Hong Kong: Rise of the Kings

"Mr. Du, this is the famous Haw Par Villa in Hong Kong! It is also known as Tiger Balm Garden!"

A bald real estate agent wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked in front, introducing Du Dapao and Du Yongxiao.

Behind, her mother Li Cuilian followed with her second son Du Yongshun and youngest daughter Du Yongmei, looking left and right.

Du Yongxiao originally planned to live in a villa near Peak Road.

I don’t know who Du Dapao heard from who said that there is a famous Haw Par Villa for sale in Sham Shui Po. The owners of this villa are Nanyang rich man Hu Wenhu and Hu Wenbao brothers.

The Hu brothers were originally from Fujian and were born in Yangon, Myanmar in 1882. His father, Hu Huqin, is an old Chinese medicine practitioner living in Myanmar. He opened Yongan Tang in Yangon, mainly selling tiger balm.

The Haw Par brothers also had an older brother, Hu Wenlong, but Hu Wenlong died young, so the Tiger Balm empire only had the Haw Par brothers.

In 1908, after their father passed away, brothers Haw Pao inherited Yong An Tang. Brother Bao was responsible for product research and development and upgrading the formula of the signature Tiger Balm, while brother Hu was responsible for production and sales.

Brothers are of the same mind, and their strength can cut through gold. In 1918, the Hu family of Yong'antang was already the richest man in Yangon.

And in 1923, the Hu brothers made an important decision to let Tiger Balm break out of Myanmar and go to Asia!

Singapore was the Hu brothers’ first destination. However, opening up new markets is not an easy task. When Tiger Balm first landed in Singapore, pharmacies controlled by local companies were unwilling to purchase goods from the Hu brothers. So the brothers succeeded by surprise and gradually occupied the market by advertising.

In the following years, not only did Tiger Balm gain a firm foothold in Singapore, the Hu brothers' business also successfully expanded to Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

In order to show his status as a tycoon among tycoons, Boss Hu started to do things, one of which was to build Haw Par Villas in Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China.

Although the boss Hu Wenhu grew up in Myanmar, he was expelled from an English school for being too stubborn when he was a child. He attended a Chinese private school since he was a child and is an avid lover of traditional Chinese culture. Therefore, the functions of this villa also include but are not limited to promoting traditional Chinese culture. , especially the traditional Chinese ethics.

In order to build Haw Par Villa in Hong Kong, Boss Hu specially brought the team that built Haw Par Villa from Singapore to Hong Kong, and he himself served as the chief designer.

Design blueprint? Haha, it doesn't exist. Boss Hu himself is the blueprint. Boss Hu would visit the construction site every day and tell the workers what new tricks he wanted, from what kind of carving to what color to paint, Boss Hu did it all! All of them! Ask them one by one!

It took almost three to five years before this villa was completed, which is the super-large villa in front of us covering an area of ​​tens of thousands of feet.

Du Dapao especially admired these two legendary "Taiwan Oil Kings" when he was in the Mainland.

It is said that in order to sell "Tiger Balm", the two brothers changed their private car into a tiger car and changed the car horn into a tiger roar.

In addition, Hu Wenhu wears tiger and leopard pattern suits or leather jackets all year round, and he does not forget to advertise his own brand when attending events.

It can be said that the Hu brothers have always been Du Dapao's idols.

During the years when Du Dapao was selling soap, he always adhered to the Hu brothers' saying that "being able to do business is only half, being able to spend money on advertising is the first" as a business philosophy.

For this reason, Du Dapao also frantically advertised his own brand when selling soap. It was a pity that he did not have a car at that time, otherwise he would definitely make his private car a "soap type".

Du Dapao clasped his hands behind his back and listened to the bald manager's introduction, looking exactly like the head of the family.

Du Yongxiao followed behind, but he didn't say much. He looked up at the gate of the villa. There was a huge archway, which can be described in two words - ostentatious!

A couplet on the archway is even more ostentatious!

First couplet: Thousands of waters converge, and the silver waves around the sea are seen;

Second line: We enjoy the golden bottles together, and the emerald green flowers on the front mountain show their eyebrows.

Hengpi: I am the Ten Thousand Gold Tiger King, oh! Ouch! Ouch!

Du Yongxiao frowned after reading the couplet.

The bald manager is a smart man, and he could tell at a glance that Du Dapao was just pretending, and Du Yongxiao was the leading male lead, so he hurriedly explained: "You two, don't look at the expression of thoughts in Haw Par Villa, which is always straightforward, simple, and simple. There are several things in it." The couplet on the plaque was written by Yu Dafu."

"Yu Dafu?" Du Yongxiao frowned.

Du Dapao: "Who is Yu Dafu? He also sells tiger balm? Or sells soap like me?"

The bald manager smiled awkwardly and explained: "Yu Dafu writes novels."

Du Dapao clasped his hands behind his back and nodded: "Oh, let's write a novel! I like to read both "The Condor" and "The Condor"!"

The bald agent couldn't be more embarrassed: "He was a litterateur during the Republic of China."

"Oh, it's so early, what a pity!"

The bald manager was afraid that Du Dapao would say something "ground-breaking" again, so he hurriedly said: "In order to compete with Nanyang Siang Pau, the richest man in Nanyang, Tan Kah Kee, Hu Wenhu created a series of newspapers such as Sin Chew Daily, especially Hired Yu Dafu as the editor-in-chief of the literary section of Sin Chew Daily. At the strong invitation of the owner, it is of course nothing for Yu Dafu to do some private work for the boss in his spare time, writing couplets."

As they spoke, everyone walked into Haw Par Villa. The bald manager pointed to a pavilion in front and said, "Well, the door and the couplet above were written by Yu Dafu!"

Du Yongxiao looked -——

"Yucui Fang"!

"Written by Yu Dafu in Gengchen (the 29th year of the Republic of China) and written by Wu Weiruo."

Left and right couplet——

First couplet: Refreshing air comes from the west, and you can see the smoky scenery of Thirteen Bends;

Second line: Looking north from the Central Plains, tracing the journey of 90,000 miles from the beginning.

Du Yongxiao had to nod. A writer is a writer after all, and these couplets are still of a certain standard.

Du Dapao looked at the couplet and nodded: "Not bad! But I still like the one at the door, especially the horizontal one, the one I'm calling!"

The bald agent hurriedly wiped his sweat.

Du Yongshun, the younger brother, followed behind: "I like the Ao Ao calls! I like the Ao Ao calls the best!"

His mother, Li Cuilian, tugged at his ear: "I like your size! I haven't decided whether to buy this villa or not!"

After scolding her son, Li Cuilian hurriedly smiled at her bald manager: "I'm sorry, I scolded my son, you continue!"

The bald manager said hurriedly: "Oh, okay!"

He pointed to the big villa and said: "In general, the biggest feature of this villa is that it is large enough and there are many sculptures in it! For example, Butterfly Lovers, Sun Wukong causing havoc in the Heavenly Palace, and, by the way, that one - Wu Song fighting the tiger! "

Not far away, there is a statue of Wu Song riding on the back of a tiger and raising his fist high.

Before the bald manager finished speaking, he saw Du Yongshun trotting over, riding directly on the tiger's back with Wu Song, raising his fists and trying to hit the tiger's head. He raised his eyes and asked his elder brother Du Yongxiao with a smile, "Brother, what do you think I am?" Awesome or not?”