The iconic Kung Fu star's films were banned from Communist China by Chairman Mao. But now his legacy is being reclaimed with an epic 50-part documentary on state TV. By Clifford Coonan

Bruce Lee is a national hero in China for the way he embodies Chinese pride and nationalism in his movies. Yet many in mainland China missed him the first time around – in the early 1970s – because movies such as Enter the Dragon and Fists of Fury were banned by Chairman Mao Zedong's Communist government as spiritual pollution andrightist sentimentality.

China's state broadcaster China Central Television will set the record straight when it airs a50-part prime-time series on the late kung fu star. The Legend of Bruce Lee, which starts screening on Sunday, is an exhaustive account of the kung fu hero's life.