The Protector - Jackie Chan (1985) - Beas River, Sheung Shui

There is quite a story behind these gates seen in a scene when JC and Aiello head to return the bribe money to the gangster boss played by Roy Chiao. They drive to the New Territories location in a small jeep and you see them go through these stone gates.

Although they now front the Beas River Riding school - it managed to gain some fame as one of the Hong Kong locations used for the equestrian events during the Beijing 2008 Olympics (the other being Penfold Park) - these gates were once located on Hong Kong Island (in the Causeway Bay are to be precise) and were on the front of the old Jardines Stables. Jardines are one of the famous so-called 'Hongs' that were responsible for establishing Hong Kong as a trade base (mainly opium in the beginning). Jardines are still around and are the ultimate owners (through various subsidiaries and complicated cross-company shareholdings) of well known local businesses such as Wellcome Supermarket, Mannings and even IKEA.

On an aside, noted HK-based Bruce Lee historian - Paul Li - has told me that the pick-up shots for Bruce's final battle with Han Ying Chieh in The Big Boss we filmed at Beas River. I may have to look into this further and see if anything is useful enough to be included on this blog.