Sunday, February 10

The year of the Rat


The celebration of the Chinese New Year took place yesterday in The Hague in Chinatown. There are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, and if you cannot name them all, then you need to click here. Also if you want to know what Chinese people should do everyday of the 15 day celebration, then have a look here. Festivities included (of course) the traditional Lion Dance and Dragon Dance, as well as singing, martial arts, music and fireworks. It got very busy in the city centre! That was my first Chinese new year, but I'll definitely go back next year to make better pictures.

The Hague’s Chinatown is not very big, but there are some nice projects to develop it substantially, including the building of Europe China Trade Centre just outside the city in one of the industrial parks, which is due to open mid-2008. The Hague was chosen last year as the best city for Chinese investors and it praises it self with having the only genuine China town in The Netherlands as well as housing the only Confucius Institute of the country.

5 comments:

Dick said...

Hi

Wij hebben hier maar een paar Chinezen dus we merken niks van deze festiviteit. Mooie kleuren in je foto.

Ineke said...

Indeed, nice colourful shot!

Anonymous said...

Really colorful and a neat dragon.

lv2scpbk said...

Wonderful colors on the dragon. I am in the year of the Rat. I went to the site you provided with what they do on each day. Very interesting. I always love learning more about different cultures.

Lezard said...

Thanks!! Actually I'm not so happy with that picture as I did not get very sharp! But you're right the colors are beautiful, and that comes from the dragon itself!!
I'll try again next year!