Posts Tagged With: Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year in The Hague (Or: 2025 edition)

Posted on February 1, 2025 by Niki

The Hague celebrated Chinese New Year today in the city centre. This holiday is always celebrated on a Saturday in The Hague, although Chinese New Year was on Wednesday this year.

We are now in the year of the snake, in case you’re wondering.

I was in the area this morning while they were setting up for the event. Here is a photo of the rooster:

Here is the snake (the star of the show this year!):

Here is a photo of the rabbit, with the Nieuwe Kerk (new church) in the background:

As you can probably see from the photos, it was a very sunny day (one of the few sunny days this month). And finally, here is a photo of what I think is a dog…:

And in other news, Dutch supermarkets want to print labels in English to combat rising prices from nltimes.nl. The supermarkets argue that the Netherlands labels could be accessed via a QR code. I don’t think I agree with this one. English is indeed everywhere in this country, especially in the larger cities. However not everyone can speak it, especially the older generation. The local expat store, Kelly’s Expat Shopping, posts signs saying Dutch labels are available on request, but their target market is obviously English speaking.

It will be interesting to see what happens with this one.

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Centrum, Chinese New Year | Leave a comment

Amazing Oriental stuffed animals (Or: Who knew snakes could be cute?)

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Niki

Did you know 2025 is the year of the snake? (Almost. Chinese New Year is 29 January.) The year when you were born determines zodiac sign you are, for the most part (travelchinaguide.com). Mine is pig/boar…, which means you can probably guess what year I was born.

In The Hague we are lucky enough to have some Asian grocery stores. The biggest one is Amazing Oriental which has a few stores in the city centre. I took this photo of this year’s commemorative stuffed animal:

If you spend 30 euros you can get one of these, while supplies last. The supply only last a few weeks, so it is better to get them while you can if you’re interested.

Kudos to Amazing Oriental for making snakes look cute, too…

Categories: Everyday purchases, Holidays | Tags: Amazing Oriental, Chinese New Year | Leave a comment

A sea of red paper (Or: Chinese New Year)

Posted on January 26, 2020 by Niki

Happy Chinese New Year! Yesterday The Hague and countless other cities across the world celebrated the holiday, signaling the start of the year of the rat.

Most amusing for me was the sea of red paper left behind from the parade:

Just one sea of red amongst many. You saw them about every 30 feet.

New Year celebrations – Chinese or otherwise – are always a good excuse to set off some fireworks.

And here’s a look at one of the mini parades, led by a group from Nijmegen:

And another photo:

I don’t know… the year of the rat? But they are the first zodiac animal, and are seen as a sign of wealth in the Chinese culture. So there is that! If this is your zodiac sign, be proud of your ratliness (note: I made that word up).

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Chinese New Year, Fireworks | Leave a comment

A bit of color in the city centre (Or: Chinese New Year 2019)

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Niki

This past Saturday was the celebrations for Chinese New Year in The Hague. I took some photos of the “statues” that represent the holiday. Upon closer inspection, I noticed these are mostly the same statues used back in 2013 for the first Chinese New Year I attended (scroll down to the second-to-last photo).

I’ve taken some better, close-up photos of some of them this year. For example, my favorite:

with the Oude Kerk (Old Church) in the background, and a bird flying past too!

For some of them it was actually a bit hard to tell which of the 12 animals they represent, but because a few stripes on the top of this guy’s head (above), I think he might represent the year of the tiger.

Click here to see the rest of the photos for Chinese New Year 2019…

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Chinese New Year | 4 Comments

Chinese New Year in The Hague (Or: Tip for this Saturday)

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Niki

Happy Chinese New Year! 2019 is the year of the pig. And not the gluttonous kind…

The Hague will again feature Chinese New Year celebrations this Saturday to mark the occasion – see the scheduled program. The holiday is celebrated nationally in city hall while the local celebrations are held in Chinatown, including Rabbijn Maarsenplein and Bijenkorf’s parking lot.

I’ve always been a big fan of the local celebrations held at Rabbijn Maarsenplein (with its Chinese New Year market) and the area behind Bijenkorf (which always has lovely sculptures). But the dance routines in city hall are not to be missed, either!

Picture from the 2013 Chinese New Year celebrations, in the parking lot behind Bijenkorf

Come check it out. You won’t regret it!

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Chinese New Year | 2 Comments

Chinese New Year 2017 (Or: Festival in The Hague)

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Niki

Random photo from Saturday, during the Chinese New Year festivities:

chinese-new-year-dragon-the-hague-2017 Cute!

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Chinese New Year | Leave a comment

Chinese New Year (Or: Tomorrow in the city centre)

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Niki

Tomorrow the city of The Hague and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Netherlands will be hosting the Chinese New Year celebrations. 2017 is the year of the rooster!

Program at City Hall:

11:00 Asian market at the atrium
11:30 Dragon dancing and fireworks at the Spuiplein
12:30 Opening ceremony and speeches at the atrium
13:00 Chinese music and dance at the atrium
18:00 End of program

Other areas of interest:

11:00 Chinese New Year’s Market at both Rabijn Maarsenplein and the parking lot behind Bijenkorf
13:00 Dragon and lion dance with fireworks at Chinatown (Gedempte Burgwal)
13:00 Presentations at the JoHo centre on the Paviljoensgracht about Chinese culture and traveling within China
18:00 End of program

Chinese New Year Den Haag 2013 dragon dancers 3

One of my photos from the 2013 Chinese New Year celebrations

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Chinese New Year | Leave a comment

Den Haag (Or: Chinese New Year 2013 celebration)

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Niki

Marco, his mother and I traveled to the city center of The Hague today for the Chinese New Year celebrations. This included a few different parades, dragon dancing, a speech from the vice-mayor of The Hague, and more. The main action occurred just outside of de Bijenkorf (a department store) near Gedempte Gracht (street) in a parking lot (Google Maps).

The opening of the ceremony began with the waking of the two dragons using drums.

Along with drums there were also cymbal players:

And more dragons:

The movement of the dragon was simulated by pulling the steel rods up and down – one person up, the next person down.

I just liked the look of concentration on his face.

The end of the opening ceremony featured one dragon jumping from pedestal to pedestal. As there are two people underneath each costume, it takes a bit of coordination. Here’s a picture of the height of the highest pedestals:

The guy in orange has the job of catching the performers if they fall. They did twice – once in the beginning and once in the middle, on the highest pedestal. But no harm came – they were always caught before falling to the ground.

One performer on the other performer’s shoulders, to give the illusion that the dragon was rearing up.

And finally…

catching them in the act of jumping from one pedestal to the next.

Afterwards, they unveiled the “statue” for each of the years. This is the year of the snake.

A crowd forms near the beginning of the parade that came later.

It was pretty fun, but very cold, considering!

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Chinese New Year | 4 Comments