Located in northwestern Europe, the Netherlands is only a little larger than Taiwan Province and is one of the smallest countries in Europe.
Bordering the North Sea, the terrain is flat, with only 321 meters above sea level.
Half of the land is below 1 m above sea level, with the lowest point near Rotterdam and 6.7 m below sea level.
In early history, the three countries of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg have been known as the Netherlands, meaning a country soaked in the sea.
Because the altitude is too low, 40% of the country is flooded twice by the tides, and it is often hit by floods.
There was certainly no way to farm, primitive tribes living in ancient times were hunting and fishing, and it was not until the Romans came that the Netherlands entered the first written history of mankind.
The most famous seafood is herring, which has been eaten raw for thousands of years.
You can imagine how careless the Dutch are in their cuisine.
Mild and humid oceanic climate, Dutch pasture grows well. (Temperate oceanic climate point here)
It is still the world's largest cheese exporter, and many cities have traditional cheese markets.
Probably because cheese is eaten more, the Dutch maintain the average height of the world's number one.
On average, it is 15 centimeters taller than the Chinese, and there are not too many humiliating stories such as sitting on the toilet foot dangling and buying shoes that can only buy children's shoes.
In order to work in low-lying and wet land, the Dutch also invented wooden shoes, which are waterproof and protect the feet.
The Dutch dammed the sea and lived on land drained of water.
Many cities in the Netherlands end with Dan, which means dam.
The windmill is the earliest facility used by the Dutch for drainage, in the hearts of the Dutch, God created man, and the Dutch windmill created the land.
The Dutch have a deep affection for windmills, seeing them as a symbol of the nation and the nation.
Two of Europe's water arteries, the Rhine and Maas, have their mouths in the Netherlands.
The Dutch built canals or ditches to connect dense waterways and began to take a path where middlemen made a difference.
Export local leather, wool textiles, and ceramics overseas for cotton, grain and other agricultural products.
This socio-economic model promoted the development of navigation technology and shipbuilding, and the social economy took off.
The Dutch are natural businessmen, debauched all their lives and only love money, and regard making money as a lifelong belief.
It doesn't matter about other things other than making money, such as how to believe in God and who becomes emperor.
In the 16th century, the tyrannical Catholic Church could not continue to deceive people, and the Reformation, which advocated the rational love of God, rose in Europe, and the Netherlands became an important base.
Protestants persecuted by the Catholic Church across Europe fled to the Netherlands for refuge.
Unexpectedly, several less successful marriages were given to Spain as a dowry in the Netherlands, including the entire Netherlands.
The King of Spain was a Catholic god who not only persecuted Protestants in the Netherlands, but also influenced the Dutch to make money, and half of the income of the Spanish treasury at that time came from the Netherlands.
The inability to make as much money as they could make made the Dutch intolerable and fought an 80-year war with Spain.
The war ended with the independence of the Dutch Republic, and Spain played itself until it was dropped.
After that, the Dutch became less and less religious, and by 2015, 67.8% of Dutch were not religious.
Religious and political tolerance became cultural and technological inclusion and material gain.
Refugees from Antwerp, Belgium, brought diamond cutting techniques to the Netherlands, and Amsterdam diamond cuts are synonymous with perfect cuts and high-quality diamonds.
The diamonds in Queen Victoria's crown were cut in the Netherlands.
People from southern Germany and the Rhine brought with them printing and engraving, produced a large number of maps and nautical charts, and the Netherlands developed a huge commercial fleet and navy.
The Jews of Spain fled here, bringing with them the entire Mediterranean trade network.
In the 17th century, the Dutch carried the banner of international trade, and their fleets spread all over the world, occupying Indonesia, South Africa, Brazil, new Zealand, and monopolizing the trade between Taiwan and Japan.
New Zealand was named after a province, and a new Amsterdam was built in an estuary in North America, which is now New York.
Rotterdam, the second largest city, was for a long time the world's largest port.
Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, became the center of European shipping, and after a long, boring, lonely sailing life, sailors wanted to have fun when they got off the ship, and the pornography industry began to develop.
Amsterdam's Red Light District is now also a sight where visitors can see sex workers working legally and with dignity.
The Dutch, determined that no one could influence me to make money, knelt down to the Chinese emperor, followed the Muslims, and committed heinous crimes in the colonies.
Maritime trade flourished, and Amsterdam saw the emergence of the world's first multinational company, the Dutch East India Company, which accounted for half of the world's trade.
The Netherlands gave birth to the first central bank and stock exchange, and created capitalism in which money is made of money.
In the 17th century, the Netherlands gave birth to a large class of wealthy merchants, becoming a powerful maritime empire after Spain, and becoming the most powerful and wealthy country in Europe.
People with rich lives devoted themselves to art and gardening, ushering in a golden age.
World-class artistic giants such as Rembrandt and Vermeer were born.
Unlike the traditional Western painting of Jesus painting the king, Dutch painters paint ordinary rich people and the lives of rich people.
Rich Dutch people are obsessed with flowers, and the mysterious oriental plant of tulips, like eating oysters at every meal, has become a monument to show off wealth. (Learn about tulip points here)
Today's Netherlands is known as the Garden of Europe, with 60% of the world's flower exports and the world's largest tulip park.
Rich people are also obsessed with blue and white porcelain from China, and have produced blue and white porcelain high imitation - Delft blue pottery.
But soon, in the struggle for supremacy with the neighbors, the golden age came to an end.
The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I, and wanted to be neutral in World War II, but Hitler's eldest brother disagreed.
The country was destroyed, Rotterdam was flattened, and most of the Jews in the territory were slaughtered.
The Diary of Anne Frank, which was selected for the Chinese textbook, was written by a Dutch Jewish girl who was fleeing the Nazis.
In the end, Anne died in the concentration camp, just a few nights before the victory came.
Destruction also meant rebirth, and the post-war reconstruction of Rotterdam became the capital of the future, the cutting-edge architectural design fair.
It also has markthal, the world's most beautiful wet market.
After enduring religious persecution and war slaughter, the Dutch yearning for freedom continues to this day.
It was the first country in the world to legalize marijuana, legalize euthanasia, and legalize gay marriage. (Learn about drug points here)
Even dutch history has not seen a long period of despotism and dictatorship.
Today, the Netherlands controls European land, sea and air transport, and has large multinational companies such as Shell, Philips, Unilever and so on.
Sesame Dot is the world's second largest exporter of agricultural products after the United States, and one of the richest countries in the world (GDP per capita of $48,000, Chinese mainland $8,000), and has maintained a very low crime rate.
The ever-widening borders of human freedom have in no way prevented the Netherlands from becoming the safest and most prosperous country in the world.
It is said that freedom is the daughter of the Netherlands.
In this damp lowland, religion and human desire reached a good reconciliation, and tolerance and freedom became a source of prosperity and wealth.
I hope that this piece of purple and red will also illuminate another possibility for the complex world.