Over 20,000 people have turned out to celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival in The Hague, according to the organisers, who spoke of a “huge success”.
The Moon Festival, which is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese calendar, is one of the main family feasts for the Chinese.
This year the event had a special character, because it was exactly 100 years ago that the first Chinese moved to Holland. The presentation of a book, 100 years of Chinese in the Netherlands, concluded a whole year of events held to mark the centenary.
Saturday’s festivities included kung fu exhibitions as well as musical and ballet performances.
The first large contingent of Chinese came to the Netherlands in 1911, to work in the ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
The Chinese community did not consolidate its position in the country until the 1960s and 1970s, when they opened many restaurants. Some 70 percent of all Chinese in Holland continue to own a restaurant or work as waiters or cooks.
There currently are nearly 56,000 legal residents of Chinese descent in the Netherlands.
(cl)
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
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