Haw Par Villa

Haw Par Villa (zh-c|c=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.

History

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.

The park was renamed Haw Par Villa in 1985 and re-opened in 1990, when it was converted into an amusement park and promoted with the name "Dragon World", with many of the statues and scenes replaced with fairground rides. However this new incarnation proved unpopular when attendances started to decline and Fraser and Neave, which had 75% stake in the theme park, started seeing losses. More recently many of the old features have been replaced, such as the dragon ride. Some of the statues have also been moved to the Chinese Gardens.

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. Many of the water ponds are covered with algae.

External links

* [http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/what_to_see/themed___other_attractions/haw_par_villa.html Uniquely Singapore website]
* [http://www.legendcure.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4&Itemid=16 The Aw Boon Haw Family Business]