Route 5 - Tai Hang Road (Tiger Balm Garden) - Tai Hang Road (Hong Kong Adventist Hospital) Flashcards
Route 5 - Points to mention
(Tai Hang Road (Tiger Balm Garden) - Tai Hang Road (Hong Kong Adventist Hospital)
2 bulletpoints - 7 minutes
- Tiger Balm Garden (left)
- Hong Kong Stadium (right)
Tiger Balm Garden & Haw Par Mansion - Bulletpoints to Mention (6)
- Overview
- Architecture
- Interior Highlights
- Key Attractions of the Tiger Balm Garden
- Demolition
- Preservation
Tiger Balm Garden/Haw Par Mansion
We will soon pass by Haw Par Mansion with its façade built from ivory stones and red bricks, topped with glazed green tiles.
1. Overview: (4)
* Built: 1935 by Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, famous Burmese-Chinese entrepreneurs who later moved to Singapore.
* Cost of the landscaped garden and mansion: HK$16 million — a massive fortune at the time.
* Origin of Wealth: The brothers inherited the family business from their father who had developed popular medicines like the well-known Tiger Balm.
* The brothers built this mansion as their private family residence with the adjacent Tiger Balm Garden open to the public.
2. Architecture: (2)
* Style: Chinese Renaissance — fusion of Eastern and Western design.
* Structure: 4-storey mansion with symmetrical Western-style floor plan, porches, fireplaces, and bay windows.
* Because of Hong Kong’s humid subtropical climate, with heavy rainfall and frequent typhoons, the mansion was designed with arched corridors and shaded walkways for better ventilation and protection from the elements.
3. Interior Highlights: (5)
* The main entrance features a circular Moon Gate, allowing verdant scenic garden views to blend into the villa’s interior.
* The ground floor housed (5) a dining room, game room, living room, music room, and reading room. The living room especially featured a strong Chinese aesthetic.
* Imported Italian painted glass windows,
Gold-gilded carvings and mouldings, and
* Indian & Burmese-inspired murals, all added to the mansion’s splendour.
* The mansion is well preserved and maintains the original design with minimal changes.
4. Key Attractions of Tiger Balm Garden (6):
* The original garden covered around 3,2 hectare/32.000 sqm.
* The unforgettable garden in Chinese Renaissance style, was filled with all types of murals and sculptures amid artificial grottos and mini-waterfalls.
* Outstanding Tiger Pagoda: 48-meter-tall, 7-storey white hexagonal tower. Once the only Chinese-style tower on HK Island. Believed to have been created by a skilled Panyu artisan from Guangzhou.
* Its installations reflected Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian morals, with murals and reliefs that depicted scenes of the Chinese mythical underworld and Chinese folklore, amongst others.
* The 18 level of Buddhist hell, the Cowherd and Weaver Girl, and the Pig & Rabbit Marriage were colorful and lifelike.
* Community Impact: One of the few accessible leisure parks for Hong Kong’s Chinese population during colonial times.
5. Demolition (3):
* 1998: The family sold the land to Cheung Kong Holdings for HK$100 million.
* 2004: Sadly, Tiger Balm Garden was demolished for a luxury residential development (called “The Legend”).
* Many of the garden’s murals and statues were salvaged by the AMO, though.
6. Preservation: (5)
* Mansion was spared and
* The Hong Kong Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) was responsible for preserving and restoring the Haw Par Mansion and its private garden as a museum.
* In 2019: Revitalized into Haw Par Music, a music academy promoting Chinese and Western music.
* In Dec 2022: Operations of the music academy ceased.
* In June 2023: Reopened to the public with free guided tours, bookable via the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) website.
Hong Kong Stadium - Topics to Mention (7)
- Overview: (2)
- History: (3)
- Significance: (1)
- Regular Events: (6)
- Limitations: (1)
- Future: (4)
- Related Venues: (5)
Hong Kong Stadium
1. Overview (1)
2. History (3)
3. Popular Events (3)
4. Limitations (3)
5. Future (4)
6. Other related Venues (6)
On the right side, you will notice a silver-white dome-like structure.
1. Overview: (1)
* This belongs to the Hong Kong Stadium, which was, until recently, Hong Kong’s largest outdoor multi-purpose sports venue, accommodating up to 40,000 spectators.
2. History: (3)
* Originally, it was a burial ground for more than 600 victims of the 1918 Happy Valley Racecourse fire.
* Opened in 1952 as Government Stadium with a seating capacity of 28,000.
* Reconstructed and reopened in 1994, expanding to its current capacity of 40,000.
3. Popular Events: (3)
* Golden Age (1960s–70s): Football was very popular in Hong Kong at the time, and it was often played at the stadium, attracting a large number of spectators. Fans even climbed hills when tickets sold out.
* In 1996, the Hong Kong First Division Football League was held at the Hong Kong Stadium, with more than 31,000 fans in attendance, setting a record for the highest attendance in Hong Kong football at that time.
* Since 1976, the Hong Kong Sevens, a three-day International rugby tournament hosted by the Hong Kong Rugby Union, has been held annually in late March/early April.
* In 2006, Hong Kong hosted the Rugby Sevens twice.
4. Limitations: (3)
* The government hoped to use the stadium for music concerts to increase rental income.
* Alan Tam’s 1994 concert, one of the first major entertainment events at the newly expanded Hong Kong Stadium, drew a huge crowd and massive public attention — but also sparked serious complaints from nearby residents due to the noise levels.
* As a result of the public outcry, the Hong Kong government implemented strict noise control measures, making it extremely difficult to hold large-scale concerts at night.
5. Future: (4)
* The Kai Tak Sports Park, which opened this year, is now Hong Kong’s largest sports venue. It features a 50,000-seat main stadium, a 10,000-seat indoor sports centre, and a 5,000-seat public sports ground, equipped with state of the art technology.
* The Hong Kong Sevens Rugby Tournament was first held at the end of March.
* The British band Coldplay played there for four concerts in April.
* As the new sports park becomes the primary venue for major events, the future role of the existing Hong Kong Stadium is under consideration. At the 2013 policy address, the then Chief Excecutive announced that the Hong Kong Stadium would be turned into a 10,000-capacity district sports arena.
6. Related Venues: (5)
Other major performance spaces in HK:
* AsiaWorld-Expo,
* Hong Kong City Hall,
* Hong Kong Coliseum,
* Hong Kong Cultural Centre, and
* Queen Elizabeth Stadium.
