BEIJING, July 20th (Luo Pan) Forty years ago today, a generation of kung fu superstar Bruce Lee suddenly died in Hong Kong at the age of 33, which shocked the Chinese world. Regarding the cause of his death, although the answer given by the court is "drug allergy", there are still many arguments and speculations about it, which have been debated for many years.
Before his death, the scene was revealed and he died at the gossip girlfriend’s house.
After Bruce Lee’s accident, the outside world paid attention to what he experienced before his death, and some media disclosed the scene in detail.
It is reported that at about 1 pm on July 20th, Bruce Lee’s wife, Lianda, went out, and Bruce Lee said that he would discuss the movie "The Game of Death" with Zou Wenhuai (a Hong Kong filmmaker who holds Bruce Lee in one hand).
At about 14: 00, Zou Wenhuai came to Bruce Lee’s house. They talked about the outline of the movie for a while, and then left together. At about 16: 00, they came to the home of Bruce Lee’s gossip girlfriend Ding Pei, who was also an actress. At the same time, the three also agreed to meet Australian actor George Racimby in the evening to discuss his role in the film.
The three talked about "The Game of Death" for more than two hours. At about 7 pm, Bruce Lee said that he was "not feeling well" and "had a headache". Ding Pei let Bruce Lee take a painkiller that Ding Pei often takes, and Bruce Lee went to sleep in Ding Pei’s bedroom. At about 8 pm, Zou Wenhuai went to pick up George Racimby. Half an hour later, Ding Pei went into the bedroom to see Bruce Lee. Seeing that Bruce Lee had fallen asleep, he called Zou Wenhuai and said, "Bruce Lee slept soundly."
At 9 o’clock in the evening, Bruce Lee was still awake. At 9: 45, Zou Wenhuai came to Ding Pei’s house. He tried to wake Bruce Lee, but Li didn’t respond. Nervous Ding Pei immediately called her personal doctor. At about 10 o’clock, the doctor rushed to Ding Pei’s house and found that Bruce Lee was in a coma, and there was no heartbeat, pulse and breathing. Although the pupils were not fully opened, there was no "vital sign". The last few people rushed Bruce Lee to the hospital, but Bruce Lee was confirmed dead.
Why do friends and brothers lie?
Zou Wenhuai was the first to reveal the news of Bruce Lee’s death to the outside world, and then in a statement to the press, he claimed that Bruce Lee died in his own home, and his wife, Linda, was also beside Bruce Lee.
In addition, Bruce Lee’s brother Li Zhongchen also said that his brother had an accident in a private apartment, which aroused media suspicion. Later, in an in-depth interview, the reporter dug up the ambulance’s "trip record" and confirmed that Bruce Lee in the "emergency" was not transported to the hospital from his own home, but from the gossip girlfriend Ding Pei’s home, thus causing an uproar.
Public opinion has been directed at Zou Wenhuai, but some media "feel wronged" for him, saying that Zou Wenhuai lied in good faith, because Bruce Lee and Ding Pei had already had scandals, and if Bruce Lee’s death was related to Ding Pei, his image might be completely ruined.
The actress strongly denied that she had anything to do with herself.
Because he had an affair with Ding Pei, Bruce Lee died in his bedroom in Ding Pei. At that time, many people suspected that his death was related to the woman’s feelings.
Ding Pei also lost his mind in the days that followed, his nerves were almost abnormal, and his manners and remarks were quite rude. At that time, a reporter confirmed to her whether Bruce Lee was sent to the hospital from her home. Ding Pei actually answered irrelevant questions and screamed at the top of her lungs: "Bruce Lee and I are innocent, and I believe that it will come out soon!"
In order to clarify the relationship, Ding Pei later argued, "The report about Bruce Lee’s coma in my house is completely incorrect! When he died, I was not at home. I went out with my mother. The last time I saw Bruce Lee, it was a few months ago, and I happened to meet it on the road. ".
This statement is obviously contrary to the statement that he died in Ding Pei’s bedroom, which has long been proved. Therefore, people are more suspicious of Ding Pei’s ulterior motives.
Court: Bruce Lee died unexpectedly.
The cause of Bruce Lee’s death was hotly debated at that time. In view of social pressure, the court heard the case two months later. After a series of investigations and evidence collection, on the morning of September 24th, 1973, the court finally ruled that Bruce Lee "died unexpectedly".
The court held that Bruce Lee died of severe brain edema. It was caused by the severe allergic reaction caused by the combination of the painkillers containing Miritong and aspirin, which led to Bruce Lee’s death.
Died of sudden epilepsy?
However, this is not recognized by everyone. Phil Jenkins, an expert in Cook County Death Research Office in Chicago, pointed out that the autopsy report pointed out that Bruce Lee’s neck was not swollen, indicating that he did not die of drug allergic reaction, so he believed that Bruce Lee died of sudden death due to epilepsy.
Phil Jenkins pointed out that sudden epileptic death can lead to epileptic symptoms, leading to cardiac or pulmonary failure. This disease mainly occurs in men aged 20 to 40. Lack of sleep and stress will increase the chances of illness, and Bruce Lee’s case meets the relevant conditions. At the time of the incident, Bruce Lee was in the prime of life and was under great physical and mental pressure.
Bruce Lee’s autopsy report after death indicated that the cause of death was cerebral edema, and it was suspected that he was allergic to the painkillers he took. However, Phil Jenkins also said that drug allergy often leads to neck swelling rather than brain swelling, so he didn’t believe that Bruce Lee died of drug allergy.
Friend: Died of conflict between food and drugs.
Compared with the expert’s statement, the Legal Evening News on January 10th, 2008 quoted Du Huidong, a senior behind-the-scenes person of Hong Kong films and a good friend of Bruce Lee. He broke the news that Bruce Lee died of the conflict between the raw beef and banana juice he drank every day and the medicine he took.
Du Huidong has been a journalist in Hongkong since 1971, and he is quite familiar with Bruce Lee. In a newspaper column, Du Huidong said that Bruce Lee, who received American-style education, had long learned the American habit of strengthening muscles with drugs. He ate nearly 100 vitamins, muscle enhancers and quick-acting nutrients every day. Taking too many drugs, the internal organization may be confused, and he must drink a large glass of raw beef and banana juice every day, which is likely to conflict with the drugs.
Du Huidong also revealed that Bruce Lee loved to use the muscle fiber vibration machine invented by the Japanese six months before his death. He recalled that Bruce Lee said at that time that pulling the spring to lift the dumbbell would reach the limit after 300 to 500 strokes. However, after using the muscle vibration machine, shaking the muscles for 3 minutes by electricity would get twice the result with half a day.
According to the media, the method of electric exercise is actually messing up the physiological clock, which makes people tireless, but it will have problems after a long time. One year after Bruce Lee’s death, an Indonesian overseas Chinese named "Xieyuan" also used the same muscle fiber vibration machine as Bruce Lee to exercise, resulting in sudden death from head congestion. Soon after, this kind of electric fitness equipment disappeared from the market.
Jackie Chan: Bruce Lee was preoccupied before he died.
Regarding the death of a good friend, Chengdu Evening News once reported that Jackie Chan, a good friend of Bruce Lee, was interviewed in 2008.
The article points out that although Bruce Lee did have unhealthy physical training such as muscle electric shock before his death, he was also found to contain cannabis residues in his body after his death, but none of these can be proved to have directly led to Bruce Lee’s death, which is totally different from Jackie Chan’s view.
Jackie Chan revealed that Bruce Lee was in a state of "preoccupation" for some time before his accident, but when it comes to the legend of Bruce Lee’s death, Jackie Chan denied it, saying that he only knew that he died at his home in Ding Pei and didn’t know other details.