Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong,

Minister Chan, Minister Teo,

Senior Ministers of State,

Mayors,

Senior Parliamentary Secretaries,

Members of Parliament,

Heads of Diplomatic Missions and government officials,

Board Directors of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre,

President and Council members of Singapore Federation of Chinese Clans Association,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A very good morning and Happy Lunar New Year!

On behalf of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre and Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations, I would like to welcome our Guest-of-Honour Minister Edwin Tong and all our distinguished guests, for taking time to be with us.

Having taken over from Mr Chua Thian Poh last October as Chairman of SCCC, I would like to thank Mr Chua and outgoing board members  for laying a strong foundation for SCCC in the past five years to promote and develop Chinese Singaporean culture. I hope to continue the good work with the new term Board members.

We do hope that the environment will present us with conducive conditions. Today is the first time we have a physical Spring Reception since 2020. We also saw the gradual return of our signature programmes in physical format, such as Cultural Extravaganza, RE•MIX and Sing•浪 concert. They have not only brought back the footfall, but also emerged stronger after adapting to the pandemic. We have started to conduct virtual tours for our SINGAPO(ren) exhibition, making it accessible to residents from nursing homes to enjoy the exhibition too. In addition, we now have travelling exhibitions in shopping malls, office buildings and schools. Our programme mix now includes a library of online offerings with livestreams, playbacks and even original video series. I look forward to working with all of you here, to build on the strong slate to advance SCCC’s work in the years to come. 

Please allow me to continue in Mandarin.

感谢大会主宾文化、社区及青年部长兼律政部第二部长唐振辉先生，及在座贵宾抽空出席由新加坡华族文化中心和宗乡总会联合举办的新春团拜。在此恭贺大家新年快乐，兔年行大运。

看到大家再次齐聚一堂，共同庆贺农历新年，真让人高兴。经历了疫情的挑战，新加坡华族文化中心也愈加茁壮。

我在去年从蔡天宝先生手中接过中心主席一职。在此特别感谢蔡先生和历届董事们付出的努力，为中心立下扎实的根基，让我们在此基础上，继续向前迈进。 

随着实体活动的全面恢复，今天的新春团拜，也标识着一个新的里程碑，预示着精彩的一年即将展开。同时，我们积极与中心周围的伙伴合作，尤其是新加坡华乐团，一起探讨如何把这个邻里营造成一个文化社区，并利用新的珊敦道地铁站的启用，吸引公众来到这个社区。同样的，我们也与附近的滨海湾消防局合作，向他们每个周六的开放日的访客宣传我们的“新加坡人”常设展，邀请他们顺道过来中心参观。

我们中心去年设立了一个研究小组，以便更有系统的开展对本土华族文化的研究。我们既要探讨本土文化的发展脉络，也要介绍我国独特的精神风貌。我们没有悠久的历史，但是，经过几代文化工作者的耕耘，我们文化园地花果繁茂，已经蕴含丰富的故事。

研究组的首个项目，即是设立一个线上“新加坡华族文化知识库”，全面介绍本土华族文化的内涵与特色。过去几个月，我们向文化界和学术界人士介绍我们的构想，获得他们热烈的支持；许多学者表示愿意参与此项计划，为这个平台提供研究心得，与我们一起携手打造这个知识总汇。这将是一个面向社会大众的平台，发表的内容都会有中英文的版本。在内容上，我们将致力做到翔实客观、深入浅出。

我们希望能在明年中旬开通这个知识库，推出第一阶段的内容。平台作为一个长期计划，所涵盖的范围包括文学艺术、语言教育、信仰习俗、流行文化以及社群组织等等。我们希望结合华社的资源，寻求跟各个团体和组织合作。在巩固现有研究的同时，开拓华族文化研究的新方向。

最后，我希望大家会支持中心的工作。我非常期待和大家齐心再创下个五年，让本土华族文化发扬光大。希望大家在新的一年里     身体健康，“兔”飞猛进！

谢谢大家。