Dragon's Claws - Lau Kar-yung (1979) - Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall, Lung Yeuk Tau

The headquarters of the Dragon Boxing Set (the style of kung fu practised by Lung Hsia and his family) is based at the Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall in Lung Yeuk Tau. This is where Ling Ko-fung (Wang Jang Lee) goes to claim leadership of the sect by defeating Lung's father, the current master.

We've seen it so many times on this blog in local movies and the great thing is fans like us can still go and visit because it forms part of the Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail in Fanling.

We're Going to Eat You - Norman Chui (1980) - Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall, Lung Yeuk Tau

We saw it just a few posts ago as the location where Wang Jang Lee picks up his kill contracts in another of Seasonal's films, Drunken Master. In We're Going to Eat you the place plays a rather more significant role as the location of, not only, the village meetings (where the food is divided up between the ever-hungry inhabitants), but also the location for the slaughterhouse scenes and the alleyway connecting the front gate entrance (Lo Wai) to the slaughterhouse area.

The area used for the slaughterhouse is actually a walled courtyard on the east side of the hall. You can see the outside of it on GoogleEarth here. Being a Tsui Hark film, we get a plethora of weird angles from low to high, so I've just included the more conventional views in the screen caps below.

The alleyway connecting the entrance to the courtyard is indeed an alleyway connecting this courtyard to the front of the hall. It's formed by the main hall structure and a couple of lower side blocks (one of which can be see in the courtyard grabs above). Remember, in the film the front entrance was actually shot over at Lo Wai (literally a minute's walk away).

And lastly we can see the main courtyard inside the hall where all the meetings take a place and is also the same location where the finale was shot as the remaining survivors set off fireworks as they rollerskate around avoiding the horde. This area is the one that is usually open to visit as part of the heritage trail.

We're Going to Eat You - Norman Chui (1980) - Tin Hau Temple and Courtyard, Lung Yeuk Tau

It was just a few weeks ago that I did a post for Mr Vampire that used the (now) carpark in front of the Tin Hau Temple in Lung Yeuk Tau. Well, here is another film that used the same space. In We're Going to Eat You it is the area in front of the temple/police station where Agent 999 first tries to speak with the chief of police before being attacked by hungry villagers. This is the same area later where 999's fellow traveller (Hon Kwok-choi) is captured following a comedy fight setpiece. In this film though we do get a peek inside the temple when it was still in a pre-renovation state of dilapidation.

We're Going to Eat You - Norman Chui (1980) - Lo Wai, Lung Yeuk Tau

The location of the village slaughterhouse, where all the victims are taken to be chopped up, is one of the walled villages along the Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail. Lo Wai has some rather identifiable steps up to its main gate and although Tsui has framed the footage to prevent the gatehouse from being seen, it's obvious where we are. The front gate is the only thing we ever see though and I wonder if the reason is because even back in 1980, the villagers didn't want strangers to'ing and fro'ing through their habitat. The whole area was given some renovation a while back so its interesting to see what the area looked like before the heritage trail was inaugurated.

Mr Vampire - Lam Ching-ying (1985) - Lung Yeuk Tau, Fanling

We are back to the open space next to the Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall and Tin Hau temple in Fanling. As mentioned previously, it was a very popular filming location throughout the 70s and 80s and it appears once again. In Mr Vampire we see it during the scene where a recently discovered victim of the hopping "Jiangshi" is immediately cremated. The cremation pyre was constructed in the area that is now a public carpark.

Drunken Master - Jackie Chan (1978) - Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall, Fanling

Here's one that no one seems to have noticed before, and to be fair, I only just did too. I just posted earlier about this location, but it was only after a bit of further investigation that I realised that the Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall was also the location where the hitman (Wang Jang Lee) picks up his secret contracts and where he first encounters Fei-hung (Chan). What we're seeing on screen is the hall when it was still very much in disrepair prior to its full restoration in 1992.

The exact location used in the movie is the second courtyard/end hall at the back of the building. One thing to notice is that the wrought-iron grill (see images 3 & 4 below) above the wooden door is still in-situ. I have to say that now that I know this, it makes the restoration of the hall even more impressive given how it looked before. It's been many years since I went here in person so I can't remember if this rear section is even open to the public. Perhaps someone can let me know in the comments.

Drunken Master - Jackie Chan (1978) - Lung Yeuk Tau, Fanling

In the scene whereby Fei-hung fights with the woman who turns out to be his aunty, the Tang Chung Ling Ancesral Hall and neighbouring Tin Hau Temple can be seen in the background. The area where the filming was done is now a carpark. Out of the two "heritage"walks that the Government likes to advertise (the other being the Ping Shan Heritage Trail), the Lung Yeuk Tau is the one I find more interesting, certainly for kung fu fans given the number of movies shot here. Shek Lo is also part of this trail.