HONG KONG, Aug 4 (AP) -- A Hong Kong man paid 40,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$5,000) on Saturday for a car license plate that read "BRUCELEE," after the late kung fu movie star, a local TV station reported.

"When I studied in England, foreigners would only know two Chinese people. One is Bruce Lee. The other is Chairman Mao (Zedong). You can imagine how great Bruce Lee is, how big of an impact he had on the Chinese, even until today," the buyer, identified only by his surname, Wong, said in footage aired on Hong Kong's Cable TV.

"He is irreplaceable," Wong said.

The Lee-inspired plate was among several vanity plates to be auctioned Saturday by the Hong Kong Transport Department, according to a document on the department's Web site. The results of the auction weren't immediately available.

Calls to the Transport Department went unanswered.

Lee, who died in 1973 at age 32 from swelling of the brain, was born in San Francisco but grew up in Hong Kong, where he also made his name as an actor.

The action star was known for films in which he portrayed characters that defended the Chinese and the working class from oppressors.