Last Saturday, February 17, we could experience the celebrations of the Chinese New-Year - The pig year. Chinatown, Den Haag has the centre of the festivity, with the speeches, drums, the Dragon and Lion dances, and noisy and smelly fireworks. Later, on the city hall the festivity continued with martial arts and other performances.
Clearly this wasn't a regular day in Chinatown Den Haag. Nevertheless this celebration spirit doesn't fade the fact that the majority of the people with Chinese roots came from outside the neighbourhood. Reinforced security, casino supported dancers, non-Chinese leading people... By paying attention to a few details it's easily readable the marketing behind this event, and the lack of the spontaneity that should be in the origin of the celebrations. On the windows, it was clear that this is no long a pure Chinese quarter...
Clearly this wasn't a regular day in Chinatown Den Haag. Nevertheless this celebration spirit doesn't fade the fact that the majority of the people with Chinese roots came from outside the neighbourhood. Reinforced security, casino supported dancers, non-Chinese leading people... By paying attention to a few details it's easily readable the marketing behind this event, and the lack of the spontaneity that should be in the origin of the celebrations. On the windows, it was clear that this is no long a pure Chinese quarter...
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