CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Aw Boon Par

Singaporean businessman

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 17, 2025
Entity authorityQ15995841
Source-derived summary

Aw Boon Par (Chinese: 胡文豹; pinyin: Hú Wénbào; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hô͘ Bûn-pà; 1888–1944) was an entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for introducing Tiger Balm.

He was a son of Hakka herbalist Aw Chu-Kin. Aw was born during the British colonial rule. His father left the business 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, Eng Aun Tong ("The Hall of Eternal Peace") together.

Although Aw wished to stay in Yangon, his brother who had settled in Singapore 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 to manage the business from there, while Boon-Par stayed in Singapore to run the factory. Eventually, Aw closed the factory down, returned to Rangoon, and died there.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Aw Boon Par” as singaporean businessman. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Boon, Singaporean and businessman.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1888, 1944, 1908, 1926—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1888. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Boon, Singaporean and businessman providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Aw Boon Par”, the useful work is to connect “singaporean businessman” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 17, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q15995841. VIAF identifies the subject as 8342158070689008780001. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1888, 1944, 1908 and 1926.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Aw Boon Par”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Aw Boon Par primary sources, Aw Boon Par archive and Boon research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Aw Boon Par”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Aw Boon Par” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.