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Haw Par Villa, Singapore
Haw Par Villa (Chinese: 虎豹別墅; pinyin: Hǔ Bào Biéshù) is a theme park located along Pasir Panjang Road in 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. During the 1970s and 1980s, the park was a major local attraction; it is estimated that the park then welcomed at least 1 million annual visitors, and is considered as part of Singapore's cultural heritage. As of 2018, under the park operator Journeys, efforts to revitalise the park are ongoing with the holding of themed events and the planning and construction of ancillary museums.
Burmese-Chinese brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the developers of Tiger Balm, moved their business from Burma to Singapore in 1926. The site, which is in front of a small hill and faces the Singapore Strait, was deemed suitable based on considerations of feng shui, and was purchased in 1935. Between 1937 and his death in 1954 (when the park was declared public property), Boon Haw commissioned statues and dioramas in the park that served to teach traditional Chinese values.
In the 1950s and 1960s, before the advent of television and shopping malls, the park was a popular recreational destination for Singaporean families. Many Singaporean adults, in a 1995 survey, reported memories of visiting the park as a child and learning about Chinese folk history and morality.
The figurine of Wu Song slaying the tiger at Haw Par Villa theme park. Wu Song was also one of the hero in the Chinese classic 'Water Margin'
Built in 1937 by the entrepreneurial and charismatic Aw Boon Haw, Haw Par Villa is the quintessential house of Chinese folklore. Described by various visitors as "fascinating, delightful, bizarre and entertaining", Haw Par Villa is like no other place in the world in the old days.
Statues and figurines replicate Chinese mythology characters like the Laughing Buddha and the Fu Lu Shou (Taoist deities). A must-see exhibit is the Ten Courts of Hell, featuring the ten steps of judgement before reincarnation. Literal and leaving nothing to the imagination, the statues and sets immortalise moral values and Chinese cultural heritage for generations to come.
Unfortunately, today there seems to be lack of interest as a tourist destination.
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Tourist girl takes a picture with an exhibit at Haw Par Villa, Singapore.
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From Wikipedia:
Haw Par Villa (Chinese: 虎豹别墅) 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 illustrating various aspects of Confucianism. These include The Laughing Buddha, The Goddess of Mercy, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and most famously The Ten Courts of Hell, a depiction of a gruesome underworld of tortures and torments set in the mouth of a 60-meter-long dragon.
The park, originally called "Tiger Balm Gardens", was constructed in 1937 by the brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the developers of Tiger Balm, as a venue for teaching traditional Chinese values. The Aw family eventually sold the Gardens to the Singapore Tourism Board in 1979.
Entry to the park has been free since 1996, while previously a S$16 entrance fee was charged and a Chinese Heritage Centre has been constructed within its grounds.
The park is in a run down state.
The dioramas display is a Chinese legend in the Tang Dynasty on the romance between a snake fairy, Bai Shu Zhen, and a mortal scholar.
Fat Buddha.... it's lucky to rub the stomach ! Go on, you know you want to.....
Haw Par Villa, Singapore
Built in 1937 by the entrepreneurial and charismatic Aw Boon Haw, Haw Par Villa is the quintessential house of Chinese folklore. Described by various visitors as "fascinating, delightful, bizarre and entertaining", Haw Par Villa is like no other place in the world in the old days.
Statues and figurines replicate Chinese mythology characters like the Laughing Buddha and the Fu Lu Shou (Taoist deities). A must-see exhibit is the Ten Courts of Hell, featuring the ten steps of judgement before reincarnation. Literal and leaving nothing to the imagination, the statues and sets immortalise moral values and Chinese cultural heritage for generations to come.
Unfortunately, today there seems to be lack of interest as a tourist destination.