Haw Par Villa

Haw Par Villa
Haw Par Villa
Coordinates	1°17′03″N 103°46′57″E / 1.2843°N 103.7825°E / 1.2843; 103.7825
Status	Operating
Opening date	1937
Theme	Chinese Mythology
Area	3.2 ha (7.9 acres)

For other gardens of this name see Tiger Balm Garden

Haw Par Villa (Chinese: 虎豹別墅; pinyin: Hǔ Bào Biéshù) is a theme park located along Pasir Panjang Road, Singapore. The park contains over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese mythology, folklore, legends, history, and illustrations of various aspects of Confucianism.

History

The park, originally called Tiger Balm Gardens, was built in 1937 by the Burmese-Chinese brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the developers of Tiger Balm, as a venue for teaching traditional Chinese values. They moved their business from Burma to Singapore in 1926 and purchased the site in 1935.

In 1986 the International Theme Parks Pte Ltd, announced an investment of $30 million to modernise the themed park. This company was a joint venture formed by Fraser & Neave and Times Publishing, and had invested on the latest animatronics and technology to enhance the attractions in hope to create an 'oriental Disneyland', a theme park meeting Western technology with Eastern mythology.^[1]

In 1988, the Singapore Tourism Board took charge of the Tiger Balm Gardens and renamed it "Haw Par Villa Dragon World". The Haw Par in the park's name is based on the Aw brothers' personal names—Haw and Par, which mean "tiger" and "leopard" respectively. The dioramas and statues were restored, while plays, acrobatic displays and puppet shows were organised and held there. The management imposed entrance fees but the high fees discouraged visitors, so the management incurred a loss of S$31.5 million over 10 years. The park management made a profit during its first year of operations after renovations in 1994, broke even in 1995, but started incurring losses over the next three years and was forced to provide free entry in 1998. In March 2001, the Singapore Tourism Board renamed it "Tiger Balm Gardens".^[2] The park is now open every day from 9 am to 7 pm (with last entry at 6 pm) and admission is free.

In 2014, artists Chun Kai Qun, Chun Kaifeng and Elizabeth Gan, under the curatorial platform Latent Spaces, staged four exhibitions in the theme park's unused spaces. Their first exhibition, Nameless Forms, featured the works by the Chun twins, Darren Tesar, Sai Hua Kuan and collective Yunrubin, which respond to the place’s defunct exhibition halls, idle pavilions and the materials that were left behind.^[3]

Attractions

Entrance to the "Ten Courts of Hell" attraction at Haw Par Villa. The Ox-Headed (right) and Horse-Faced (left) Hell Guards stand guard at the entrance.

Memorial dedicated to the Aw brothers' parents.

The best known attraction in Haw Par Villa is the Ten Courts of Hell, which features gruesome depictions of Hell in Chinese mythology and Buddhism. This attraction used to be set inside a 60-metre long trail of a Chinese dragon but the dragon has been demolished, so the attraction is now covered by grey stone walls.

Other major attractions include dioramas of scenes from Journey to the West, Fengshen Bang, The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars, Legend of the White Snake, Romance of the Three Kingdoms; statues of mythological figures such as the Laughing Buddha and Guanyin, and historical personages such as Jiang Ziya, Su Wu and Lin Zexu; the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, and others. There are also monuments dedicated to the Aw brothers and their parents.

Public Transportation

The Circle Line station, Haw Par Villa MRT Station (CC25), located next to it, opened on 8 October 2011 along with the rest of Stage 5 of the Circle Line.^[4]

References

↑ "Haw Par Villa goes high-tech". Straits Times. 30 April 1986. p. 16.
↑ "Tiger Balm Gardens". National Library Board. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
↑ Loh, Joleen (5 April 2014). "Enter the artist studio". MediaCorp. TODAY. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
↑ "Speech by Mr Raymond Lim, Minister for Transport, at the Visit to Kim Chuan Depot, 25 January 2008, 9.00 am". Singapore Government Media Release. 25 January 2008.

External links

Library resources about Haw Par Villa
Resources in your library Resources in other libraries

AsiaObscura photos from park

Major tourist attractions in Singapore

WRS Parks	Jurong Bird Park Night Safari River Safari Singapore Zoo

Integrated resorts	Marina Bay Sands Resorts World Sentosa

Amusement parks	Sentosa Imbiah Lookout Resorts World Sentosa Universal Studios Singapore Adventure Cove Waterpark Wild Wild Wet

Oceanariums	Marine Life Park Underwater World

Museums	ArtScience Museum Asian Civilisations Museum Baba House Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum Changi Museum Fort Siloso Images of Singapore Madame Tussauds Singapore Malay Heritage Centre Malay Village National Gallery Singapore National Museum of Singapore Old Ford Motor Factory Peranakan Museum Reflections at Bukit Chandu Science Centre Singapore Singapore Art Museum Singapore Discovery Centre Singapore Philatelic Museum Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall The Battle Box The Maritime Experiential Museum

Nature parks	Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Central Catchment Nature Reserve Chinese Garden Gardens by the Bay HortPark Japanese Garden Labrador Nature Reserve Pulau Ubin Chek Jawa Singapore Botanic Gardens Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Monuments	Bukit Batok Memorial Civilian War Memorial Early Founders Memorial Stone Former Indian National Army Monument Japanese Cemetery Park Kranji War Memorial Raffles' Landing Site SGH War Memorial The Cenotaph

Others	Clifford Pier Geylang Road Haw Par Villa Marina Barrage Merlion Merlion Park Orchard Road Singapore Flyer Singapore River The Helix Bridge

Singapore Tourism Board

Coordinates: 1°17′03.34″N 103°46′56.84″E / 1.2842611°N 103.7824556°E / 1.2842611; 103.7824556

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, September 08, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.