Tong quickly moved from martial artist to martial arts choreographer and then to director. After seeing his first work Stone Age Warriors, the Golden Harvest film group asked him if he was interested in directing a movie in Jackie Chan's Police Story series.
從武行、武術指導到導演，嘉禾公司看到他的第一部作品《魔域飛龍》後，就問他有沒有興趣執導成龍的《警察故事》系列。