University Cultural Centre, National University of Singapore
Honourable Premier Wen Jiabao,
Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China and guests,
It gives me great pleasure to be with you this afternoon to launch the opening of “Business China”, an initiative by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry. It is to encourage businessmen to better understand the language, culture, social and economic conditions of present day China.
I would like to thank Premier Wen Jiabao for gracing this event and to deliver a keynote address. His presence adds significance to this occasion and he shows his support for closer trade, investments and other co-operation between us.
The world economy has changed with globalisation. Western countries have led the world’s economy for over two centuries. Asia is now catching up.
In 50 years, China will become one of the world’s largest economy. China’s rapid economic development will have a great impact on the world economy and bring benefits to Asia, especially South East Asia.
Although China’s economy will have its ups and downs, not smooth-sailing, I am confident that China will develop into a world economic power.
Singapore’s economy has developed by facilitating trade between East and West. In the process, we learned western management methods while retaining our Eastern traditional values. This combination of both Eastern and Western characteristics has served us well.
Singapore’s experience has been useful when China decided to open up trade and investments with the West.
Singaporeans need three capabilities to do business in China: fluency in the Chinese language, knowledge of China’s traditional culture and an understanding of the on-going changes in the social, economic and political conditions of a society with changing life-style that is transiting from an agricultural to an industrial economy.
Lim Sau Hoong is a Singaporean woman born and educated in our schools and university, who possesses these three. She understands Chinese culture and knows the strings that tug the hearts of the Chinese people. The slogan in the promotional film that she produced for China’s CCTV: “everyone has a stage in their heart, how big is your stage”, (“How big is your heart? That’s how large your stage is”) was immensely popular amongst the people in China. It attracted the attention of renowned Chinese director Zhang Yi Mou, who invited her to participate in designing the Opening Ceremony of Beijing Olympics in 2008. We are proud of her achievements in China.
Chua Chee Lay is another Singaporean, also born and educated in Singapore up to university. He has a grasp of Chinese language/culture because both his parents were Chinese school teachers. He mastered IT with a PhD degree from Wisconsin, USA. He is often invited to give talks in some of China’s cities and universities. Tie Ling, a city in Liaoning with a population of 3 million had invited him to be its education and economic advisor.
It is not necessary for every Singaporean Chinese who wants to do business in China to attain their grasp of the Chinese language and understanding of Chinese culture.
However, we hope to nurture more such people to connect with China.
Chinese schools in Singapore used to teach wholly in Chinese. In the 1960s, we introduced bilingual schools with English as the first language and mother tongue as the second. So the standard of Mandarin was lower. Hence we needed special programmes to nurture a core of bilingual/bicultural students every year. Our leading schools, like Hwa Chong, have set up campuses in Beijing and Shanghai for immersion of their students.
Since 1979, we have popularised the use of Mandarin, and not dialects, in Speak Mandarin Campaigns. We found that students are not fluent in Mandarin, when they speak dialects after school.
“Business China” is an initiative taken by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which has more than 100 years of history in Singapore. Thus when Mr Chua Thian Poh, President of SCCCI invited me to be the patron of “Business China”, I gladly obliged.
I wish “Business China” every success.
Thank you.