wait until I arrive in San Francisco to mail them to him! But in the meantime, it is alright for you to tell him.
This letter was written and mailed immediately after the boat arrived in San Francisco. I really wish that all of you would write many letters to me so I won’t have to keep wondering about you guys.
1960
To Hawkins Cheung13 in Kowloon, Hong Kong
Posted from Seattle, Washington
May 16, 1960
Dear Hawkins,
I see that I am in your bad books through negligence in writing to you and do not know how to apologize sufficiently for the neglect. First of all, Hawkins, I must thank you for your welcome letter.
Hawkins, I am really truly sorry about your sickness, but, please do listen to me, it’s no use to become nervous and fidgety; remember that it won’t help but just de-improve the illness. Hawkins, I hope you will be better soon. Meanwhile, take it easy.
I admit that it’s good to practice Wing Chun. To be perfectly frank, I practice quite a lot on it nowadays (the wooden dummy has been shipped to me from Hong Kong already). But, as for you, I advise you to quit it for the time being and wait till you get better.
At present, I’m still going to the Edison High school, and will be graduated this summer. I plan to go to the University next year, that is, 1961. Well! I still don’t know what I’m going to major in, but when I find out I’ll write to you again. Now I find out that all those stuffs like Wing Chun, cha-cha are just for killing time and have a little fun out of it, and that study always comes first. Yes, that’s right, your own future depends on how well you have studied.
Now I am really on my own. Since the day I stepped into this country, I didn’t spend any money from my father. Now I am working as a waiter for a part time job after school. I’m telling you it’s tough, boy! I always have a heck of a time!
I didn’t do much for my spare time except studying and practicing Wing Chun (for good, of course!). Now and then, a South American would come and teach me some of his terrific fancy steps and have mine in return. His steps are really wonderful and exotic, and how cute it is! I tell you what, Hawkins, when you get well I’ll do my best and draw the steps on a piece of paper and teach you. All right?
Say, you still hang around with those guys, if you see Pip, please give her my best regards. In the meantime, please ask Richard to write me and tell him that I have lost his address.
Well, my friend, lots of luck to you and do get well soon.
Your friend,
Bruce
To a “Dear Young Lady”14
The mid-Autumn Festival being over. The cycle of the year once again has brought us to the colorful and sentimental days of Fall.
R, how could we let the valuable but short Autumn days slip away without doing them full justice? I often go to the movies these days. I need them for their soothing and inspiring qualities. So, write me a letter [indicating] which one you haven’t seen and I’ll invite you to see it this Sunday. That will suit you, won’t it, my dear young lady?
With my best wishes for all kinds of luck,
I am,
Bruce
To Dianne15
Dianne,
To be fond of learning is to be near knowledge. To practice with vigor is to be near to magnanimity. To possess the feeling of shame is to be near energy.
Love,
Bruce
1961
To Ed Hart16
March 1961
Dear Ed,
I am sorry that I didn’t write till now as I was very busy straightening up my entrance requirements for the University of Washington. Now everything is all right. I am being admitted for the Spring quarter, which will start the 27th of this month.
Ed, we miss you very much here, especially I, for having lost a good writer. But, of course, it’s for our friendship that I really miss you most. Ed, do your best and save up some money and come back to us.
We have given quite a number of exhibitions, and I have appeared on TV twice with Fook Young.
We might give an exhibition on April 8th for the Highline High School. Right now, everybody is practicing hard for it. I have ten students so far and the club is taking shape. Maybe [in] two more months, it will be opened to the public.
I am beginning to teach sparring to the students, and am doing my best to train their kicking technique. Jesse17 is still the outstanding one among the students, though he is not so limber in his legs.
You know something?—It’s a surprise!—I am going to take up judo in the University for the physical education requirement. Shuso is teaching there.
Well! Ed, write soon, and I promise I’ll write back on time.
Your teacher and friend,
Bruce
To Ed Hart, Brooklyn, New York
Posted from Seattle
May 1961
Dear Ed,
We were talking about you yesterday when I received your letter. Is it true that you are planning to come back?
Jesse is all right and is now living in Chinatown at the Green Hotel. I guess you know that he has been promoted to a black belt. At present he works for Roy Garcia during the weekend. He is going to Edison now.
I don’t have the club anymore; in fact, we still owe $80 for it, as everybody is out of a job and couldn’t keep it up. Also, I have stopped teaching as I have to have a part time job to tide me over my financial problem.
The fellows are planning to pay me for lessons which might be able to work out as a part-time job for me.
Ed, one thing I want you to know is we all miss you very much and hope that you will join us in the very near future. I don’t know how to describe it in words, as my English is not so good, so I only say that I am proud to have a friend like you and I miss you very much, and I hope that you can come back to Seattle.
Your friend always,
Bruce
1962
To Pearl Tso18
September 1962
Dear Pearl,
This letter is hard to understand. It contains my dreams and my ways of thinking. As a whole, you can call it my way of life. It will be rather confusing as it is difficult to write down exactly how I feel. Yet I want to write and let you know about it. I’ll do my best to write it clearly and I hope that you, too, will keep an open mind in this letter, and don’t arrive at any conclusions till you are finished.
Gung fu is the best of all martial art; yet the Chinese derivatives of judo and karate, which are only basics of gung fu, are flourishing all over the U.S.... because no one has heard of this supreme art [and] there are no competent instructors .... I believe my long years of practice back up my title to become the first instructor of this movement
There are two ways of making a good living. One is the result of hard working, and the other, the result of the imagination (requires work, too, of course). It is a fact that labor and thrift produce a competence, but fortune, in the sense of wealth, is the reward of the man who can think of something that hasn’t been thought of before. In every industry, in every profession, ideas are what America is looking for. Ideas have made America what she is, and one good idea will make a man what he wants to be.
One part of my life is gung fu. This art influences [me] greatly in the formation of my character and ideas.