China is set to air a 50-part prime-time series on Bruce Lee, the late kung fu star. The 50 million yuan (US$7.3 million) series will start airing this Sunday on China Central Television in prime time. CCTV will broadcast two episodes consecutively every night in a two hour slot.

Over a period of nine month, the “The Legend of Bruce Lee” series was filmed in China, Hong Kong, Macau, the US, Italy and Thailand. Locations included the ancestral home of Bruce Lee in Shunde city in south China’s Guangdong Province. Unlike “Dragon:The Bruce Lee Story”, “The Legend of Bruce Lee” is detailed in the history of Bruce Lee’s life, from his birth in San Francisco Chinatown to his teens in Hong Kong to his move to the U.S., where he studied and taught martial arts in Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area, to his movie career (over 40 kung fu movies) and death at 32 in 1973. The TV series also reveals that Lee was afraid of cockroaches.

The Legend of Bruce Lee stars Danny Chan (aka Chen Guokun aka Chan Kwok-Kwan), who plays Bruce Lee. You may remember him as the goalie from “Shaolin Soccer” back in 2001. (The guy has got many similarities to the original Bruce Lee.) Other people playing roles in the series include Michelle Lang as Linda Lee, Ray Park as Chuck Norris, Giulio Taccon as Brandon Lee, Iron Chef host Mark Dacascos as a Thai Boxer, as well as Gary Daniels and Michael Jai White. The TV series was also authorized by the Lee family. Producer Yu said Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee Keasler, approved the script and is credited as an executive producer.

Originally, The Legend of Bruce Lee was scheduled to be shown before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but was pushed back due to the deadly Sichuan earthquake on May 12, which killed 70,000 people. After the series is broadcasted, China hopes shown on TV networks around the world. (We can’t wait til is gets to the US. Someone pick this up for the US!!!!)

The Legend of Bruce Lee Trailer