The Tiger Balm Gardens was built in the Pasir Panjang area in 1937 by Aw Boon Haw, a prominent businessman and philanthropist whose name became synonymous with Tiger Balm, the renowned analgesic ointment in Southeast Asia. The garden was built on the grounds of Aw’s hillside villa, and started as a simple park with rock structures. It eventually grew to house more than 1000 sculptures and 150 dioramas in a fantastical setting, mainly inspired by Chinese folklore, myths, popular religion and later on, even cultures of the world, though the main objective was probably to reinforce the importance of traditional Chinese values such as filial piety and loyalty.
