Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Tsuen Wan

This is a familiar location for anyone that has read past posts. It's one of the more popular locations for foreign films dating back all the way to the 1960s. Anyway, this is still during the opening credits as we see Jiazhen going to visit her son's grave.

The Peking Medallion - Robert Stack (1967) - Tsuen Wan Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Tsuen Wan

The earliest use of the Tsuen Wan Chinese Permanent Cemetery so far on this blog was in 1977's Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon, however, with The Peking Medallion we now have an even earlier date of 1967.

I'll be honest, when I first watched this film and saw this scene I was a bit confused about where it could be due to the complete lack of surrounding development. The views from this place before the onset of massive development in Tsuen Wan were really quite impressive.

regarding the film plot, this is where Stack's recently murdered buddy is being buried (and Stack has put the medallion in the coffin with him), so it's a place that we keep coming back to several times, each one offering a slightly different view/angle. Our first view of it is a huge left to right pan that takes in most of the eastern side of the cemetery.

Then a nice view looking back the other way from the hilltop taking in much of the are we just saw in the pan.

The following screen grab shows us looking back the other way. The hill in the background is actually Tai Mo Shan - Hong Kong's tallest peak - and the shot with the taxi is looking the same way. Yes, that is Elke Sommer. She plays the dead man's wife.

Stack goes back later in the film only to find that the coffin has been exhumed and the medallion has been pinched. The hills in the background of this shot belong to Tsing Yi island.

And a final trip to pick up the hidden medallion, although no big views here, just some real graves that I may have to go and find one day.

China Rose - George C. Scott (1983) - Tsuen Wan Permanent Chinese Cemetery, Tsuen Wan

During the film, as the two main characters are being led on a wild goose chase, they are shown a grave that is supposed to be the son's. It shouldn't be surprising to learn that the scene was shot at the Tsuen Wan Permanent Chinese Cemetery in Tsuen Wan - with few exceptions it's been the number one grave location for filming companies over the years.

Ghost in the Shell - Scarlett Johansson (2017) - Tsuen Wan Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Tsuen Wan

The go-to cemetery in HK for all your film-based funeral needs. We've seen it a bunch of times already on this blog covering a decent spread of around 50 years (so far on this blog, the earliest use was in The Peking Medallion filmed in 1967). Here is the latest use as the Major goes back to find what happened to her original body.

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon - Sonny Chiba (1977) - Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Tsuen Wan

This is where the gang boss is buried after being assassinated at the swimming pool opening ceremony. Golgo was trying to kill him but was beaten to it by a female assassin hired by the man's mistress.

I'm fairly certain this is Tsuen Wan cemetery because of the proximity to water and the terracing in the background. Also, this place seems to be the easiest for film makers to use (maybe because it has a road running through the middle of it).

The Pillow Book - Vivian Wu (1996) - Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Tsuen Wan

This appears to be a popular place to film because we've already seen it used in Yellowthread Street, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Contagion and now The Pillow Book. There was a nice sweeping view of the channel between Tsuen Wan and Tsing Yi Island, but Greenaway has ruined the view with his 'artistic' habit of overlaying the screen with multiple boxes, so the following just shows the cemetery.

There's also a scene later on when the publisher sends his men back to exhume the body, but this was quite obviously a studio shot with a back projection so I haven't bothered including it - it didn't really show much anyway.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Tsuen Wan Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Tsuen Wan

For the scene for Bruce's dad's funeral, we return to a familiar cemetery for this blog. It's the
Tsuen Wan Chinese Permanent Cemetery that was seen previously in Yellowthread Street and also Contagion.

On this occasion we see the eastern slope overlooking the Tsuen Wan Road. Again, this is another scene where the director didn't seem too fussed about the buildings in the background because we get a quick glimpse of the Chun Shing factory building on the opposite side of Tsuen Wan Road.

Chun Shing factory building on the right

In reality, Bruce's dad is buried not too far from this location (about 3km away) at the St Raphael's Catholic Cemetery in Cheung Sha Wan. I actually went there not too long ago to visit the grave and I suppose these terraced graveyards are quite similar in appearance given the geographical constraints of Hong Kong.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Tsuen Wan Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Tsuen Wan

The final scene from the whole Yellowthread Street series was shot at the Tsuen Wan Chinese Permanent Cemetery. We've seen it before on this blog because the film makers behind Contagion also used it as the location for the ransom exchange.

Riviera Gardens behind Chan and Lonnen (brand new at the time)

As you can imagine the cemetery itself hasn't really changed at all, but the background has seen extensive development. The lower picture shows Tsing Yi in the background. The southern end of it (on the left) has now become completely taken over by reclamation for Container Terminal 9 - this is the same area where the famous QE wreck was.

The bridge at the back is the original Tsing Yi Bridge - the first bridge to connect the mainland with Tsing Yi Island. It has since been doubled (another bridge built parallel and used for Kowloon-bound traffic) to ease the burden on the original which opened in the mid-70's. It has also been complemented by a closer bridge called the Cheung Tsing Bridge and in the far distance connecting the southern end of Tsing Yi to West Kowloon is the newly built Stonecutters Bridge (remember that since this show was made Stonecutters Island has been joined on to Kowloon via reclamation).

The chimney at the left is the old Kwai Chung Incinerator chimney. It closed in 1997 but the chimney stayed up for another 10 years while they cleaned the surrounding land up of the various poisons that had built up over the years.

Contagion - Matt Damon (2011) - Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Tsuen Wan

This is the location of the handover of Dr Orantes by her Chinese kidnappers - although an obvious case of Stockholm Syndrome seems to have taken a hold of her. The exchange takes place above Tsuen Wan in the Chinese Permanent Cemetery. As the camera sweeps around the scene we get a good glimpse of some of the buildings in Tsuen Wan, including an opening shot of Riviera Gardens.

Riviera Gardens

The van drives south towards the meeting point, the southern hill of Tsing Yi in the background.

Dr Orantes with the cemetery slopes behind her. The building far left is the Sunley Centre

This bottom screencap is a nice wide view of the cemetery area showing Nina Tower back left. Almost at its base is the low rise white ship-like shape of the cemetery columbarium. The blue glassed building is the previously mentioned Sunley Centre and you can just see the red colour of the Shun Hing Centre on the far right. The mountain in the background is the slopes of Tai Mo Shan - HK's highest peak.