Zhongchuan Village

Fujian


This is the ancestral home of the Burmese-Chinese businessman Aw Boon Haw, inventor of the medicinal salve Tiger Balm and owner of (in)famously quirky Haw Par Villa theme park in Singapore. Here you’ll find another villa, but its scale and decor can’t compete with its Singaporean (big) sister. More interesting is his family’s ancestral hall (胡氏家庙, Húshì Jiāmiào), 100m behind the villa. The shrine, the spear-like pillars that celebrate the achievements of their family members, and the setting itself are spectacular.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Fujian attractions

1. Haw Par Villa

0.06 MILES

The Tiger Balm magnate built three museums, in Singapore, Hong Kong and here, his birthplace. The photos and newspaper clippings of the founder's family…

2. Jíqìng Lóu

1.34 MILES

This 600-year-old tǔlóu was built without using a single nail and is still pretty intact. It now houses an exhibition hall.

3. Soviet Department Store Building

9.97 MILES

This weather-beaten, three-storey building just opposite Chayang Guesthouse (茶陽賓館, Cháyáng Bīnguăn) was a department store built in the 1950s with Soviet…

5. Yǎnxiāng Lóu

10.13 MILES

This lesser-visited and commercialised four-storey tǔlóu rises up beautifully next to a river.

6. Xuan Villa

10.32 MILES

Foreboding and beautiful Xuan Villa was built in 1936 by a wealthy Malaysian-Chinese member of a secret society tied to Sun Yatsen. Parts of the building…

7. Huánjí Lóu

10.42 MILES

Sitting midway between Yongding and Nanjing County, this four-storey building is a huge roundhouse with inner concentric passages, tiled interior passages…

8. Fúyù Lóu

11.44 MILES

Along the river, this five-storey square tǔlóu boasts some wonderfully carved wooden beams and pillars. Rooms are available here at the Changdi Inn.