Be Water

(imperative) A martial arts philosophy popularised by actor Bruce Lee in the early 1970s and adopted by pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong in 2019



Before the Hong Kong authorities know what is happening, the protesters have already “gathered like dew” to block an important road or surround a government building.

By the time the riot police have assembled to confront them they have “scattered like mist”. As they escape through the city’s narrow streets they are “fluid like water”, and if they are caught and have to fight then they are “hard like ice”.

This is the “be water” philosophy of the protests that have rocked Asia’s premier financial centre for more than six months and show no sign of ending any time soon. Confronted by the overwhelming might of the Beijing-backed Hong Kong government and the threat of possible intervention by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the mostly young protesters have chosen to adopt the philosophy of the city’s most famous son.

Raised in Hong Kong but made famous by Hollywood, Bruce Lee is an icon the world over, but a god in his home town. Far more than just an actor, Lee was a martial arts master and a warrior monk philosopher in his own right. Explaining his meaning in an interview in the early 1970s he put it this way:

“Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless like water. Now you put water in to a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.”

It is not only his compatriots who have heeded his words. As 2019 wore on, other protest movements across the world, from Spain to Chile to Lebanon, appeared to be consciously adopting the “be water” tactics of the Hong Kong protests.

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