History
The park, originally called "Tiger Balm Gardens", was built in 1937 by brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the developers of Tiger Balm, as a venue for teaching traditional Chinese values. The site was purchased by Aw in 1935. The brothers are originally from Burma (Myanmar) and they were famed as the Tiger Balm Kings from Rangoon (Yangon), the former capital of present day Myanmar. The Aw brothers moved their business to Singapore in 1926 and achieved great heights. While expanding their business empire was important, Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par firmly believed that one should contribute to society. In 1988, the Singapore Tourism Board took over the running of the Tiger Balm Gardens and renamed it as Haw Par Villa Dragon World. The statues were restored while retaining the original flavour. Plays, acrobatic displays and puppet shows were also organised. However, visitors were charged entrance fees. The high fees discouraged the public and the management incurred a loss of S$31.5 million after 10 years of management. The gardens made money for the first year of operations after renovations in 1994, broke even in 1995 but lost money for the next 3 years and was forced to have free entry in 1998. In March 2001, the Singapore Tourism Board renamed it Tiger Balm Gardens and entrance fees dropped. Currently admission to the park is free every day from 0900h to 1900h.
Read more about this topic: Haw Par Villa
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