Aw Boon Par (; 1888–1944) was an

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

best known for introducing Tiger Balm. He was a son of

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

herbalist Herbal medicine (also called herbalism, phytomedicine or phytotherapy) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. Scientific evidence for the effectiveness of many herbal treatments ...

Aw Chu-Kin.Beverland, Michael (2009) ''Building Brand Authenticity: 7 Habits of Iconic Brands'' Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England
page 91
Aw was born during the British colonial rule. His father left the

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

to Boon-Par and after Aw Chu-Kin's death in 1908, he called his elder brother Aw Boon-Haw to run his father's

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is an Early Modern English, archaic English term for a medicine, medical professional who formulates and dispenses ''materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in Brit ...

, Eng Aun Tong ("The Hall of Eternal Peace") together. Although Aw wished to stay in Yangon, his brother who had settled in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Go, Simon (2003) ''Hong Kong apothecary: a visual history of Chinese medicine packaging'' Princeton Architectural Press, New York, page 198, in 1926 convinced him to immigrate, move the family business, and found the precursor of today's Haw Par Corporation. Boon-Haw moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

to manage the

from there, while Boon-Par stayed in

to run the

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

. Eventually, Aw closed the

down, returned to

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

, and died there.

Notes

References

* King, Sam (1992) ''Tiger Balm King'' Times Books International, Singapore,
胡文虎

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aw Boon Par 1888 births 1944 deaths 20th-century Singaporean businesspeople Burmese people of Chinese descent People from Yongding District, Longyan Immigrants to British Malaya People from British Burma 20th-century Burmese businesspeople Aw family Pharmaceutical company founders