History & Milestone

​​​1995

​Official opening of the Chinese Heritage Centre by the Minister for Information and the Arts, Brigadier General George Yeo on 17 May 1995.

​The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas in English was launched by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on 26 October 1998.

​The exhibition, From Segration To Integration: The Story of the Chinese Overseas, was also launched on 26 October 1998.

​The Chinese Overseas Online Databank project called "HuayiNet" was launched in February 2000 by the Minister for Information and the Arts, BG George Yeo.

​An international conference entitled, A Genealogies and Chinese Overseas Studies was held on 19 August 2000.

​Opening of the Nantah Pictorial Exhibition tracing the 25 year history of the old Nanyang University.

​The French edition of The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas was launched in October, kindly sponsored by Mr Robert Wan of Tahiti.

​An international conference that was wholly sponsored by the Chinese dialects community organisations in Singapore was organised. Called the Chinese Community Organisations and Globalisations: Comparative International Perspectives, the conference was organised in association with the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations and the Tan Kah Kee International Society with support from the Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies in Kuala Lumpur and the Kaisa Heritage Centre in the Philippines.

​The French edition of The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas was launched in Paris on Chinese New Year's day in January.

​The year saw the publication of two titles - Genealogies and Chinese Overseas Migration and Chinese Newspapers in Southeast Asia. The first publication comprised the proceedings of the conference on genealogies held in 2000, and the second contained the findings of a research project undertaken by the Centre.

​The first issue of the Centre's bulletin was published in March containing articles and research notes by local and overseas scholars as well as events and activities organised by the Chinese overseas communities worldwide.

​The Centre's library was named the Wang Gungwu Library in recognition of Professor Wang's significant contribution to the field of Chinese Overseas Studies.

​The public lecture series co-organised with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore (NUS) entitled, Contemporary Culture and Chinese Heritage in a Globalizing World has launched.

​An international conference entitled, Asian Diasporas: Revisiting the Chinese and South Asian Experiences was jointly organised with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore (NUS) from 5 to 7 April.

​An internationally-refereed journal, Journal of Chinese Overseas was launched in May 2005. The publication of this journal is made possible through a generous donation from the Lee Foundation (States of Malaya).

​A new exhibition entitled, Chinese More Or Less: An exhibition on Overseas Chinese Identity, was unveiled by Mr George Yeo, Minister for Foreign Affairs, on 22 July.

​Co-organised The Third International Conference of Institutes and Libraries for Chinese Overseas Studies on "Maritime Asia and the Chinese Overseas", as a member of HuayiNet.

​Co-organised the bilingual international seminar, Tongmenghui, Sun Yat Sen and the Chinese in Southeast Asia: A revisit with Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall on 12 June 2006. Leading experts on Tongmenghui and Sun Yat Sen from Mainland China, Taiwan and the Southeast Asian region were invited. The seminar was graced by Guest-of-Honour Dr Lien Chan, Kuomingtang Honorary Chairman.

​The Centre collaborated with the Southern College of Malaysia on a project studying the history of the Foon Yew High School in Johor Bahru and produced a joint publication (in Chinese), Collected Essays on Foon Yew High School.

​The international conference Chinese Migration in Comparative Perspective: Adaptation and Development, jointly organised by the Centre for Chinese Language and Culture (NTU) and the Chinese Heritage Centre on 26-27 October 2007.

​Jointly organised by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Chinese Heritage Centre, and NABIL Foundation, the international seminar on Ethnic Chinese in Indonesia in an Era of Globalisation was held on 19 July 2007.

​Jointly orgnanised by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) and Chinese Heritage Centre, the international seminar on Malaysian Chinese: Recent Developments and Prospects was held on 10 July 2008.

​The publication-and-exhibition of Chinatowns in a Globalizing Southeast Asia, launched at the National Library on 28 February 2009, has been well-received and extensively publicised by the press.

​On 7-9 May 2010, the International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas (ISSCO), School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University and Chinese Heritage Centre co-organised the 7th ISSCO international conference. Last held in Beijing 2007, the conference was held in Singapore for the first time with the theme, Migration, Indigenization and Exchange, attracted more than 300 scholars interested in Chinese overseas studies from around the world.

​In early 2007, the Centre reached an agreement with Nanyang Technological University Library on the take-over of the operations of Wang Gungwu Library by the University. After three years of re-organising the Centre's collection and installing the necessaary equipment and fixtures, the library was officially launched in a ceremony held on 14 September 2010.

​The Centre has continued to participate in the Museum Roundtable activities. In 2011, it took part in the Children's Season to promote children's understanding of Chinese heritage and culture.