Aw Boon Haw
Aw Boon-Haw (Chinese: 胡文虎; pinyin: Hú Wénhǔ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hô͘ Bûn-hó͘; 1882 in Rangoon, Indian Empire – 1954 in Hong Kong), OBE, was a Burmese Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for introducing Tiger Balm. He was the son of Hakka herbalist Aw Chu-Kin, with his ancestral home in Yongding County, Fujian Province, China.
Life and career
Business
Aw migrated to Malaysia in 1926, where he began the business of Tiger Red Balm with his brother, Aw Boon-Par. Aw also founded several newspapers, including Sin Chew Jit Poh and Guang Ming Daily, which are both based in Malaysia today; and Sing Tao Daily, which dates back to 1938 and is currently based in Hong Kong. Aw moved to Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation of Singapore and managed the business from there, while his brother stayed in Singapore until he closed down the factory and went to Rangoon. Aw returned to Singapore after the end of World War II and re-established his business.
While on a trip to Hong Kong from Boston, US in 1954, Aw died at the age of 72 from a heart attack following a major operation. His legacy is found in the Haw Par Villas throughout Asia, with locations in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Fujian Province of China.
Personal
Aw's adopted daughter is the Hong Kong businesswoman and former Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference member Sally Aw. Sally Aw squandered the vast fortune and was on the brink of bankruptcy. Tiger Balm Gardens and the Aw Boon-Haw Gardens in Hong Kong were sold to the territory's billionaire, Li Ka-Shing, for US$13 million in 1998.
The daughter of Aw Boon-Haw and his fourth wife, Aw Seng (胡星), resided in Singapore and has set up a company under her father's name, Aw Boon Haw Pte Ltd, to continue the heritage and legacy of her father. Aw Seng died on 10 April 2012 in Vancouver aged 100.
References
Malcolm Aw 胡督北, son of Aw Swan 胡山 and third grandson of Aw Boon haw is currently an environmental protection engineer at Forest Energetics Group and executive chairman of Waterl'eau Plc., has come up with "Restorative Solutions" to a positive climate change-back, effecting climate change in a positive way through application of massive water recovery, generation & reforestation technology by producing inexhaustible forever supply of water for sustainable livelihood and socioeconomic development to improve environmental health and well-being. Actions have been taken and wheels are in motion in their effort to arrest further negative climate change (so deep seated in our mindset as to be deemed irreversible) and to promote the idea that people take up the challenge to "evaginate" the climatic process with creative thinking and do things ecologically beneficial hands-on in innovative ways. As water will be the driving force for developing economies and the foundation of our economic evolution waterl'eau plc is master planning to reforest parts of MENA and terra-forming arid land worldwide into everglades of wetland and floodplain of rich agricultural developments made possible with Massive Water Recovery, Generation and Reforestation and Environmental Restorative Technology that will provide "forever" supply of water to developing countries worldwide.
External links
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