THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS--Dreams do come true.

America's Greatest Export.

"There's no business like show business, Like no business I know..." (add music)

So you're one of a billion or so. Stuck in the backwoods of Maoist China or the back-alleys of Kowloon, Hong Kong. You really want to be Michael Jordan, but 5'3" might not cut it the NBA. So, maybe you're Roxie Hart (Chicago), that shy, petite, bubbly young girl from the country ready to do whatever it will take to be a "star". You have only a few yen, but you know if you can just get to the Mecca of movies you'll be the star you were meant to be..... That dream is not limited to America.

Welcome to the Walk of Stars. That famous sidewalk with stars emblazoned with the great actresses and actors names, handprints and a mystical feeling.  There it is a Chinese Theater right there on the Walk. No not Grauman's Chinese Theater. This one is in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and for a billion people it is, indeed, Hollywood.

Now I admit a bit of nationalistic pride when it comes to the movies. I mean, seriously, who doesn't have a soft spot for Jimmy Stewart. He might have been the meanest, most cantankerous son-of-dog the bounty hunter guy in real life, but "It's a Wonderful Life"-- ah, the image. America's greatest export was it's ability to make-believe. We are the country with streets paved in gold, where anybody can become a millionaire and given recent history who would doubt 'anyone' can be President. (No politics in that one, you can pick whomever you would like....) The dreams are all possible and the optimism never ends. That's Hollywood (or at least that's the Hollywood we once had...)
So, today we crossed the South China Sea from Hong Kong to the mainland  of China on--and I'm not making this up--the "Star" Ferry.  The cost--2.00 Hong Kong Dollars (26 cents). For 26 cents you can pass from the greatest financial center arguably in the world, to a country whose recent history is, let us say, checkered. 

But, before you reach the land of the Great Satan of the Orient (and greatest supplier of yoyo's, iPad, hello kitty dolls, computer chips and Target/WalMart/Kmart/Dollar General products the world has ever known) there is the Walk of Stars. The real goal for the billion or so Chinese children of tomorrow.
I say this, because most of China was, in fact, visiting with us today. At least it felt like that But, hey, I'm from rural Wisconsin and sometimes it feels like a visit to the Piggy Wiggly is a visit to the city.
Here it is China-style.

As it happens, Karen and I are strolling with our new-found billion or so friends on the Walk of Stars when it occurs to me that the greatest star of the them all might be right here. That star who eclipses all stars of the era. A man who defied gravity. A man who could leap over others, slam them to the ground, perform feats no one thought possible....

No, not him! 

This guy!!!!

Bruce Lee. Kung Fu extraordinaire. Now, That's a star!  And the proof of that? Everyone wants to imitate him--Everyone wants to be "just like Mike a/k/a BRUCE

I am now certain that dreams do come true. And whether or not they may come true, it is the dreams we chase that make so much else possible. Dreams are not limited to America, but America has made dreams possible for the world.