Hua Song Museum Official Opening
Haw Par Villa, West Wing
262 Pasir Panjang Road
Singapore 118628
11th March 2006

Hua Song -- the museum celebrating the strength and unflagging spirit of Chinese Overseas -- was officially opened by President and Mrs S.R. Nathan today and attended by more than 150 members of the travel industry and representatives of Chinese clan associations.

Built at a cost of S$7.8 million covering an area of 0.8 hectares, Hua Song is elegantly designed and furnished in contemporary Chinese style, and located within Haw Par Villa at Pasir Panjang.

Mrs Pamelia Lee, Senior Consultant, Singapore Tourism Board (STB), said, "Hua Song, which means in praise of the Chinese Overseas, is unique because it tells the story of not just one Chinese community but of all Chinese who left their families and homeland in search of new opportunities overseas. It brings alive the dreams, sacrifices, fortitude and achievements of Chinese individuals such as the gold miners in South Africa, laundrymen in Australia, railway workers in Canada, "black and white" amahs in Malaysia and samsui women in Singapore."

The development of Hua Song was led by the Singapore Tourism Board, together with the National Heritage Board along with consultants including the Chinese Heritage Centre and individuals such as Prof Wang Gungwu, Director of the East Asia Institute of the National University of Singapore.

Offering a new perspective and a greater understanding of Chinese Overseas all over the world, Hua Song is ideally located in Singapore, where there is a significant number of Chinese who are descendents of these early Chinese migrants. Singapore is also ideally set in Southeast Asia which has the largest concentration of the Chinese diaspora around the world.