President Tharman Shanmugaratnam,

Ms Jane Ittogi,

Ministers,

Ministers of State,

Mayors,

Senior Parliamentary Secretaries,

Members of Parliament,

Heads of Diplomatic Missions and government officials,

Founding Chairman of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre and Honorary President of Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Association Mr Chua Thian Poh,

President Mr Thomas Chua and Council members of Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Association,

Board Directors of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning and Happy 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 President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and all our distinguished guests, for taking time to be with us today.

2023 has been a busy and fulfilling year for us. We saw a full resumption of physical activities and welcomed back onsite visitors with our performances, exhibitions, talks and workshops. We also continued to grow our online audience through more digital content and channels.

SCCC is committed to work with our arts and community partners to preserve and promote our local Chinese culture, including our intangible cultural heritage. For instance, last year, we partnered Ding Yi Music Company to highlight disappearing local craft traditions like giant joss-stick making and embroidery through a mix of documentaries, live performances and chamber music.

Our dialect culture is another area worth preserving. At our Cultural Extravaganza last year, we brought together opera troupes from different dialect groups to present “One Opera Singapore”. In view of its good response, we held another joint opera performance at our recent CNY Family FUN event. This time, the performances were combined with local dialect snacks for families to enjoy as they learnt more about Chinese opera movements and gestures. Going forward, SCCC plans to do more to preserve and promote our local Chinese traditional performing arts.

Last year, we signed a Memorandum-of-Understanding with Singapore Chinese Orchestra with the aim of creating a cultural hub in the CBD. SCCC and SCO are like-minded organisations in the promotion of Chinese Singaporean culture. Under the auspices of the MOU, we have jointly organised two festival celebrations in our premises during Mid-Autumn last year, and CNY last month. In collaboration with many local groups, these festivals offered more than 25 activities and attracted nearly 40,000 visitors. With increased connectivity from the new Shenton Way MRT, we hope to welcome even more visitors to our premises to enjoy local Chinese culture.

Please allow me to continue in Mandarin.

过去的一年里，中心通过多项节目与合作项目，不断提供平台，让公众接触及体验本土华族文化的独特性。

除了活动和展览项目，中心也正在对我国华族在文化和艺术的成就，进行有系统的梳理和研究。这项由我们的研究小组开展的计划，在过去一年获得华社和众多学者的支持。我们将在今年中旬开通一个网上知识库，展现各个领域学者的研究心得，内容包罗万象，包括社群、语言、音乐、美术、文学、大众文化等题材。[1]这个新加坡华族文化网上知识库，将成为我们中心实体的“新加坡华人”常设展之外，另一个让公众了解本土华族文化的渠道。

我们的在籍学生肯定也能从中受益。自“新加坡华人” 常设展2020年开幕以来，由学校组织的学生访客就占了12巴仙。[2] 近期，中心也加深与教育学府的合作关系，与教育部旗下的推广华文学习委员会，以及南洋艺术学院签署备忘录，为学生提供了解新加坡华族文化的活动，也为它们现有的活动提供场地。这样，我们的下一代将能“多管齐下”学习新加坡华族文化的独特性。

我希望大家能继续支持中心的工作，与我们携手发扬本土华族文化。

祝大家在新的一年里龙年大吉、身体健康、事事如意。

谢谢。

[1] 八大主题包括：社群、教育与语言、音乐、美术、文学、大众文化、民俗、戏曲与剧场

[2] Total PE Visitors since opening in 2020 is 200,323, of which 23,605 are students up to tertiary level.