According to local reports, the park will be patrolled by Bruce Lee “mannequin robots”, radio-controlled from within a giant statue of the late star.

Although Lee was born in San Francisco and his action movies such as Enter the Dragon and Fist of Fury were banned in China, the authorities are seeking to cash in on his legacy. They are promoting Lee as the father of modern martial arts, a sport that once dismissed the 5ft 7in actor for his unconventional moves and trademark yell.

The £10m theme park will be built at Shunde, a picturesque town of canals and bamboo gardens northwest of Hong Kong, which Lee’s grandfather left in the late 19th century to start a new life in America. The actor visited briefly only once, when he was five years old.

Officials have already named a street after Lee and turned a tea shop into a museum packed with letters and photographs of uncertain provenance. They are also discussing plans for a memorial hall and a monorail to connect the town centre with the theme park.

However, all this may be brought to a halt by Shannon Lee, the actor’s only surviving child, who plans to visit Shunde for the first time later this year “to find out what else they are dreaming up over there”.

The 37-year-old Californian entrepreneur has her own plans including a television series that will use computer graphics to re-create Lee. “The technology is nearly here to make it look as if he is back,” she said last week.

She has authorised a Broadway musical as well and hopes to work with the Chinese government, which is also discussing with the BBC a documentary about Lee’s life and his death at 32, following an allergic reaction to a headache pill.

Lee died a month before Enter the Dragon opened in 1973, but he prepared the way for the 1970s kung fu craze as well as Hong Kong stars such as Jackie Chan. Keanu Reeves once said: “Without Bruce Lee, there was no Matrix.”

While Lee’s reputation enjoys a renaissance there may be splits within his family: his brother Robert, who is still based in Hong Kong, is preparing his own cinematic version of the much-filmed Bruce Lee story.

He wants to film in Seattle, where Lee spent much of his early life, which may bring him into direct confrontation with Shannon in Los Angeles. She says she may not be able to do much about what happens in China, including the “odd” theme park, but lawyers can deal with American copyright infringements a lot more easily.

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