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Bruce Lee Chinese Gung Fu Book

Bruce Lee Chinese Gung Fu BookBruce Lee Chinese Gung Fu BookBruce Lee Chinese Gung Fu Book
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    • Home
    • James Lee
    • The Book
    • Is It Real?
    • The Poster
    • The Essays
    • The Fake Books
    • The Fake Watch
    • FAQ's
    • Contact Me

Bruce Lee Chinese Gung Fu Book

Bruce Lee Chinese Gung Fu BookBruce Lee Chinese Gung Fu BookBruce Lee Chinese Gung Fu Book
  • Home
  • James Lee
  • The Book
  • Is It Real?
  • The Poster
  • The Essays
  • The Fake Books
  • The Fake Watch
  • FAQ's
  • Contact Me

James Lee

James Yimm Lee (no relation to Bruce Lee) was born on January 31, 1920 in Oakland, CA. Bruce Lee eventually became good friends with James and respected him greatly. Bruce and his family even lived with James, his wife and son in their Oakland, CA home during a time when James' wife was very sick. She died in 1964. While James was a welder by trade, he was an accomplished martial artist in his own right and self-published several martial arts-related books on his own through his publishing company Oriental Book Sales. Unfortunately, he died on December 30, 1972 - about 7 months before Bruce died - from lung cancer caused by breathing welding fumes. Only recently have people started to realize and appreciate the full impact James had on the martial arts community and the martial arts book publishing industry.


Modern kung-fu karate: iron, poison hand training

James was ahead of his time in terms of publishing and selling books on the martial arts. The first book James Yimm Lee wrote and published was "Modern Kung Fu Karate: Iron, Poison Hand Training". There was actually a Book 1, Part A and a Book 1, Part B of this publication that came later. While Book 1, Part A was first published in 1957, various revisions and updates to the book occured over the next few years (1958, 1962 & 1963).  Being a generous person James sometimes used his students on the covers. So it was possible to come across the exact same book with two different covers. Understandably this caused some confusion. 


The green cover version below is my 1963 3rd revised edition "Modern Kung-Fu, Karate: Iron, Poison Hand Training: Book 1, Part A. It is inscribed to one of his first students, Curtis Yee.  For comparison, note that one cover has student and business partner Al Novak on it while another one I found online has student Jack Headrick on it. Same book, different covers. An interesting thing about this copy is that on the inside of the front cover is an advertisement for Bruce Lee's forthcoming book "Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense". 


The book is roughly 5.5 inches by 8.25 inches (14cm x 21cm) and consists of 116 pages. 

Book 1, Part A 3rd edition @1963 Signed by James Yimm Lee

Al Novak cover

    The yellow cover version below is my 1962 "Modern Kung-Fu, Karate: Iron, Poison Hand Training" Book 1, Part B. The book is roughly 5.5 inches by 8.25 inches (14cm x 21cm) and consists of 93 pages.

    book 1, part b @1962

      The white cover version below is a republishing of Book 1, Part A by his son Greglon Lee in 1990. The text and photos in this version are much less clear than in the original green cover version above. I'm assuming this is because Greglon did not have the original pages his father James used to put the book together in the 1950/1960s so he had to make copies of the pages from a previous edition. 

      Book 1, Part A 4th Edition @1990 published by his son greglon lee

        KARATE ORIENTAL SELF-DEFENSE @1957/1958

        The next book James published was "Karate Oriental Self-Defense". Below the title it says "Illustrated for Home Training" and "enlarged edition".  The version below is my copy. The book is roughly 5.5 inches by 8.4 inches (14cm x 21.3cm) and consists of 139 pages.

          Fighting Arts of the orient @1958

          The next book James published was "Fighting Arts of the Orient: Elemental Karate, and Kung Fu" in 1957 or 1958. Below the title it states "Illustrated for Home Training". For some reason James published this under his birth name Kein H. Lee. The book is roughly 6.75 inches x 8.5 inches (17cm x 21.6cm) and consists of only 50 pages. My book is a sort of pink-ish color but I've included a photo of the more common yellow cover version courtesy of Richard Torres.


            Chinese Karate Kung-Fu: Original Sil Lum System @1961

            In 1961, using his birth name K(ein) H. Lee, he co-authored and published a book called "Chinese Karate Kung-Fu: Original Sil Lum System for Health and Defense" with Professor T.Y. Wong. While James was a student of Wong's, after the book was published there was a falling out over Wong's perceived unfair distribution of the book's profits. This is my first printing shown below. The book is roughly 5.25 inches by 8.4 inches (13.5cm x 21.3cm) and consists of 192 pages.

              WING CHUN KUNG-FU @1972

              First published in 1972, this book was basically "ghost-written" by James' friend Bruce Lee. Bruce did this to try to help James with medical bills he was incurring in the treatment of his lung cancer. Unfortunately, shortly after the book was published James died in December 1972. This is my first printing shown below. The book is roughly 6 inches by 9 inches (15cm x 22.5cm) and consists of 223 pages.


              A little known fact is the first three printings say "By J. Yimm Lee". Beginning with the fourth printing, publisher Ohara Publications Incorporated added the words "Technical Editor Bruce Lee" above James' name. It's unknown whether this was simply a cash grab to capitalize on Bruce's name or some sort of acknowledgment of Bruce's involvement in the creation of the book. 

                Photo credit: Josh Gomez. For a period of time, James Lee and Al Novak had a Chinese Gung Fu studio at 26663 Mission Blvd in Hayward, California. It is assumed this was operated with Bruce Lee's awareness and consent, although there is no evidence Bruce ever taught at that location.

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