The June Hong Chian Lee is one of several junks built in Penang, Malaysia, and is a 30 meters, 140-ton three mast junk with 330 square meters of sails,Build in 1962 for charcoal transportation the June Hong Chian Lee was part of a small merchant fleet that traded up and down the coastline from Burma to Malaysia. She was mainly used to transport mango wood charcoal till 1985 then she was restored and redesigned for the first time to serve as a classic yacht.
In 1997 she changed owners and she was completely restored
and set up as a liveaboard vessel. The June Hong is constructed mainly from a hard teak wood called Takien Tong .
The last and biggest job so far was
summer of 2008. After the makers of Shanghai (release end 2008) were denied
to shoot in Shanghai because of the subject of the movie (Shanghai 1941, drug lords
and Japanese occupation) they shot in London
and Bangkok instead.
We stripped and repainted the Junk in Phuket
and sailed to Bangkok. That took us almost two weeks because
we had to go all the way around Singapore!
In Bangkok the Art department build
a set on top of our deck and covering the
wheelhouse to make her look really old and original. That took
them almost three weeks. We did
one day with the main camera team and John
Cusack on the Junk. And two weeks later two days of shooting with camera team two using stand
inns and our own crew as extras.
It
was a great experience to see how much work goes into a couple of minutes of movie time.
On the day of the main shoot there were at least 150 people working. Check
the pictures!
After that breaking down of the set,
the two week journey back to Phuket and
repainting of the Junk in our own shipyard. All in all three months of work
for a three day shoot a very rewarding experience for all!
The junk featured in movies as early as 1974 when she was still operational as a cargo vessel. Everybody remembers the James Bond movie "The man with the golden gun". At the end James escapes with his Bond-girl on a Chinese Junk, the "June Hong Chian Lee".
More recently (October 2000) she featured in the ZDF documentary "Das Weisse Gold". The director used the Junk to show what life must have been like, hundreds of years ago when Junks were the main mode of transportation in South East Asia.
In 2001 she is in a Hallmark production, the "Swiss Family Robinson" a remake of the famous movie by Walt Disney. The Junk
features as the "Albatross", the boat used by the pirates. The shooting
was finished before August 2001. And the movie was released at the end of 2001 (2 x 2 hours TV release).
To all you movie makers out there, if you need a truly unique vessel to feature in your movie feel free to contact us. Our price is not much more for you than a normal charter. If the price is right we can show up anywhere in South East Asia. Especially in the May to October period.
Another link with the past is a daily ritual of offering fruit, tea and incense before a small Chinese temple in the Captain’s quarters. According to Chinese tradition, the goddess of the shrine, if honored, will protect the ship. At the entrance of the temple, two small wooden soldiers stand guard. They are named Chian and Lee-the last two names of the June Hong-and
they represent the Ying and Yang.
A second altar is on the junk’s bow. Fresh flowers are placed there each week. Below the bow are the Eyes of the ship. According to the Captain, the bow is a sacred part of the junk and sitting or standing there is a sacrilege. Sometimes guests sit on the bow, it makes the crew nervous. You can see it in their faces, says the captain.
At the start of each season when the June Hong Chian Lee is launched, a Chinese shaman or priestess performs an ancient seafaring ceremony to call ashore the spirits.
part of the text is from The June Hong Chian Lee: A mystical journey into the past by Christopher G. Moore.
