing demonstrations of his moves, including his famous one-inch punch. During this time, he took larger numbers of aspiring martial artists under his wing too, and even established a presence in Hollywood. He wasn’t a star himself, but he was the kung fu instructor for several big names, including James Coburn, Steve McQueen, Roman Polanski, and more.
Lee earned a lot of respect and recognition as a teacher, but not everyone welcomed the idea of him training others in martial arts. Lee said in the past that people within the Chinese community took issues with Lee teaching these moves to those who weren’t Chinese. There was a common feeling that kung fu was an important part of their culture that shouldn’t be shared with others. At the time, kung fu wasn’t widely practiced in the West, so it was less heard of for a Chinese man to allow non-Chinese Americans to attend their kung fu school.
Opposition was so strong that some allegedly took steps to stop him from continuing. Lee’s wife, Linda Lee Cadwell, claimed in her book, Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Know, that this conflict was the reason for his famous real-life fight with Wong Jack Man, a fellow martial arts master, who taught Wing Chun. Though it is contested, according to Cadwell's account, leaders of the Chinese community in San Francisco requested Lee close his schools to non-Chinese. When he refused to comply, they sent Wong to challenge him, with the condition being that if Lee lost, he do as they asked. The alternate take suggests it was Lee himself who issued the challenge to Wong by claiming he could beat any martial artist in San Francisco. As the fight was held in private - with only three attendees confirmed (including Cadwell), the accounts remain difficult to pin to the truth. The actual winner has been contested because of the different versions of the story but some think Lee won, especially since he continued to train non-Chinese as he pleased.
Opposition to people in the West learning Chinese martial arts faded over time as the popularity of martial arts and specifically kung fu grew. Bruce Lee had much to do with that – in more ways than one. Not only did his movies create worldwide interest that’s still alive today, but Lee’s kung fu schools show he was making a sizable effort to spread his knowledge long before he became an international martial arts superstar.