The bay and typhoon shelter where Four Finger Wu wooden fishing junk and the "Floating Dragon" (which houses a number of restaurants) are berthed. (The Floating Dragon in the TV series was a replica of this original!)

Location: Midlevels (Tregunter Tower Block I (completed in 1981 by Hongkong Land) in Tregunter Path or another unidentified building??)

Known as Rose Court in the mini-series which houses Orlanda's apartment. A tragic land slide causes the whole building collapse.

Completed in 1971 and most recognized by its unique, maize-shaped, this luxury apartment tower houses 58 generous sized apartments and two duplexes.

In the mini-series, Orlanda lives in one of the apartments in Century Tower 1, with Quillan Gornt paying for the rent. She told Linc Bartlett that the building, built by Gornt's corporation, used to enjoy unobstructed harbourview. The Taipan's Noble House, several years later, erected another apartment tower directly in front of Gornt's and ruined the latter's harbourview supremacy. The competition for better view is a miniature case of battle between the two rivalries.

Dunross takes Casey for a chinese-style dinner in a chinese junk from a pier there. The pier is next to the legendary Jardine Noonday Gun.

It is also the place where Quillan takes a boat trip with Linc as well as another boat trip with Casey. The bay is called the Causeway Bay Shelter, just besides the (Royal) Hong Kong Yacht Club.

Location: 8 Connaught Place, Central

Like the Jardine House, the Exchange Square was developed by Hongkong Land and proudly stood next to the Jardine House.

The Exchange Square was given its name because the base of the twin 52-storey towers housed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Designed by Remo Riva of P & T Group, the Exchange Square won the 1985 HKIA Silver Medal Award (Hong Kong Institute of Architects). From design to completion it took only 28 months.

Same as Jardine House, the podium garden was garnished with sculptures by Henry Moore, Ju Ming and Elizabeth Frink*.


Exchange Square (brown tower on the right) with Jardine House

Location: Upper Albert Road, Central

Former residence of the Governor of Hong Kong before 1997.

Where Ian Dunross negociates with the Governor and the Commissioner for freeing Brian Kwok who has been accused by the Royal Hong Kong Police for engaging in spy activities in Hong Kong for the Chinese authorities.



Link: http://www.info.gov.hk/ce/govindex.htm

Owned by Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club (the mini-series' Turf Club).

Headquarters of Ho Pak Bank of Richard Kwan. It is where John Chen's safe box is, and also the place where Dunross shows Linc and Casey the gold bars that belong to Lando Mata during the withdrawal from the bank). Designed by Simon Kwan & Associates Ltd, the building won the HKIA 1985 Certificate of Merit.

Location: 1 Connaught Place, Central

The headquarters of Struans in the mini-series.

An outstanding landmark developed by Hongkong Land in the 70s. A must-see point of attraction for tourists. For more detailed descriptions, click here

Location: Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan

Where Philip Chen pays the ransom to the werewolf, the leader of a gang of kidnappers.

Location: Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

One of the most luxurious, historical and globally acclaimed hotels. The Peninsula represents the finest and the very best of all hotels in Hong Kong.

Linc and Casey stay in Peninsula Hotel throughout their entire trip. Anyway, the plots inside the hotel are not taken from inside the hotel but from somewhere outside Hong Kong.

Hotel: The Peninsula was opened in 1928. In the 90s a tall new wing tower was added to the original H-shape hotel. The new tower was designed by Rocco Yim.

Location: Edinburgh Place

Just besides the Star Ferry pier and in the front of the town's famous City Hall. Ian meets Casey there for a boat trip to Macau.


Queen's Pier: the rectangular pier on the left

The Taipan meets with Four Finger Wu for financial assistance at a seashore pagoda at the bay.

Location: Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

The widely recognized Regent Hotel situates at the Kowloon harbourside, only a few minute's walk from the Peninsula Hotel and the Star Ferry Pier (Kowloon side). The hotel was taken over in 2001 by The Intercontinental Group and it was renamed to Hotel Intercontinental Hong Kong.

Brian Kwok suggests Ian to meet him there for a drink at 10:30pm after the police discovered John Chen's death. However he can not make it as he is taken by the police for conducting suspected spy activities.

Where Dunross says goodbye to Casey in the end of the drama. Don't believe the scene is taken at the Kai Tak Airport, actually it is the road transport interchange floor (2/F) of the Shun Tak Centre which also houses the HK-Macau Ferry Terminal.

If you look carefully, you can see double deck trams (only found in Hong Kong island) moving in the street at the back!

Building: Spence Robinson Ltd. was responsible for the design of Shun Tak Centre. Design work began in 1974 and the twin towers were completed in 1986. The East tower, once held a 550 rooms hotel, was later transformed into office complex, the same purpose as the West tower.

An elegant pier for the city's unique cross-harbour ferry. White on the top and green at the bottom, the pier is a harmonic complementary to the white sky, the pearl green harbour and the colour-scheme of all Star Ferries!!

Linc and Casey take the "Central <-> Tsim Sha Tsui" ferry several times, travelling between The Peninsula hotel on the Kowloon side they reside, and the Jardine House on the Island side. Sensible choice for the CEOs since Star Ferry is the most direct and effective means of transport (journey duration only 5 minutes!), and probably the cheapest anywhere in the world!! The affluent Par-Con CEOs, seems to prefer riding on the lower deck of the ferry, which offers closer encounter to the harbour and costs less for a single trip too (HK$1.7 as opposed to HK$2.2 for the upper deck)!!

Built and completed in 1958, the Star Ferry Pier Complex, most referred to the famous clock tower, has been the city's landmark.


Breaking news:

The whole pier complex, including the famous clock tower and twin-arm piers, is due to be demolished VERY SOON in November 2006 to make way of new phrase Central reclamation project! A replacement pier has been built and final renovation is on the way.

The whole star ferry complex (not just the clock tower) is our indispensable social asset and collective memory....it links the new generation to the past....something bond the present and the past together. Aesthetically the vertical columns, rectagular windows and the use of simple white and green colour of the complex are excellent representation of minimalist design....The Clock Tower represents simple elegance that perfectly coherent with the Jardine House in its background, while the vertical columns and rectagular windows match the minimalist design of the City Hall Tower and Central Post Office Complex. So many old historical buildings had gone for good, we simply can't afford to lose any more.

Help save the clock tower and the pier by signing the petition below!
http://www.project-see.net





Star ferry pier: the pair of piers on the right

The plot where Ian takes a trip to Beijing to seek for financial support from Tsu Yan (chairman of the China Great Wall International Trust Corporation). It was actually shot in Hong Kong at a tourist attraction called Tao Fong Shan Christian Centre in Shatin.

The Centre was founded in 1930 by missionaries from Norway to introduce Christianity in a Chinese context.

Links:
http://www.tfssu.org
Photos of Tao Fong Shan

Location: 15 Barker Road, the Peak

In the mini-series, it is the Taipan's residence. This specticular colonial styled house proudly situated at the mid-levels overviewing the Victoria Harbour. For more detailed descriptions, click here

Philip Chen's residence.

A private, brick brown mansion with a tremendously huge chinese-style garden and ponds. Few mansions here come close with this one for style and scale. For scale, this mansion eclipses even the Taipan's residence, the Victoria House.

Philip hides his family's half coin inside a treasury box hidden at the bottom of one of the ponds in the garden. Somehow his son John Chen spots it and steals the half coin to make his own deal with Linc Bartlett of the Par-Con.



Film plots:

For those who have seen the Mini-series should be very familiar with the Garden and the interior. The Mansion sits at mid-hill of the site, access from the frontal open ground by bridges and staircases. Philip Chen, being the Comprador of the Noble House, is the second-in-command person of Noble House and the very heart and soul of the "Hong". The Mansion shows his dedication to traditional Chinese garden design and architecture.

Do you remeber:

• In the giant living room of the Mansion, where Chen and his wife, joined by the Taipan and Robert Armstrong and Brian Kwok from the Hong Kong Royal Police, opens up the shoe box which was delivered by a biker believed to be one of the members of The Werewolves?
  
  
• Mr. Chen is coming back home in his sky-blue Mercedes W 123 sedan, having it parked at the frontal open ground, and he is then hurrying up the stairs, arriving at the main double-leave gate as shown in the fourth bottom picture where the servant stands by and opens up the gate for him?
  
  
• Also in the living room, where Mr. Chen discusses with his wife about the recent acts of their son, John Chen? Remember the moment the father realizes that his son might have stolen the Chen family's HALF COIN for a secret, dishonoured deal with the Noble House's greatest threat from the U.S., the Par-Con? Remember that Mr. Chen, in shock but manages to stay calm, tells his wife to close all the curtains and order all servants to gather in blockout, so that Chen himself can rush down the staircases to the pond unseen and dig out the treasure box which has been carefully placed underwater by him?
  
  How stunned he is when he opens the box and discovers the Half Coin supposed to be there, has gone?
  
  
  
  

For more information of the Mansion, visit "Dragon Garden ~ Hong Kong's Cultural Heritage" website setup by Cynthia Lee, Grand Daughter of the Founder.

Links:
http://www.dragongarden.hk


Recent news:
To be continued
(updated on 06/09/2006)











cphotos downloaded from www.dragongarden.hk

Headquarters of Rothwell-Gornt, the Quillan Gornt's Corporation.

* from <Skylines Hong Kong, Peter Moss (FormAsia Books)>.