Aw Chu Kin was a Burmese Chinese

Burmese Chinese

The Burmese Chinese or Chinese Burmese are a group of overseas Chinese born or raised in Burma . Although the Chinese officially make up three percent of the population, the actual figure is believed to be much higher...

 herbalist

Herbalist

An herbalist is:#A person whose life is dedicated to the economic or medicinal uses of plants.#One skilled in the harvesting and collection of medicinal plants ....

. He is best known as the original inventor of Tiger Balm

Tiger Balm

Tiger Balm is the trade name for a heat rub manufactured and distributed by Haw Par Healthcare in Singapore.- History :It was originally developed in the 1870s by a herbalist, Aw Chu Kin, in Rangoon, Burma, who asked his sons Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par on his deathbed to perfect the...

.

Aw Chu Kin's father was a Chinese herbology

Chinese herbology

Chinese Herbology is the theory of Traditional Chinese herbal therapy, which accounts for the majority of treatments in Traditional Chinese medicine ....

 practitioner in Xiamen

Xiamen

Xiamen , also known as Amoy , is a major city on the southeast coast of the People's Republic of China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city of Fujian province with an area of and population of 3.53 million...

 and an Hakka Chinese

Hakka people

The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....

 with ancestry in Yongding County . Being of a poor background, Aw Chu Kin first immigrated to Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 where he stayed at the kongsi

Kongsi

Kongsi or "clan halls", are benevolent organizations of popular origin found among overseas Chinese communities for individuals with the same surname. This type of social practice arose, it is held, several centuries ago in China...

of his clan. He then moved to Penang

Penang

Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...

 and started to work as a practitioner of Traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...

, known as a sinseh (先生) in Penang Hokkien

Penang Hokkien

Penang Hokkien is a local variant of Hokkien spoken in Penang, Malaysia. It is the lingua franca among the majority Chinese population in Penang as well as other northern states of Malaysia surrounding it, and is characterised by the pronunciation of words according to the Zhangzhou dialect,...

. Afterwards, he moved to Rangoon where, with the help of his uncle, founded his apothecary

Apothecary

Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....

 named Eng Aun Tong (永安堂, "The Hall of Eternal Peace") in 1870.

Aw Chu Kin got married in Rangoon. He had three sons, the eldest of whom, Boon Leng (Gentle/Refined Dragon) died young. He was survived by his two sons, Boon Haw

Aw Boon Haw

Aw Boon Haw, OBE was a Burmese Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for introducing Tiger Balm. He was the son of Hakka herbalist Aw Chu Kin, with his ancestral home in Yongding County, Fujian Province, China.-Biography:-Business:...

 (Gentle/Refined Tiger) and Boon Par

Aw Boon Par

Aw Boon Par was a Burmese Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for introducing Tiger Balm.He was the son of Hakka herbalist Aw Chu Kin. 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...

 (Gentle/Refined Leopard). In 1892, Aw sent Boon Haw to his grandfather's village to be instructed in traditional Chinese methods while Boon Par stayed in Rangoon to receive British education. He left his business to younger son Boon Par who then called his elder brother to run Eng Aun Tong together.

Sources

• Our Heritage Haw Par Corporation
  Haw Par Corporation
  Haw Par Corporation Limited is involved in healthcare and leisure products. It is the company responsible for Tiger Balm ointment. Its brands include Tiger, Kwan Loong and it also owns and operates weekend and leisure time destinations such as oceanariums and bowling centers.The Haw Par Group...
  
  website
• The Power of the Tiger Clarence Y K Ngui, Malaysian Business, 1 July 2003
• Hong Kong apothecary: a visual history of Chinese medicine packaging Simon Go, Princeton Architectural Press, 2003
• 胡文虎父女的汕頭緣