I’m sure that many of you have heard of or used tiger balm in the past. If not, tiger balm is an extremely useful ointment that when topically applied, can soothe muscle aches as well as decrease itchiness on bug bites. Tiger Balm has left a legacy due to its usefulness and unique packaging, design, and smell. Want to know how it all began? Read on!
In 1870, Aw Chu Kin (胡子钦), a Burmese Chinese herbalist founded his apothecary named Eng Aun Tong (Chinese: 永安堂; literally: “The Hall of Eternal Peace”). His vision was to sell and make known a unique herbal ointment which originated in the old imperial courts of China to relieve and soothe the body aches and pains of its users. Aw Chu Kin’s vision breathed new life into an old method but gained widespread popularity ass seen today. Aw Chu Kin had two sons, Aw Boon Haw (born 1882) and Aw Boon Par (born 1888). In 1892, Aw sent Boon-Haw to his grandfather’s village to be instructed in traditional Chinese medicinal methods while Boon-Par stayed in Rangoon to receive a British education. In 1908, father Chu Kin died, and business affairs were left to his younger son Boon-Par who then called his elder brother to run Eng Aun Tong together.
Boon Haw and Boon Par perfected and distributed their father’s effective and soon-to-be-famous recipe in all the Chinese shops all over their town in Rangoon, Myanmar. Boon Haw trademarked the salve with what else but his own name and Tiger Balm was born. In the beginning of the 20th century (1926), Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par started a new business brought Tiger Balm to Singapore. This store, the new Eun Aun Tong, was a massive success.
Today, Tiger Balm Company (Haw Par Corporation/虎豹企业有限公司), is among the strongest of public-listed companies in Singapore. People all over Asia frequently use this medicinal balm to treat a variety of issues, and it is loved because of its efficacy.
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I’ve heard of tiger balm before, but I never really knew its purpose. I would like to use some of that on pesky mosquito bites I always get. It would come in handy often. Also, I didn’t know that the creation of tiger balm had such an intricate history that dates as early as 1870. Boon Haw and Boon Par definitely did a great job perfecting the tiger balm recipe. I wonder what other companies besides that Haw Par Corporation produces tiger balm.
I have always known the name of Tiger Balm, but I have never actually used it before. However, reading about its benefits here makes me want to buy some. It’s history is especially fascinating to me. I like how an ointment originating from the teachings of traditional medicine is now such a widespread product being used. It was enjoyable to read how the two brothers kept their father’s recipe and distributed it all over Myanmar, and eventually setting up shop in Singapore.
Growing up, whenever I had an ache or pain, my mom would give me tiger balm as an almost magical healing cream. It is certainly something I’ve used before, and knew some of the benefits of. It is very interesting, however, to be able to read more about its orgin and other benefits. This was a very interesting article, and though I haven’t used it in a while, it makes me want to go and get it again! Keep it up.
I used to always use Tiger Balm to fix a lot of problems. I never knew the origins of it. I wonder how it fixes so much. Mosquito bites and stomach pain would be alleviated. Great Article!
This article was so interesting. I have never heard of Tiger Balm before so it was great learning something new about the Chinese culture. Reading this article definitely makes me want to try this special ointment. I also really enjoyed learning about the history of the family company. It is so great that this well-known company is flourishing despite the passing of their father, and the founder of the company. This was an amazing article, great job Jennifer!
I have seen tiger balm before, but I have not stopped to see what it actually was. I never knew where it came from. I want to even try it out myself after reading this article. The history is very interesting. Great article thank you for teaching me about this ointment.
My parents were crazy over Tiger Balm and made me use it for colds, fevers, stomach aches, and even for infections?? This really reminds me of when I was 6 or so since now I take medicine and not only Tiger Balm. However, this article even told me about the origins of it, but I still wonder how does it work! Nonetheless, I truly enjoyed the contents of this article Jennifer!
I have never heard of tiger balm before this article. If it is used for medical issues than what does it really affect? Do you just rub it on and it just starts working? How does an ointment affect so many parts of the body? I guess ill just have to try some out or something.
I have always had Tiger Balm in my house. It was everyone’s go to medicine and it is actually effective. What I didn’t know was the extensive history behind Tiger Balm. I had always thought it was a regular over the counter drug that chinese people prefer. This was a great article and very educational.
I have heard of Tiger Balm but I never used it before. It is so interesting to see how successful the Tiger Balm is towards healing aches and bug bites. Chinese medicine has always been a field filled with surprises. I am not surprised that it has such a complex history because everything in China arises from its rich history. One day I will definitely try it out!
Good article! I never knew this balm existed even though I lived in shanghai for many years. It’s success is attributed to it’s efficacy and its ability to heal a variety of problems and is also known to soothe muscle aches as well as decrease itchiness on bug bites. It’s cool to see how just one product could make this company so successful and make it one of the strongest of public-listed companies in Singapore.
Tiger balm is extremely useful to calm down itchy mosquito bites. Once I went on a friend’s trampoline at around 5 o’clock p.m on a breezy autumn afternoon and returned back inside her house to find 10 mosquito bites on each of my legs. Thankfully, she had some tiger balm at her house. It really helped to bring relief to my legs. I never knew that tiger balm was created such a long time ago. I’ve always thought it to be more of a recent creation. Thanks for the article.
Wow! I never imagined that the tiger balm had such a long extensive history. My parents use it a lot and usually recommend me to use it for sore spots on my body. Although the medicine smells, it works really well when you put it on. The history of the balm is very interesting and Aw Chu Kin must have been a very smart man to make this, A great article, keep up the good work!
I’ve always wondered what medicine my mom always put on my mosquito bites, aches, or pains. Now I know what it is! Tiger balm has such a unique aroma that whenever I smell it, I always think of China. It’s interesting that tiger balm was invented in the late 1800s, considering how it still holds up today against other modern medicine. There’s also a typo in the third sentence of the second paragraph you might want to change… but otherwise great article!
Great article! I’ve seen Tiger Balm in many stores, but I’ve never used it personally. I’ve heard from people that it actually works, and it works very well. Reading the history was very interesting. A medicine invented in the 1800s still working to this day is remarkable. If I have aches or pains, I know what I will be using. Awesome article!!
Amazing article!! I find this article very funny because my parents always recommend me to use tiger balm for everything. It was very cool to learn about how this effective medicine was formulated. I have always thought that tiger balm was a modern medicine but today, I learned tha is has been around for hundreds of years. In general, great article!!
Sadly, I’ve never heard this before, but this is really interesting. I imagine that this must be universally used in certain Chinese communities considering how many others in the comments have heard of this. Maybe it even has a household reputation to the level of band-aids. If so, I’m honestly surprised that I haven’t heard of Tiger Balm before. Maybe I’ll have to try it out someday, although I don’t really know where I can buy it.
This is a great article! I’ve always used tiger balm ever since I was little and it’s very effective. I had no idea that there was so much history behind tiger balm! I also had no clue that tiger balm was a Singaporean company.