Editor's note : This is the first part of the author's series on the development of the kung fu cultural industry in Hong Kong

Since ancient times, Chinese martial arts, or kung fu, has been a major preoccupations of the Chinese people for physical training and self defense. Throughout the last two millennia, novels written by various Chinese authors revolving around chivalrous heroes and heroines practicing the martial arts captivated the imaginations of generations of youngsters. Especially during the last two centuries, when China was under constant siege by foreign powers, Chinese people, particularly scholars and students, found comfort in the stories and consolation in these vicarious vindications.

In Hong Kong during the middle part of the last century, novelists Liang Yu-sang and Louis Cha brought the spirit of martial arts chivalry to new heights. Hardly was there a Chinese student who had not read at least one of their novels. The stories were translated into many languages and found their way onto movie screens and television.

The West's first contact with Chinese martial arts may have come through the Boxer rebellion, or maybe through many Chinese classic novels, but most notably through the modern medium of the cinema.

It was Bruce Lee, born in San Francisco and raised in Hong Kong, who took Chinese martial arts films to a new level of international popularity. Bruce, a dance teacher during his younger days, took up Wing Tsun, a style of martial art, in Hong Kong. When he returned to Seattle to become a student of philosophy, he developed his own style of martial arts which he called "Jeet Kun Do" and which could literally be translated as "interception boxing technique". Such techniques employed the strategy of intercepting the strikes of the opponent by fighting back rapidly at lightning speed to reverse the initiative, using the quickest and simplest actions to win the fight.

Bruce Lee returned to Hong Kong in the early 1970s and made three films featuring his martial arts skills and mastery. His frenzied followers multiplied exponentially. His films epitomized Chinese martial arts chivalry. He portrayed in every film a fighter who, through engagement with opponents, sought internal reflection and self-understanding and finally achieved liberation of his own ego and refined his personality through bodily movements.

Bruce Lee died suddenly in 1973 at the age of 33. Although he did not make many movies, his influence was enormous. The martial arts spirit that Bruce had rekindled was kept alive by many who came after him, most notably Jackie Chan and Jet Li. They, too, came to fame through movies made in Hong Kong, a place famous for its hybrid culture combining Chinese traditional values and Western means.

They, and many other masters of the art, have effectively refined Chinese traditional martial arts skill and principles using western style practical methods and techniques. Collectively they have founded a legacy which gave rich expressions to the Chinese spirit of chivalry and the culture surrounding it. disseminated by the movie medium, they have provided vivid examples of how Chinese employed martial arts to cultivate their inner world and perfect a noble character.

Of the six economic areas which the Hong Kong government plans to develop in the near future to lift Hong Kong out of the economic doldrums, kung fu should occupy an eminent position, not only because it is one of the most notable creative industries that is truly local, but also because it is Hong Kong's soft power.

The author is former secretary for home affairs of the Hong Kong SAR government

(HK Edition 09/23/2009 page1)