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Uncat

 * 1) Dhsco
 * 2) Hok san association
 * 3) Kuih kochi
 * 4) Min Chan
 * 5) Monsoon Books
 * 6) Page One
 * 7) Race in Singapore
 * 8) SGEduLab
 * 9) Singapore Book Publishers Association
 * 10) Singapore at the 1951 Asian Games
 * 11) Tiger Airways
 * 12) World Toilet Organization

The Speak Mandarin Campaign initiated in 1979 has evolved from a monthly (every September) to annual event since 1998. One might question why there has been no “Speak Tamil” or “Speak Malay” Campaign. In 2004, the slogan embraced, “hua yu Cool. Use It, Don’t Lose It”, reflected a ‘lifestyle-oriented approach’ to market Mandarin as “very natural, unobtrusive, hip and modern” (ST 09 November 2005). This strategy complemented the shift in target audience from dialect-speaking, older generation Chinese to post-65, well-educated and English-speaking Chinese. The rationale behind this campaign theme was articulated by Professor Wee Chow Hou, Chairman of the Promote Mandarin Council, in 2005:

(Mandarin) is ‘cool’ in the way the English word is used in pop culture to describe something that is hip and trendy. With Chinese culture becoming an increasingly important influence on global culture, Mandarin is definitely ‘in’, or ‘酷’ (ku), as the Chinese call it. In Mandarin, there is another word ‘库’ (ku) which is often used to connote ‘a store of treasure’. Indeed, Mandarin is an emotive, succinct and visual language, and it is truly a store of linguistic and cultural treasure waiting to be explored and mastered. (http://www.mandarin.org.sg/home/html, accessed April 2005)

Why “hua yu Cool!”
This is the first hybrid tagline adopted where Mandarin (华语 / hua yu) and English (Cool!) elements presumably symbolize merging of eastern cultural and western economic values as well as highlight popular apart from traditional cultural values of Mandarin. When Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong launched this campaign in 2005, he emphasized that “in economic terms, knowledge of Mandarin gives Singapore an edge in tapping into the rise of China” (ST 16 November 2005).

Therefore, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew urged parents to “keep mandarin alive at home”. He advised them to “get your (their) children to learn and master Mandarin when they are young” so as to build a “foundation for life” (ST 14 December 2004). Students and parents have traditionally been target groups of the campaign.

Ambassadors
Singer Joi Chua and rap group Chou Pi Jiang endorsed the campaign in 2004. The following year, Triad Communications marketed “hua yu Cool!” on 200 Clear Channel bus shelters featuring ambassadors Mandarin Pop singer Lin Jun Jie, actor and comedian Hossan Leong and the executive director of Singapore Zoo and Night Safari, Fanny Lai. Both Lin and Leong were from Anglo-Chinese School and together with Lai, they represented the English-speaking Chinese whose fluency in Mandarin helped them in their careers.

Ms Fanny Lai was the only ambassador outside of the entertainment industry. Her presence underlined the role played by the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari where bilingual learning was promoted through educational publications like “Learn Chinese @ the Zoo”, a booklet on Chinese idioms. The other objective in Ms Lai’s words was “tourists from China are increasing, and it was only natural that we (Singapore Zoo) update our signs and educational materials to reach out to them further” (Today 09 November 2005).

Partners
The Speak Mandarin Campaign has linked up with entertainment companies like K Box KTV where pronunciation of Mandarin Pop songs’ lyrics can be checked by toggling between modes on its karaoke system and Music Net Pte Ltd which published a music book “Hua Yu Cool Volume 1” comprising ten Mandarin Pop songs to champion the “hua yu Cool!” tagline. 938LIVE, an English radio station, supported the theme through a radio series. Even clubbers were targeted at nightspots like Club Momo and China Black where two 15-minute sets of Mandarin Pop music would be played each night.

Effectiveness
The official “hua yu Cool” logo featured names of Mandarin Pop artistes Jolin Tsai 蔡依林and Nicholas Tse 谢霆锋prominently. Popular culture was heavily embraced in publicity when the fact remained that Chinese language was not just an economic tool but encompassed a whole culture. This appeared incongruent when directed at niche English-educated Chinese probably unconcerned and unfamiliar with Mandarin Pop artistes even if they originated from English backgrounds like Lin Jun Jie. Possibly, the success of these celebrities served to motivate English-educated Chinese to learn their mother tongue for practical purposes.

Understanding Chinese culture entailed knowledge far beyond mastering Mandarin alone. The first ‘酷’ (ku) is arguably achieved through an extensive campaign where economic opportunities and pop appeal are highlighted. However, the second ‘库’ (ku) pertaining to Chinese as “a store of treasure” requires higher level of commitment to appreciating the Chinese culture and not simply knowing its language.

The development and evolution of crematoria and columbaria
The earliest government crematorium, situated at Mount Vernon, began operations in 1962 with only one funeral service hall and about four cases of cremation a week. By 1995, it had three service halls and was averaging twenty-one cremations a day, with operations beginning everyday at nine o’clock in the morning with cremations scheduled at forty-five minute intervals until about six or seven in the evening. The site also includes a columbarium built in several phases, comprising niches arranged in numbered blocks which either feature Chinese-style green roofs, or housed within a nine-story “pagoda-style” building. There also exists a two-story “church-style” building.

Towards the end of the 1970s, the Mount Vernon complex, which was initially intended for the storage of ashes from recent deaths, could no longer cope with the scale of exhumation projects fueling the demand for columbarium niches. Another crematorium-cum-columbarium complex was built at Mandai, and this commenced operations in 1982, equipped with eight small and four medium-sized cremators and a total of 64,370 niches for the storage of cremated remains. Chinese voluntary associations such as Pek San Theng were allowed to build columbaria to house the remains of those exhumed from clan-owned cemeteries, and temples and churches were allowed to accommodate cremated remains.

It has been observed that the architecture of government columbaria reflects the outlook of the Singaporean nation. The early columbaria were simple, with few aesthetic ornaments, just like early Singaporean housing flats. The later columbaria have more modern designs, with well-designed landscaped environments, and looking similar to contemporary HDB (Housing and Development Board) flats. These columbaria include the Chua Chu Kang Columbarium and the Mandai Columbarium, which was renovated and expanded in 2004 to accommodate approximately another 60,000 niches.“Government Managed Columbaria”, National Environment Agency The designs are more elaborate, and are often reminiscent of other structures people often encounter in everyday life. Comparisons have been drawn between the architecture of these columbaria and that of schools and condominiums, and hypotheses have been made that such are deliberate efforts to eliminate the sense of fear and dread traditionally associated with landscapes of death.