The weird and the wonderful of Haw Par Villa

Haw Par Villa is a theme park in Singapore`s Pasir Panjang Road. It hosts over 1,000 statues and 150 giant, three-dimensional full-size models, depicting scenes from Chinese mythology, folklore, legends, history, and illustrations of various aspects of Confucianism.

Attractions include giant models of scenes from the Legend of the White Snake, statues of mythological figures such as the Laughing Buddha, the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, and others.

 

 

Locals told me that as children, they were brought here to learn about traditional Chinese values, but were frightened by some of the vivid scenes, especially in the Ten Courts of Hell, which features ghastly depictions of Hell in Chinese mythology and Buddhism.