Haw Par Villa

For other uses, see Tiger Balm Garden (disambiguation).

Haw Par Villa

Haw Par Villa (Chinese: 虎豹別墅) is a Chinese mythological theme park in Singapore, located along Pasir Panjang Road.

The park contains over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese folklore, legends, history and illustrations of various aspects of Confucianism. The attractions include statues of the Laughing Buddha and the Goddess of Mercy, as well as dioramas of scenes from Journey to the West. The most well-known attraction is the Ten Courts of Hell, with gruesome depictions of hell in Chinese mythology, all set in a 60 meter-long trail of a Dragon.

History

The park, originally called "Tiger Balm Gardens", was built in 1937 by brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the developers of Tiger Balm, as a venue for teaching traditional Chinese values. The site was purchased by Aw in 1935. The brothers are originally from Burma (Myanmar) and they were famed as the Tiger Balm Kings from Rangoon (Yangon), the former capital of present day Myanmar. The Aw brothers moved their business to Singapore in 1926 and achieved great heights. While expanding their business empire was important, Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par firmly believed that one should contribute to society. In 1988, the Singapore Tourism Board took over the running of the Tiger Balm Gardens and re-named it as Haw Par Villa Dragon World. The statues were restored while retaining the original flavour. Plays, acrobatic displays and puppet shows were also organised. However, visitors were charged entrance fees. The high fees discouraged the public and the management incurred a loss of S$31.5 million after 10 years of management. The gardens made money for the first year of operations after renovations in 1994, broke even in 1995 but lost money for the next 3 years and was forced to have free entry in 1998. In March 2001, the Singapore Tourism Board re-named it Tiger Balm Gardens and entrance fees dropped.

Transport

The Circle Line station, Haw Par Villa MRT Station (CC25), located next to it, opened on October 8 2011 along with the rest of Stage 5 of the Circle Line.

The following bus services pass by the Villa along Pasir Panjang Road:

Service	Between	And	Notes
SBS Transit Trunk Services
10	Tampines Bus Interchange	Kent Ridge Bus Terminal
30	Bedok Bus Interchange	Boon Lay Bus Interchange
51	Hougang Central Bus Interchange	Jurong East Bus Interchange	Wheelchair Accessible Bus Service (WAB) Euro III Euro IV
143	Toa Payoh Bus Interchange	Jurong East Bus Interchange	Wheelchair Accessible Bus Service (WAB) Euro III
200	Buona Vista Bus Terminal	Kent Ridge Bus Terminal (Loop)
SBS Transit Fast Forward Services
30e	Bedok Bus Interchange Singapore Science Park II	Singapore Science Park II Bedok Bus Interchange	AM Peak PM Peak
SMRT Buses Trunk Services
188	Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange	HarbourFront Bus Interchange	Euro V

The following bus services pass by the Villa along West Coast Highway:

Service	Between	And	Notes
SBS Transit Trunk Services
175	Clementi Bus Interchange	Lorong 1 Geylang Bus Terminal
SMRT Buses Trunk Services
176	Bukit Panjang Bus Interchange	Bukit Merah Bus Interchange
SMRT Buses Premium Services
589	Sunset Way	Fullerton Road

See also

Media related to Haw Par Villa at Wikimedia Commons

• Tiger Balm Garden (Hong Kong)
• Hwa Par Children Playground, in Thailand

External links

• AsiaObscura photos from park
• Your Singapore website
• The Aw Boon Haw Family Business
• The Myths of Haw Par Villa Singapore Paranormal Investigators