When Haw Par Villa reopened in July, I vowed to revisit it with anthropological precision.
This was harder than I thought, as many of the sculptures have limited explanation, despite the new museum room detailing the lives of the Aw brothers, who founded Tiger balm and this park.
Also, the park has a medley of mythical creatures, moralistic lessons, animals, and themes. I believe the above is where Bali meets the muppets.
Haw Par Villa is about learning important Chinese lessons and morals, right otters (above), and, um, scary blob below?
I have always been surprised at how empty Haw Par Villa is, especially given how instagrammable it is. I assume that this is because many adults were traumatized by this place as children.
Let's start in the waterworld part.
Here, there is a tale of a giant shipwreck where everyone drowns.
You can already see the childhood trauma potential, but that's not the lesson.
Two suspicious notes: Wang Qing seems to be having a party for one onboard the tortoise as everyone drowns, which doesn't seem too kind. Secondly, a suspiciously similar looking tortoise is engaged in dealings in another scene. I don't know what's going on with the sketchy deer, fox, rabbit, rat, and weird poster, but it seems that the fox is married to the rabbit in a potentially carnivorous relationship, and I suspect the tortoise of being part of this underworld.
There are repeated themes in the park about consent, and I don't think this rat was feeling like having her cheek pinched by piggy pants.
A surprisingly curvaceous chicken seems to be making similar appeals, in what might be a fowl love triangle? There is definitely a lesson on consent here.
Finally, a diorama that is explained! Here, the lesson is chubbiness is good, which is recurrent in Chinese culture. Emperor Kang Xi had a less successful twin brother, and to prevent harm from happening to him, he ordered him weighed daily and the staff punished if he lost weight. Sounds like a good gig.
