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 | Adventures in Asian Art |  | |||||||
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| Adventures in Asian Art | | |||||||
We have many options to create artwork with Bruce Lee characters on a wall scroll or portrait...
...We could also help you create an Bruce Lee Asian Tattoo.
Mandarin: lǐ xiǎo lóng
Japanese: bu ruu su ri
Korean: 이소룡
Many people have no idea that Bruce Lee had a "real" Chinese name. In mainland China and Hong Kong he is known as "Li Xiao-Long". He kept his family name pronunciation (Li = Lee). This is a common family name that also means "plum".
His given name "Xiao-Long" literally means "little dragon". This 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 Chinese 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 exact 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 | Marital Arts
Mandarin: bù lǔ sī
This is the transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Bruce
Japanese: buruusu
This is the name Bruce written in Katakana (phonetic Japanese).
As of February 2009, we are experimenting with adding English names in Japanese Katakana. This is a specifically-Japanese character set.
This selection MUST be written by our Japanese master calligrapher
(sorry, no standard calligraphy service/pricing for this selection).
If you order this, it will be reviewed by the Japanese calligrapher. We have not double-checked or had a Japanese translator review of these new Katakana names.
Please do not use this for a tattoo without a further consultation!
Japanese: rii
This is the name Lee written in Katakana (phonetic Japanese).
As of February 2009, we are experimenting with adding English names in Japanese Katakana. This is a specifically-Japanese character set.
This selection MUST be written by our Japanese master calligrapher
(sorry, no standard calligraphy service/pricing for this selection).
If you order this, it will be reviewed by the Japanese calligrapher. We have not double-checked or had a Japanese translator review of these new Katakana names.
Please do not use this for a tattoo without a further consultation!
feminine name
Mandarin: lì
This is the most common transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the feminine western name Lee.
This character means "pretty" or "beautiful".
Note: This can sometimes be used as a female given name in China. It is not the only given name that sounds like Lee or Li in China. For instance, this is a completely different character than the one used for Bruce Lee's name.
feminine name
Mandarin: lì
This is an alternate transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the feminine western name Lee.
This character character means "jasmine".
Note: This can sometimes be used as a female given name in China. It is not the only given name that sounds like Lee or Li in China.
masculine name
Mandarin: lì
This is the most common transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the masculine western name Lee.
This character means "power" or "strength".
Note: This can sometimes be used as a male given name in China. It is not the only given name that sounds like Lee or Li in China.
masculine name
Mandarin: lǐ
This is an alternate transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the masculine western name Lee.
This character means "reason", "logic" or sometimes, "science".
Note: This can sometimes be used as a male given name in China. It is not the only given name that sounds like Lee or Li in China.
Mandarin: lǐ
Cantonese: lee
Japanese: ri / sumomo
Korean: 리 or 이
This is the most common Chinese character which sounds like "Lee" or "Li" and is used as a surname / family name in China. This character actually means "Plum". So it's really Mr. Plum and Mrs. Plum if you translated the name instead of romanizing.
This is not the only character in Chinese that can be romanized as "Lee" or "Li". If your family name is "Lee" or "Li" please be sure this is the correct character before you order this scroll (look at your grandparents' Chinese passports or other documents if you are an ABC and are trying to create a heritage wall scroll).
Famous people with this surname include Bruce Lee (Li Xiao-Long), Minister Li Peng, and famous Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai.
Note: This also one version of Lee that is a common Korean surname. However, it's often romanized as "Yi" and sometimes as "Ri" or "Rhee".
Wall scroll artwork shown on this page is priced as follows:
1 character $29.88 each
2-3 characters $39.88 each
4 characters $49.88 each
After you select your calligraphy, our website will take you through the process of customizing your artwork.
Options for other mounting such as portraits are available for $13 less.
We also offer the services of a famous master calligrapher for a $40 fee on any scroll if you are looking for investment-quality calligraphy.
If you chose our famous master-calligrapher, you also get more choices for silk and paper colors and the option for larger artwork.
All of our calligraphy is completely done by hand in the ancient way.
When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to our art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Therefore, allow at least 3 weeks for delivery from the time you place your order.
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
Prices for
custom wall scrolls
shown on this page:
Single-Character:
USD $29.88
GBP £18.01
EUR €20.10
CAD $32.01
AUS $32.64
2-3 Characters:
USD $39.88
GBP £24.04
EUR €26.83
CAD $42.73
AUS $43.56
4 Characters:
USD $49.88
GBP £30.07
EUR €33.56
CAD $53.44
AUS $54.49
Customizations that you select may raise or lower the price.
The scroll that I am holding in this picture is a "regular size"
4-character wall scroll.
As you can see, it is a great size to hang on your wall.
(We also offer custom wall scrolls in larger sizes)
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
The following table is only helpful for those studying Chinese (or Japanese), and perhaps helps search engines to find this page when someone enters Romanized Chinese or Japanese
| Title | Characters Simplified Traditional |
Japanese Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Hanyu-Pinyin (Romanized Chinese) | |||
| Bruce Lee | 李小龙 李小龍 | bu ruu su ri buruusuri bu ru su ri | lǐ xiǎo lóng li xiao long | li3 xiao3 long2 lixiaolong | ||
| Bruce | 布鲁斯 布魯斯 | n/a | bù lǔ sī bu lu si | bu4 lu3 si1 bulusi | ||
| Bruce (Japanese Katakana) | ブルース | buruusu burusu | n/a | |||
| Lee (Japanese Katakana) | リー | rii ri | n/a | |||
| Lee | 丽 麗 | n/a | lì li | li4 li | ||
| Lee | 莉 莉 | n/a | lì li | li4 li | ||
| Lee | 力 力 | n/a | lì li | li4 li | ||
| Lee | 理 理 | n/a | lǐ li | li3 li | ||
| Lee / Plum (Surname) | 李 李 | ri / sumomo ri/sumomo | lǐ li | li3 li | ||
| If you have not set up your computer to display Chinese, the characters in this table probably look like empty boxes or random text garbage.
This is why we spent hundreds of hours making images so that you could view the characters in the "Bruce Lee" listings above. If you want your Windows computer to be able to display Chinese characters you can either head to your Regional and Language options in your Win XP control panel, select the [Languages] tab and click on [Install files for East Asian Languages]. This task will ask for your Win XP CD to complete in most cases. If you don't have your Windows XP CD, or are running Windows 98, you can also download/run the simplified Chinese font package installer from Microsoft which works independently with Win 98, ME, 2000, and XP. It's a 2.5MB download, so if you are on dial up, start the download and go make a sandwich. | ||||||
All custom calligraphy items are made-to-order in our little Beijing artwork-mounting workshop.
Normal delivery isjust over 3 weeksfor these handmade items.
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