Last weekend we went to the Haw Par Villa here in Singapore - also known as the Tiger Balm Gardens. The Aw brothers, Boon Haw and Boon 
Par (who made their fortune from the well-known Tiger Balm ointment) opened the park in 1937. It is inspired by Chinese legend and mythology as represented by the display of grotesque and gaudy statues, the coup de grâce of which are depicted in The Ten Courts of Hell. These exhibits feature the ten steps of judgement before reincarnation. The statues are very literal and leaves no room for imagination - VERY gruesome. 
Par (who made their fortune from the well-known Tiger Balm ointment) opened the park in 1937. It is inspired by Chinese legend and mythology as represented by the display of grotesque and gaudy statues, the coup de grâce of which are depicted in The Ten Courts of Hell. These exhibits feature the ten steps of judgement before reincarnation. The statues are very literal and leaves no room for imagination - VERY gruesome. 
This entertainment park was built with the purpopse of teaching and preserving Chinese values and cultural heritage. The park's colorful collection of over 1,000 statues and 150 giant tableaux centers around Chinese folklore, legends, history, and Confucian ideology. Morality tales includes classic battles between good and evil and tributes to Chinese cultural heroes. To me they just bordered on being really bizarre. 
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