The Tiger Balm Garden

The Tiger Balm Garden was one of the most famous garden in Hong Kong in the 1940's and 1950's. It was built by Aw Boon Haw, who was known as "The King of Tiger Balm". The Garden was built in order to advertise their products and as a way to have contribution to the community.

Hong Kong Tigerbalm Garden 1949-60

The Tiger Balm Garden was open to the public for enjoyment without charging any admission fee. That attracted many local visitor as most of the Hong Konger at that time are quite poor and did not have much leisure activities. The Tiger Balm Garden is one of the collective memory of the middle-aged Hong Kong people.

The colorful murals statues in the Gardens are based on the ancient Buddhist stories and legends. They are all full of Chinese national features. Mr. Aw tried using these cautionary tales to advise the idea of 'one good turn deserves another'. There were totally 29 points of visit in the Garden, and the most famous are "Tiger Tower" and "eighteen layers of hell". "Tiger Tower" was a seventh floor pagoda and was the only one in Hong Kong. The "eighteen layers of hell" described the different situations in hell, such as cutting the tongue, cutting something in half, putting in hot oil, etc. These murals were certainly unforgettable for those visitors.

Next to the Tiger Balm Garden, there are a private garden and the Haw Par Mansion, which were also built by Aw Boon Haw. The Haw Par Mansion as well as its private garden were originally the private mansion for the Aw's family.

Architecturally, the Mansion was built in the Chinese Renaissance style with a blend of Western and Chinese construction methods and architectural theory. The plan is, however, more Western being roughly symmetrical with the adoption of porches, bay windows and fireplaces. Internally, there are beautiful painted glass windows from Italy, carvings and mouldings, gilded with gold and murals showing Indian and Burmese influence. Wihout many changes to the Mansion over the years, the Mansion retains its authentic appearance as before.The social value and local interest lie in the Mansion's image of a residence of a rich and powerful merchant family in the 1930s and a focal point of Chinese culture in Hong Kong.

However, in the late 1990's, both the Haw Par Mansion and the Tiger Balm Garden were sold to the Cheung Kong Group and stopped open to the publid. In 2004, The Tiger Balm Garden were even demolished to build new luxury houses. The famous "Tiger Tower" and "eighteen layers of hell" have all gone. Luckily, under the hard work of the government, the Haw Par Mansion is preserved and will be re-open to the public in 30/10, 31/10, 5-7/11, 13/11 and 14/11. Interested visitors can reminisce their old memories and provide their own opinion on revitalization of the Mansion.

The Garden under demolished









The Masion being preseved










Opening hour: 10am to 4pm in 30/10, 31/10, 5-7/11, 13/11 and 14/11


檢視較大的地圖

A heritage in Wanchai - Blue House

Since Wanchai is one of the important sites for urban renewal, what will be the fate of "Blue House" when facing large-scale redevelopment plan? How to attain a balance between economic development and urban conservation is a big issue that deserves our deep thoughts.

"Blue House" is a hot topic lately. If I ask you to think a heritage in Hong Kong, most of the people may not think "Blue House" first.
But "Blue House" is a heritage certainty. "Blue House" located at 72 Stone Nullah Lane in Wanchai. It is a pre-war building with more than seventy years of history that shows architectural characteristics of both Chinese and Western styles.

Where does the name of "Blue House" come from?
"Blue House" is named from the brilliant blue color painted on its external walls. The workers of the Lands Department only got blue paint during the period of repairing work, so it was used to renovate the external wall at the time.






Many of the internal structures like purlin, staircase, railing are still preserved in their authentic wooden fabric. There are still residents living inside and some of them have to share the kitchen. Since there is no flushing toilet facility inside the building, it still needs the service of "Tao Ye Heung" (somebody helps to remove the excrement from the building every night).

There are a video that is film a "Blue House" resident:




Sources:
Antiquities and Monuments Office, Leisure and Cultural Services Department
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tjELpF7cu0&feature=related
www.mingpao.com

Gloden Age Tour( Part 1)

Who said less heritages in Hong Kong? The Tourism Board has previous promotion the Golden age tour for tourist enjoyable. The Golden age tour included Western Market, Hollywood Road, Upper Lascar Row and Central Police Station. The tour almost spead your almost a half day. I believe you should prepare the bottle of water and insect repellent, because of it is you can do more exercise in this tour!


First station, Western Market, was declared a historical monument .This Edwardian-style building was built in 1906 as an extension of the then existing Western Market. It was the former site of Harbour Office that had been moved to a reclamation area in Central District for a larger space to cope with its increasing workload.


















Leaveing the Western Market, we could go to Bonham Street, the other name is Ginseng & Nest Street. It is special street is buy Chinese health food.Chinese people believe Ginseng could keep your body fit and healty;nest is woman favourable for keep beauty.
















Is it special? It is so differcult to see this in modern area. In 1950-1980, Chinese people go to this shop when they are buy the rice. Nowaday, current people go to supermarket to buy package.






How to go:
MTR –
Sheung Wan A2
Bus – 1,2,3A,4,5,7,10,18,26,37,43,71,88,90,,91,94,101,104,109,111,115,182,619,641,720

Downland the map::
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/things-to-do/artmap.html



By Renee Lam

My experience in the Ping Shan Heritage Trail(Part 1)

Have you travel heritage trail before?
If no, I think Ping Shan Heritage Trail is worth to introduce to all of you!
Although I think it should have some improvements, there are combinations of heritage, culture and histiry of Tang Clan which is the one of the “Five Great Clans” in the New Territories.
First of all, I want to introduce Tsui Sing Lau Pagoda because it has a story.
It was built to avoid evil spirits from the north, prevent floods and help the Tangs win a title in the imperial examination.
However, there are 7 floors at the begining.
It is reduced to 3 floors only because of erosion.
According to Fung Shui, the Tang Clan believed that it determined which scholars were to pass examinations and receive titles in the pass.
Now I stop here and I will start my second post soon!=)

Everything happens for a reason

When talking about petroglyphs, people will asked that “Who made it?” or “How did they do?”, but I just want to know “Why did they make it”. In this post, I am going to show you the rock carving on Po Toi Island.

There had long been a local legend among the fisher folk of the existence of several rock carvings on Po Toi Island. Finally, groups of carvings were found at the southern part of Po Toi in the 1960's. They are of different motifs and separated by a rock fracture 70cm wide. One group on the left consists of lines resembling stylized animal and fish patterns, while the other on the right is composed of spirals in an inter-locking arrangement.

In fact, not only Po Toi Island but also we found it everywhere in Hong Kong, most rock carvings are situated on a headland embracing the beautiful bay. There is some evidence that early inhabitants who created these carvings depended on the sea for their livelihood. The carvings might have been intended to propitiate the power of the sea and to protect its sea-faring population. But Actually, there is no one knows the reason at all. And I think the rock carvings maybe represent some meaning in their mind.

For visitors going to Po Toi Island, you may take the privately-owned ferry in Aberdeen. The ferry service is operated only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Enquiries on ferry schedule can be acquired at 2272 2022.


View Larger Map

Sources:
http://www.heritage.gov.hk/en/index.htm
http://www.english.cciv.cityu.edu.hk/blog/
http://www.amo.gov.hk/b5/index.php