Fan Martial in Chinese / Japanese...

李小龍 is the real full name of Bruce Lee.

Many people have no idea that Bruce Lee had a “real” Chinese name. In Mandarin and Cantonese, he is known as “Lǐ XiǎoLóng” and “Léi SíuLùng” respectively.

He kept his family name pronunciation (Li = Lee). 李 is a common family name that also means “plum.”

His given name 小龍 (Xiao-Long), literally means “little dragon.” 李小龍 is why you often see the character for dragon associated with Bruce Lee on various posters etc.

For a pronunciation lesson, the “X” in Romanized Mandarin is pronounced like a “sh” sound but with your tongue at the bottom of your mouth. The vowel sound in “Long” is like the English “oh,” not like the “ah” sound in the English word “long.”

If you are a big Bruce Lee fan, you should know this information, and you should have this wall scroll hanging in your room or martial arts studio.

Note: Japanese use these same Chinese characters / Kanji to write Bruce Lee's real name (with different pronunciation - which is a bit like how the name “Bruce Lee” sounds in English).

See Also:  Kung Fu | Martial Arts

鷹爪翻子拳 is the title of a Chinese martial arts style known as “Ying Zhua Fan Zi Quan” or “Eagle Claw Overturning Fist.”

This style was derived from a combination of 鷹爪派 (Eagle Claw School) and 子母拳 (Son-Mother Fist). The title “son-mother” may seem odd, but it refers to a fist or punches seemingly coming out of another fist or punch. In modern times, 子母彈 is a title for “cluster bomb” (bombs coming out of another bomb).