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Chinese Diasporic Culture and National Identity: The Taming of the Tiger Balm Gardens in Singapore

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2006

JIANLI HUANG  and
LYSA HONG
JIANLI HUANG
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
LYSA HONG
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
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Abstract

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The Tiger Balm Gardens or Haw Par Villa, built in the 1930s by overseas Chinese pharmaceuticals tycoon Aw Boon Haw, has been and remains a symbol of the positioning of Singapore's Chineseness. In the colonial era, it marked the success not only of one man but also of the Chinese migrant community. In the later period of nation-building, it was initially considered as a challenge to multiracialism and nationhood. However, as state policy shifted towards an ethnicized cultural identity as prompted by the rise of Asia as a major economic force, especially China, the Villa was renovated first into an orientalized theme park and then resuscitated as the repository of diasporic Chinese entrepreneurship. Amidst these state initiatives, the history of the Villa and its founder were sidelined.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 41 - 76
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

Footnotes

We wish to thank Wong Poh Poh, Leander Seah and Edna Tan for their assistance to our research. An earlier version of this article, ‘Reflections on Chinese Diasporic Culture: The Tiger Balm Gardens in Singapore and Hong Kong’ by Huang Jianli, was presented at the HKU-NUS Joint Workshop on Hong Kong and Singapore in History: A Comparative Study, Hong Kong, 4–5 December 2003.