Tiger Balm (Aw Boon Haw) Gardens

Fondly parodied as the “Chinese Disneyland”, the Tiger Balm (Aw Boon Haw) Gardens in Hong Kong is a place housing an assortment of figurines, statues and other pieces of art that are closely and strongly related with the Chinese culture. The garden is well known under two names; one is “Aw Boon Haw gardens” and the other name is “Tiger Balm Gardens”. However, both names boil down to the same thing. Commissioned by Aw Boon Haw, magnate of the Chinese one-balm-cures-all ‘Tiger Balm', the Tiger Balm (Aw Boon Haw) Gardens in Hong Kong is one of the three Tiger Balm gardens in the world. All these gardens were built by the same family, and were meant to promote the sale of Tiger Balm.

Named after Aw Boon Haw, whose name translates as ‘Gentle Tiger', he was the founder of the Tiger Balm empire. The entire Tiger Balm (Aw Boon Haw) Gardens in Hong Kong stands on a site spread across 7.5 acres of land in the Wai Chai District of Hong Kong. The project was completed in the year 1935 and was opened to the common people no earlier than the early 1950s and is Hong Kong's earliest theme parks. The construction of the park cost Aw Boon Haw an approximate of 16,000,000 Hong Kong Dollars, and comprises of an assortment of diverse representations and forms of Chinese art. The leisure park also has the Haw Par Mansion within its premises. The Haw Par mansion within the Tiger Balm (Aw Boon Haw) Gardens in Hong Kong was the residence of the owner of the gardens. It has now been declared as a ‘Historical Building'. The mansion houses plenty of relics that are remnant of the ‘Chinese Renaissance'. In fact, the architecture of the mansion building is also typical of the renaissance era of China. The other important feature of the mansion is the fact the fact that it contains an exhibit of Aw Boon Haw's Jade collection. However, prior permission must be obtained from the Hong Kong Tourist Association to get a glimpse of these beautiful treasures.

Apart from the mansion, the Tiger Balm (Aw Boon Haw) Gardens in Hong Kong also has several plaster statues of dragons, Chinese mythological animals also made of plaster, religious figurines, caves and grottos. Amidst this anomalous collection of art and kitsch stands a stately white pagoda, 165 feet tall, which is a cynosure of all eyes. After the garden was sold off to the Cheung Kong company by its owners, most of the garden was remodeled into a residential complex; that is until the Hong Kong government intervened and an agreement was reached upon that the mansion and certain other heritage structures would be preserved.