Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Sai Kung to Victoria Harbour in the blink of an eye

Some geographical shenanigans are played out at the end of Chinese Boxes as we see the coppers on board a boat travelling into Sai Kung. We know it's Sai Kung because we can initially see the small islet of Kiu Tau in the background (Kiu Tau is the islet connected to Sharp Island by a tombolo). 

Kiu Tau in the background

The next sequence sees them all disembark from their boat onto a pier. This is also in Sai Kung because we can see the shape of Sharp Island (and the connected Kiu Tau) in the background. Now, I'm not sure that this is the current (older) public pier that is in Sai Kung. I suspect it is but it has been given a complete overhaul since this series was made. However, it's quite possible that the pier has been completely rebuilt in the intervening time, I'm not certain.

So anyway, there they all are in Sai Kung when all of a sudden the camera shot immediate following shows them all walking down the Victoria Harbour waterfront next to the (now demolished) New World Centre!! I mean come on, this is just a jump too far. One scene is the rural waters of Sai Kung, all of a sudden to be replaced by busy Victoria Harbour. I get the feeling that this scene would jar even with someone unfamiliar with HK geography, it just doesn't work well at all (much like the whole episode HA!).

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Man Nin Street, Sai Kung

Towards the end of the episode we see the mysterious touring market traders walking along a seafront somewhere. It just so happens to be the waterfront in Sai Kung. Initially we can see them walking along Man Nin Street.

This row of houses with what ,must be some of the best views in Sai Kung, haven't changed at all and if you look closely you can see one of the windows on the first floor is surrounded with yellow (second window from the left). As luck would have it, the same colour scheme is still on show as you can see in the Streetview picture below.

The procession moves along past Man Nin Street and into Sai Kung Hoi Pong Square - if you've ever been to Sai Kung, this is the bit where the large seafood restaurants are facing the water just down from the piers.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Steps by U Lam Terrace, Sheung Wan

Anyone who has visited the Museum of Medical Sciences will know these steps. It seems as though the crew for the Chinese Boxes episode didn't feel the need to travel too far for various scenes from this film (you should recall the car chase was also filmed around here). Look carefully and you can see the edge of the museum building in the background.

This place hasn't really changed much at all, but it looks as though the museum has had a bit of a spruce up as has the cornice on the top of the wall.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Tai Ping Shan Street, Sheung Wan

The car chase at the beginning of Chinese Boxes involves some nifty steering around the small narrow thoroughfares of the Tai Ping Shan district in Sheung Wan. With particular heavy usage is Tai Ping Shan Street itself which we see from multiple angles in an attempt to disguise the fact that it's one street.

This seems to have been a popular location for Yellowthread Street because the production crew have used this area afew times in the past.

Here are some of the screen shots and their corresponding Streetview counterparts. The first shots are taken from the top (in front of the steps that lead up/down from Bridges Street) of the street looking down towards the upper part of Tung Street on the left (there seems to be some disagreement about whether that small lane is part of Tung Street or part of Kat Cheong Street which curves around the back of the buildings on the left).

It's a bit tidier these days, relatively speaking, but the brown tiled wall (where the striped tarpaulin is fixed to) is still around as you can see. You'll notice that the distant buildings at the far end of the street are still around - the smaller tenement now painted green is No.4-6 Po Yan Street), and the taller white building behind it is the Universal Building on New Street.

The next shots show us looking back up the road towards the junction with Square Street (you can just make out the blurry name on the street sign at the back) and the steps up to Bridges Street. The first screen cap is a bit closer to the junction, the second one taken from further down the road.

The steps are still around but where there used to be a building (the one with the street sign) is now a walled off empty plot. In the far distance at the top of the steps we can just make out the building that is now the Woman's Welfare Club Western District at No. 60 Bridges Street.

The next shots shows the car chase turning off Tai Ping Shan Street onto Upper Station Street. The wall at the back is the retaining wall that holds up the northern side of Blake Garden.

As you can see the small bit of the road that extends up to the wall of Blake Garden is still a popular place to park your lorry!

The car chase sort of fizzles out when the cops get stuck behind a reversing truck. Although not strictly Tai Ping Shan Street, it's close enough to include it here at the end because it was filmed back at the top of the hill on the southern part of Blake Garden where Kui In Fong, Po Hing Fong and Caine Lane meet at the bottom of the steps next to the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences. In true film fashion the cars have done a complete circle around Blake Garden! I can't get a good recreation for the area on Streetview so will just leave you with the screen caps.

Filmed from the top of the steps up to the museum

Looking towards Po Hing Fong from Kui In Fong

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Central Vehicular Ferry Pier, Hong Kong

In the spirit of true nostalgia, here is a sequence from the beginning of Chinese Boxes in which we see the camera pan from Blake pier down to the vehicular ferry pier in Central - neither of which are around today (largely because the water here has also been replaced by land!).

Above we see the familiar angled shape of the final version of Blake Pier with the two Star Ferry piers behind it. As the camera moves downward we can see the small flyover that led from the upper deck of the vehicular ferry. On the right is Exchange Square which means the small road in front (with several walkways across it) is today's Harbour View Street. The waterfront next to it now occupied by the IFC complex and Hong Kong Station.

The vehicular pier itself - at the end of Harbour View St - was sited where the smaller IFC tower now stands.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Hong Kong Stadium, So Kon Po

A quick look at a pre-renovation Hong Kong Stadium. It's famous around the world for being the venue where the HK Rugby 7's is played, and in fact this episode - Number 10: Chinese Boxes - starts off with lots of footage from the tournament.

The ground was renovated with its current clam-shaped roof in 1994, and strictly speaking when this series was made, it was still known as the 'Government Stadium'. Actually, a personal confession...I may be the only gwailo who has never been to the Rugby 7's (ssh! don't tell anyone).