there's the rub
The mentholated whiff of Tiger Balm or Pak Fah Yeow ('white flower oil') must be one of Hong Kong's most common and distinctive odours. Popular for generations and sometimes wryly referred to as por jai heung shui ('granny's perfume'), this and other medicated rubs, such as fung yau ('wind oil'), are the most commonly used everyday remedies in Hong Kong.
According to the labels, 'medicated oils' guarantee relief for any ailment, from headaches and nausea to insect bites and haemorrhoids. Most, however, work on the counter-irritant principle.
In effect, the sudden sensation of heat or coolness - or both, depending on the active ingredient - functions as a mild analgesic.
Certain varieties of Southeast Asian oils are especially favoured. Gently fragrant nutmeg oil and mace-based ointments have long been a speciality of Penang, Malaysia. Minyak Gosok, a citronella-based oil made in Sulawesi, Indonesia, is highly regarded by many Hong Kong people. It is cheaply and readily available in any small toko (Indonesian speciality shop). Other fung yau aficionados swear by Thai variants, which are pleasantly warm and far less harsh on the skin and nose than the pungent Chinese products.
The most successful medicated oil remedy was devised by a Hakka herbalist in what was then called Rangoon, Burma. By the 1920s it was being successfully marketed all over the Chinese diaspora by his entrepreneurial sons Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par. Popularly known as maan kum yau ('ten thousand gold oil') and in English as Tiger Balm (below), this camphor and mentholatum-based cure-all rapidly became a household favourite, providing the foundations for a vast family fortune.
Notable philanthropists, the Aw brothers established large Chinese sculpture gardens in Singapore and Hong Kong; the local one, at Tai Hang, was demolished in 2002, although part of the former complex, the 73-year-old Haw Par Mansion with its small garden, survives in a neglected state. Open to the public, the gardens contained hundreds of concrete images that graphically detailed the punishments evil-doers could expect in the 10 Courts of Hell. Many of the tormented figures had their sufferings temporarily eased by a judicious smear of Tiger Balm. As the Aw brothers astutely recognised, it pays to advertise.