The Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC) was launched by then Prime Minister Mr
Lee Kuan Yew in 1979. The task was to transform a deeply entrenched
social-linguistic habit of Chinese Singaporeans who were long used to the
speaking of dialects.
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Speak Mandarin Campaign 40th Anniversary Celebration was launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Organised the SMC 40 Carnival which featured a weekend of free Mandarin programmes for the public to enjoy.
Renamed the Speak Mandarin Campaign Parent-Child Talent Competition to the Speak Mandarin Campaign Family Talent Competition, and included participation from grandparents.
Co-organised the third Speak Mandarin Campaign “My Story” Public Speaking Competition with NoonTalk Media.
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The sixth Speak Mandarin Campaign Parent-Child Talent Competition was successfully held.
Co-organised the second Speak Mandarin Campaign “My Story” Public Speaking Competition with NoonTalk Media.
Conducted a Public Lecture "Mandarin and Chinese Culture: The Joys of Learning" with keynote speaker Man Shu Sum and panelists Diana Ser and Xiaohan.
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Inaugurated the Speak Mandarin Campaign “My Story” Public Speaking
Competition, which provides a platform for students between 13 to
18 year old to share their own stories.
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Inaugurated pre-school category at the fourth Speak Mandarin
Campaign Parent-Child Talent Competition.
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Introduced a new series of immersion programmes, including Story
Challenge Roadshows, Music Showcases.
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Conducted a Public Lecture with Professor Yu Dan to inspire
educators and parents in creating a positive learning experience
for students and the younger generation.
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Collaborated with Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall to present the
Wan Qing CultureFest 2016.
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The third Speak Mandarin Campaign Parent-Child Talent Competition
was successfully held.
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Organised a series of popular storytelling sessions with the
National Book Development Council of Singapore and National
Library Board.
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Jointly organised the Speak Mandarin Campaign Parent-Child Talent
Competition with St Nicholas Girls' School and Thumbs Up.
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iHuayu 讲华语(商用), a bilingual mobile application with
business-specific and Singapore terms was launched.
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Introduced Speak Mandarin Campaign's new theme song, Shuo
《说》.
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"Mandarin. It Gets Better with Use." Short Video Clip
Contest.
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Speak Mandarin Campaign Theme Song Contest was launched.
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The Chinese Challenge, with a focus on students in 2011. 6
students were selected to participate in the televised grand
finals.
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Replay of television commercials featuring non-Chinese children
speaking in Mandarin, challenging Singaporeans to be heard in
Chinese. The commercials won MediaCorp's Viewer's Choice Awards
2009 and have been nominated for the 2010 Awards.
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2nd run of Yang Sheng series of talks about Eastern philosophies
of health in both English and Mandarin.
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The Chinese Challenge 2010, with an added Student's Category. A
team of 2 students won 1st Runner Up in the televised Grand
Finals.
- Speak Mandarin Campaign’s 30th Anniversary.
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Series of "Be Heard" in Chinese television commercials featuring
non-Chinese children speaking in Mandarin.
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Yang Sheng series of talks about Eastern philosophies of health in
both English and Mandarin.
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The Chinese Challenge, a nationwide contest, with a series of quiz
questions ranging from the language to Chinese history and popular
culture.
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Theme of Sports, Culture, The Arts, Design & Lifestyle. 20 new
activists, including Team Singapore sportsmen and other prominent
personalities.
- Theme of Music, Movies, Metaphors.
- Cool Speak in ST becomes Cheng Yu Cool.
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Ambassadors included JJ Lin, Hossan Leong, Fanny Lai.
- Launch of Cool Speak Guide.
- Speak Mandarin Campaign’s 25th Year.
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"华语 Cool" slogan was launched with Tan Swie Hian’s
painting/calligraphy.
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Ambassadors included Joi Chua (with song by Liang Wern Fu),
choupijiang (臭皮匠).
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Launch of "Cool Speak" in Straits Times, a series featuring
personalities and their stories of using Mandarin.
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Mandarin Movie Appreciation Series and Mandarin Moviethon held at
Golden Village cinemas
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Campaign ambassadors included Tanya Chua, Kenny Yap.
- Launch at annual World Book Fair.
- Launch of Mandarin Festival.
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Speak Mandarin Campaign Celebrities included Fann Wong, Tay Ping
Hui, Sharon Au, Dasmond Koh.
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The Campaign was launched at the premiere of a Chinese movie “A
Tale of the Sacred Mountain”.
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The Mandarin Film Festival was the first film festival organised
by the Promote Mandarin Council. It was held on 17-22 September at
Golden Village Grand, Great World City. The Festival screened 12
critically-acclaimed films produced by some of China’s best
producers and directors.
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Singapore’s first Mandarin a cappella CD album entitled “A
cappella Fanatix - Mandarin a cappella” was jointly produced by
Young Musicians’ Society and Promote Mandarin Council.Singapore’s
first Mandarin a cappella CD album entitled “A cappella Fanatix -
Mandarin a cappella” was jointly produced by Young Musicians’
Society and Promote Mandarin Council.
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The forum entitled “Mandarin for the Family” was held on 18
November. The speakers comprised educators who discussed teaching
methods for the learning of Chinese, as well as well-known
personalities who shared their experiences in learning Mandarin
and using it both at home and in the office.
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The Chinese Heritage Series, which comprises arts and cultural
performances ranging from xinyao, hand puppet to Chinese orchestra
was held at shopping malls.
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SMC celebrities’ webchats – a series of webchats with well-known
personalities was held.
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A Speak Mandarin Campaign commemorative book entitled “Mandarin:
The Chinese Connection”( 华人,华语,华文) was produced.
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The first CD-ROM on learning Mandarin was produced. Entitled
“Speak Mandarin? No problem!” (讲华语?没问题!), it is an
interactive learning CD-ROM catering to adults who know basic
Mandarin and have a desire to improve it.
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Four television commercials featuring well-known entertainment
personalities were aired on TV to illustrate the slogan "Speak
Mandarin. It's An Asset."
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The Committee to Promote Use of Mandarin was changed to Promote
Mandarin Council to reflect its wider role in promoting Mandarin.
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Speak Mandarin Campaign webpage was officially launched.
- Production of radio jingle.
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The campaign launch featured a Chinese crosstalk performance and a
skit by the cast of TCS sitcom, Under One Roof.
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The Ministry of Education and Television 12 jointly organised the
pre-university Mandarin debate series.
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Official launch of the campaign was held at the Shangri-la Hotel.
The proceeds from the launch charity dinner was donated to
National Arts Council to promote Chinese culture and arts.
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Production of Transitlink farecards for sale to public.
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Campaign focused on Chinese Singaporeans, with increasing emphasis
on those who received bilingual education.
- The Campaign targeted senior executives.
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Ministry of Education, Singapore Telecoms and the then Ministry of
Communications and Information jointly produced telephone Mandarin
lessons on Chinese proverbs, which were published in Chinese
newspapers too.
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Promotion of Mandarin was once again targeted at the Chinese
community in general.
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The Campaign focused on white collar workers. Ministry of Health
developed a series of telephone Mandarin lessons on health
education.
- The Campaign moved to the shopping centres.
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To encourage the use of Mandarin at the Zhongyuan Jie auctions,
lessons were developed and transmitted by telephone throughout the
festive month. A total of 640,000 calls were made. These lessons
were repackaged on cassette tapes and distributed to the Zhongyuan
Jie organisers.
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The Campaign moved to food and drink establishments.
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Speak Mandarin Campaign focused on transport workers.
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The target audience for the year was Chinese parents.
- Production of Speak Mandarin Helps Brochure.
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Mandarin was promoted at markets and hawker centres.
- Production of "Dial for Mandarin" Booklet.
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Speak Mandarin Campaign focused on promoting Mandarin at the
workplace.
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The Speak Mandarin Campaign was launched by then-Prime Minister
Lee Kuan Yew