Route 5 - Tai Hang Road (Tiger Balm Garden) - Tai Hang Road (Hong Kong Adventist Hospital)

Question 1

Route 5 - Points to mention
(Tai Hang Road (Tiger Balm Garden) - Tai Hang Road (Hong Kong Adventist Hospital)

2 bulletpoints - 7 minutes

Answer 1

1. Tiger Balm Garden (left)
2. Hong Kong Stadium (right)

Question 2

Tiger Balm Garden/Haw Par Mansion
0. Transition: (1)
1. Overview: (4)
2. Architecture: (3)
3. Interior Highlights: (5)
4. Key Attractions of Tiger Balm Garden: (6)
5. Demolition: (3)
6. Preservation: (5)

Answer 2

0. Transition: (1)
* We just passed by Haw Par Mansion on your upper left, easily recognized by its ivory stone façade, red brick walls, and glazed green tiled roof.

1. Overview: (4)
* Haw Par Mansion was built in 1935 by Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, famous Burmese-Chinese brothers who later moved to Singapore.
* The cost of the mansion and landscaped garden was an astounding HK$16 million, an enormous amount at the time.
* Their wealth came from a family medicine business, most famously the Tiger Balm remedy developed by their father.
* The mansion served as a private residence, while the adjacent Tiger Balm Garden was open to the public for leisure and education.

2. Architecture: (3)
* The mansion is designed in Chinese Renaissance style, combining traditional Chinese and Western architectural elements.
* It is a four-storey structure with a Western-style layout, featuring porches, fireplaces, and bay windows.
* Due to Hong Kong’s humid climate, the design includes arched corridors and shaded walkways for ventilation and protection against rain and typhoons.

3. Interior Highlights: (5)
* A circular Moon Gate at the main entrance offers a seamless view from the garden into the mansion, connecting indoors and outdoors.
* The ground floor included a dining room, living room, game room, music room, and reading room, with Chinese elements dominating the living space.
* Painted Italian glass windows brought color and elegance to the home.
* Gold-gilded carvings and mouldings enhanced its sense of luxury.
* Murals inspired by Indian and Burmese traditions adorned the walls, showcasing multicultural influences.

4. Key Attractions of Tiger Balm Garden: (6)
* The original Tiger Balm Garden spanned about 3.2 hectares (32,000 square meters).
* The garden was filled with murals, sculptures, grottos, and mini-waterfalls, creating a dreamlike Chinese landscape.
* The highlight was the Tiger Pagoda, a 48-meter-tall, seven-story hexagonal tower, once the only Chinese-style pagoda on Hong Kong Island.
* The garden’s themes combined Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian moral teachings with mythological storytelling.
* Some well-known scenes depicted included the 18 Levels of Buddhist Hell, the Cowherd and Weaver Girl, and the whimsical tale of The Pig and Rabbit Marriage.
* During colonial times, the garden was one of very few leisure parks accessible to the Chinese public.

5. Demolition: (3)
* In 1998, the family sold the land to Cheung Kong Holdings for HK$100 million.
* By 2004, the garden was demolished and replaced with a luxury residential development called The Legend.
* Fortunately, many sculptures and murals were salvaged by the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO).

6. Preservation: (5)
* While the garden was lost, the mansion itself was preserved.
* The AMO undertook restoration work to safeguard the mansion and its private garden.
* In 2019, it reopened as Haw Par Music, a cultural academy promoting Chinese and Western music.
* In December 2022, the music program ceased operations.
* By June 2023, the mansion reopened to the public, offering free guided tours, bookable via the AMO website.

Question 3

Hong Kong Stadium
1. Overview (1)
2. History (3)
3. Popular Events (3)
4. Limitations (3)
5. Future (4)
6. Other related Venues (6)

3:30 minutes

Answer 3

0. Transition: (1)
* To your right, you’ll possibly notice a silver-white dome-like structure—this is the iconic Hong Kong Stadium.

1. Overview: (1)
* The Hong Kong Stadium was, until recently, Hong Kong’s largest outdoor multi-purpose sports venue, with a capacity of 40,000 spectators.

2. History: (3)
* The site originally served as a burial ground for over 600 victims of the tragic 1918 Happy Valley Racecourse fire.
* It was first opened in 1952 as the Government Stadium, offering 28,000 seats to the public.
* After a major redevelopment, it reopened in 1994, expanding its capacity to 40,000 and becoming a landmark venue for sporting and entertainment events.

3. Popular Events: (4)
* During the 1960s and 70s, Hong Kong football enjoyed a golden era, drawing massive crowds—so much so that fans would climb nearby hills to catch a glimpse of sold-out matches.
* In 1996, over 31,000 fans packed the stadium for a First Division League match, setting a local attendance record.
* The stadium also became home to the world-famous Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament, held annually since 1976, typically in late March or early April.
* Notably, 2006 saw Hong Kong host the Sevens twice, a first in its history.

4. Limitations: (3)
* The government once aimed to turn the stadium into a concert venue to boost its rental income.
* In 1994, Alan Tam’s concert became one of the first major music events at the upgraded stadium, drawing immense attention—but also generating significant noise complaints from nearby residents.
* Due to the public backlash, strict noise control regulations were implemented, severely limiting the ability to host large-scale concerts, especially at night.

5. Future: (4)
* The newly opened Kai Tak Sports Park has overtaken Hong Kong Stadium as the city’s largest sports venue, featuring a 50,000-seat main stadium, a 10,000-seat indoor sports center, and a 5,000-seat public sports ground, all equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
* This year, the Hong Kong Sevens was successfully held at Kai Tak in late March.
* In April, the British band Coldplay played four sold-out concerts there, marking its emergence as a premier performance venue.
* According to the 2013 Policy Address, the government proposed converting Hong Kong Stadium into a more localized 10,000-seat district sports facility in the future.

6. Related Venues: (5)
* Other major performance venues in Hong Kong include:
* AsiaWorld-Expo,
* Hong Kong City Hall,
* Hong Kong Coliseum,
* Hong Kong Cultural Centre, and
* Queen Elizabeth Stadium.