Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Hitman - Jet Li (1998) - Yau Tong Estate

In our last post for this film, the pair go looking for Uncle Leung at his home in the old Yau Tong Estate. This one was quite difficult to find because it was redeveloped soon after the film was made and the whole area has undergone significant redevelopment/change as well.

Yau Tong Estate circa 1975

In the first image (below) we are looking at the slope between Block 4 and the main road (point A on map above). The vague pink colour between the trees was Block 1. 


The Japanese gang park their cars in the open storage area opposite the staircase (point B - this is the same area today) and then walk up the staircase towards a small garden located in front of Block 7. At the top of the staircase is a green sign with some Chinese writing on it. This is actually an advert for a local district councillor, Fan Wai-kwong (范偉光), who was a representative of East Yau Tong at the time, and was one of the clues that helped me narrow down the search area.

Sign for Mr Fan Wai-kwong (范偉光)

There was quite a bit of filming done in and around the estate which is impossible for me to narrow down with only aerial images and maps to reference, but the prominence of Block 7 means that at least we know that the stairs the gang are walking down is located at point C on my map above, and the section of Block 7 where Fu and Lo jump down from the railing is at Point D.


Walking down the steps (map point C)

Balcony jump (map point D)

The last image shows one of the bad guys with the area at Block 7 in the background where Lo and Fu jumped down onto the bins. So the actor was standing in the central entrance to Block 4. For modern reference, this particular part of the estate (it was a big estate with a total of 26 blocks) was turned into the Fukien Secondary School and Wah Tong House of the new Yau Tong Estate.

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