CLing Youth Forum
– A joint effort by Business China and the Bicultural Taskforce to emphasise the importance of biculturalism through fun learning
Singapore – Collaborating for the first time, Business China and the Bicultural Taskforce jointly organised the CLing Youth Forum on 7 July at Dunman High School.
The CLing Youth Forum is in line with government’s effort to groom more bilingual and bicultural youths by motivating the youths in upkeeping their Chinese proficiency and deepening their understanding of the Chinese culture.
The Forum was supported by Omy.sg, Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA) and Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI). Guest-of-Honour was Ms Sim Ann, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Education & Law, who also leads the Bicultural Taskforce.
Ms Sim Ann shared her thoughts on developing bilingualism and biculturalism among the students. She said: “The ability to code-switch between two languages and two cultures will unlock a treasure trove of experience. It is my hope and dream that we imbue as many students as possible with this ability.”
Ms Sim Ann then joined two other young speakers in a panel discussion to share their bilingual journey and how being bicultural has brought them greater joy and benefits. One of the speakers was Mr Yang Jiwei, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The TENG Company. He is a multiple award-winning Sheng performer featured by the Straits Times as one of the young achievers in ‘50 Young People to Look out For’ in 2005. The other speaker was Ms Tan Leng Tuan, Education Correspondent of Lianhe Zaobao. Ms Tan was the youngest among the editorial team of a historical book on The Revolution of 1911 jointly launched by Lianhe Zaobao and Global Publishing in 2011.
During her opening speech, Ms Low Yen Ling, CEO of Business China, said: “Singapore needs more bilingual and bicultural talents in the years to come. As the leaders of tomorrow, one of the ways to expand your horizons is by keeping abreast of the ever-changing China and capitalising on our strategic advantages.”
To encourage students’ involvement, participants were also able to interact with the panellists through social media during the Q & A session.
The event also saw the official launch of the Business China Champ of Marketing 2.0 competition by Ms Sim Ann, Ms Low Yen Ling and representative from BreadTalk Group, Ms Joyce Koh. It is an inaugural online marketing competition which challenges students to develop a marketing proposal for BreadTalk’s Mooncake Festival Campaign in China.
This competition is held to mark Business China fifth anniversary this year with an objective to help the students gain better understanding on the dynamics of China market and preparing them for the emerging opportunities in China.
With a period of 11 weeks, the competition is open for students who are Singaporean or Permanent Resident, from upper secondary schools, junior colleges and tertiary institutions, aged between 16 and 26. The top winning team will be awarded S$5000 cash prizes and internship opportunity at BreadTalk Shanghai branch. Two teams with the most creative proposal and most voted TV advertisement will also get to win S$1000 cash prizes.
Some 450 students and teachers from various secondary schools and junior colleges attended the event which was conducted mainly in Mandarin.
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For more information, please contact:
Eunice Ong (Ms)
Senior Associate (Corporate Communications & Go East)
Business China
Email: eunice@businesschina.org.sg
Tel: (65) 6213 0413
Ong Xu Ying (Ms)
The Bicultural Taskforce Secretariat
Email: ong_xu_ying@moe.gov.sg
Tel: (65) 6879 6740
About Business China
Business China was launched in November 2007 by our Patron, then Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. We are a platform integrating language, economic and cultural elements. Our mission is to nurture an inclusive bilingual and bicultural group of Singaporeans through extensive use of the Chinese language as the medium of communication, so as to sustain our multicultural heritage, and to develop a cultural and economic bridge linking the world and China.
For more information, visit www.businesschina.org.sg/en.
About CLing
CLing is a Chinese-learning media platform jointly presented by Business China and Omy.sg. It was officially launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at Dragonfly, St James Power Station in July 2009.
The name CLing (Chinese Language i-n-g) connotes both stickiness and confidence. This is in accordance with the website’s objective of closing the gap between young Singaporeans and learning Chinese. CLing exposes young Singaporeans to modern China and helps them learn Chinese through fun and interesting ways. It consists of eight distinctive features – Good Read, Quiz Game, Daily C, InChina, Chit Chat, Blog, Songbook and Useful Links.
For more information, visit www.cling.omy.sg.
About the Bicultural Taskforce
The Bicultural Taskforce was formed in June 2011 following Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s announcement of the need to evolve and update community programmes to further enhance existing efforts of the Chinese community in promoting Chinese language and culture. We aim to nurture the next generation of bicultural talents and community leaders by promoting a better appreciation of Chinese language, culture and values, as well as leveraging on community organisations to strengthen social bonding.