One side feeds the other. God is fair and gives you barren land, but at the same time will give you another chance of life.
The territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is about 42,000 square kilometers, and the Netherlands has been reclaiming land, increasing a little every year, and nearly half of the country is based on damming by the sea. The population of the Netherlands in 2022 is about 17.2 million, and in 2021, under the influence of the new crown epidemic, tourism, entertainment, hotel catering, transportation and communications have not yet fully recovered, the economic growth is 4.8%, the economic scale has reached 1,016.17 billion US dollars, the per capita GDP is about 59,000 US dollars, far exceeding the three major British, French and German powers, the external debt is 4.35 trillion US dollars, and the foreign exchange reserves are 38.44 billion US dollars.
The Netherlands is highly technologically powerful, with 11 Fortune Global 500 companies in 2021, ranking tenth in the world in terms of number.
1. The old look of the Netherlands is renewed
The Dutch are intelligent and industrious, they have a history of thousands of years of water control, and they have been indomitable in their struggle against water - blocking the sea and building embankments to prevent floods. Part of the Netherlands is "floating" out of the sea by damming the sea and draining the water.
Land reclamation in the IJsseler Dam project increased the size of the Netherlands by 7%, and Flevoland was added. The Rhine-Maas River Delta project used 11 dams and sluices to permanently eliminate flooding in both rivers.
The Netherlands is one of the smallest countries in Europe (the other three are San Marino, Liechtenstein and Monaco) and has two capitals, one is the symbolic legal capital Amsterdam, where the royal palace is located, and the other is the administrative capital Of The Hague, where the government, parliament, supreme court and most foreign embassies in the Netherlands are located. The Netherlands is 7 hours behind Beijing.
In the mid-16th century, about 200,000 people in the Netherlands were engaged in fishing, and the small herring provided a livelihood for 1/5 of the Dutch.
It is precisely because of this livelihood that the Netherlands and Northeast Europe, England, Southern Europe, and Africa gradually formed maritime trade relations. Facing the sea and with canals, the Netherlands formed the most developed water transportation network in Europe at that time, with the foundation for going to the blue sea and becoming a global trading power in the era of maritime civilization.
As early as the 1960s, the industrialization of the Netherlands and Britain, France, Italy, and Spain was already over-mature, and housing construction had long been completed. In Dutch cities like The Hague, Amsterdam or Arnhem, as in London, Paris, Rome and Madrid, cities don't change much in 20, 50 or even 100 years.
The more important reason is that the people there cherish the bricks and tiles and grass and trees left by their ancestors, and take it as their duty to keep the country's historical style unchanged.
But Rotterdam was originally a city full of medieval castles, windmills and churches, but it suffered two devastating ravages in World War II. One was the indiscriminate bombing by the Luftwaffe in May 1939, and the other was a larger bombing by the U.S. Air Force in June 1944.
After the war, Rotterdam was rebuilt, with soaring skyscrapers, steel bridges across rivers and strangely conceived buildings that gave the city a new look and earned the title of "Architectural Capital of the World".
Completed in 2014, the Rotterdam Tower is 150 meters high, and the three towers on the tall building are "sitting upright" on a 6-storey building, with 42 floors in the east building, 40 floors in the middle building, and 44 floors in the west building. The dislocation of these three towers at a height of 85 meters and the buildings below them has an aesthetically peculiar effect, making the whole building look more like sculptures or building blocks.
Another distinctive building in Rotterdam is the market hall. This is a 120-meter-long, 70-meter-wide arched building with a height of 40 meters, with a total of 11,000 square meters of arched ceiling, which is a giant digitally printed mural and is currently the world's largest interior painting. From a cross-section, this arch resembles a horseshoe.
The hollow part of the horseshoe is a huge inner-city market, while the horseshoe part consists of 2-story offices and 10-storey residences. Its fashion subverts people's stereotypes of the market and embodies the concept of community functioning.
Rotterdam's most well-known architectural cube houses, located close to the arched market, are the most concentrated places for Rotterdam's creative architecture.
After the Rotterdam municipal government developed this public house, 38 of them were sold as private houses, others as commercial, and one of them was turned into a block house museum.
The interior of the cube house is three floors, the pillars at the bottom supporting the entire cube can be used as a storage room, the first floor is the living room and kitchen, the second floor has a bedroom, study and bathroom, and the third floor is the attic, with the best lighting, which can be used as a leisure area. 方块屋实际空间，有的地方则让人无法直起身子的。
Windmills, tulips and wooden shoes are its most beautiful cultural symbols and still attract visitors from all over the world. The former "coachman of the sea" is now China's second-largest trading partner in Europe and the world's second-largest exporter of agricultural products.
Today, Chinese clothing is full of the most prosperous shopping malls in the Netherlands, and Huawei mobile phones and Lenovo computers are also in the Dutch electrical city.
2. Geography and attractions of the Netherlands
The Netherlands is located in the northwest of the European continent, bordered by the North Sea to the west and north, the United Kingdom to the west, Norway to the north, Germany to the east, and Belgium to the south. The furthest north-south distance of the Netherlands is about 300 km, and the furthest distance from east to west is about 200 km.
The Netherlands is flat and, with the exception of some hills to the south and east, most of the terrain is low. The lowest point in the Netherlands is near Rotterdam, 6.7 meters below sea level, and is known as a country below sea level.
The temperature does not change much throughout the year, the winter is not cold, and the summer is not hot. The average temperature in the coastal areas is 16 °C in summer and 3 °C in winter, and the difference between the inland temperature and the seasonal temperature is only 1 degree. The temperature in the Netherlands in normal years is close to that of Yunnan, China, which can be said to be spring in all seasons, which is very suitable for living and living.
The Netherlands has the highest population density in Europe and one of the countries with the highest average population density in the world.
Warm ocean and bay currents make the climate mild and humid, with southwesterly winds blowing most of the year, often bringing large amounts of clouds. Prolonged dry weather is rare. In summer, sometimes it rains several times a day, but after each rain, the sun will come out, so the Dutch often go out with an umbrella.
There are three palaces in the Netherlands controlled by the royal family, of which the Linh Palace and nordendborg Palace are two in The Hague, the other is in Amsterdam, and the palace is opposite Dam Square.
Formerly the residence of Queen Beatrix, the Lin Palace is now the residence of King William Alexander of Alexandria (born 27 April 1967) and Queen Maxima Soreggietta (born 17 May 1971). Nordenburg Palace was once the queen's office and is now the king's office.
There are many rivers, canals and lakes in the Netherlands, and the three major rivers in Western Europe, the Rhine, Maas and Schheldt, enter the sea here. The canals of the Netherlands are crisscrossed and densely packed with cobwebs, most of which are old canals left over from a hundred years ago. The most famous one is the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal.
These three great rivers and their numerous tributaries bring more wealth and economic development opportunities to the Netherlands.
Now, these old canals are being fully utilized to develop shipping. Many freighters of varying tonnage weave through the canals. Most of the road bridges across the canal are also movable bridges, and the bridges are raised high when the fleet passes, and then lowered after the fleet passes.
Highways span overridden overpasses that rise in the air and are not disturbed by the cobwebs of canals.
Rotterdam, the world's largest port city, is located in the Delta region of south Holland. The ancient porcelain capital of Delft is 10 km south of The Hague. 15 km northeast of The Hague is the university town of Leiden. The world-famous Tulip Park is located near the small town of Lisser in the northern part of the province of South Holland. More than 80% of the land in South Holland is below sea level.
The university of Groningen, a prestigious University in the Netherlands, is located in groningen, the capital of groningen province.
Friesland has a different style, and there are many fishing villages along the coast that still retain the style of hundreds of years ago, which is a good place for tourists to hunt.
The capital of Friesland is Leeuwarden, and the other major towns are Sneek, Drachten, Harlingen and Borswald. The province of Friesland also administers 4 large and several smaller islands in the West Frisian archipelago of the Wadden Sea. The island has fishing villages and roads, as well as an airport.
3. Dutch folk culture
The Dutch love celebrations. Every birthday, all relatives and friends should try to invite as much as possible to prepare birthday party meals and gifts. Weddings are more solemn than in other European countries.
When people with conditions and relatively well-off lives hold weddings, they often rent a luxurious two-wheeled carriage, and the groom and bride ride in a carriage, surrounded by relatives and friends, through the streets and alleys, to the city hall to perform the marriage procedures. A wedding ceremony is held at the church, and after the ceremony, a grand wedding feast is held at the man's house.
Every year after that, wedding anniversaries and bronze, silver and gold wedding anniversaries will be held, and parents and children will give gifts to the couples who hold the celebrations.
In the Netherlands, all the things to be happy about can be a reason to hold a celebration. Celebrating your son, promoting, receiving awards, and children receiving degrees and more desirable positions are all celebrated on a moderate scale during breaks.
It provides a place for members of a unit to exchange ideas. On such occasions, the relaxed atmosphere is extremely conducive to enhancing understanding among colleagues and resolving misunderstandings and differences.
The Netherlands is the world's most famous flower producer and exporter. The Dutch love flowers more than the people of all other European countries. Whether it is a small town or a large city space, or in front of the gate of the residence, there will be a small garden of more than ten square meters, which is concentrated with various flowers.
Floral colors are broad-ranging, with typical colors being red, yellow, and purple. Rural houses are more exquisite, due to the large area of the yard around the house, the garden is colorful, making people dizzy.
Many urban people, especially the middle class, have moved from the city to the countryside because the countryside provides them with the space to build large gardens.
Due to the lack of land and the development of urbanization, the Dutch developed a tradition of planting flowers and trees indoors. The use of flower pots and tree barrels, which are used to plant orange and lemon trees, not only overcomes the difficulties of insufficient urban space, but also meets the needs of appreciating flowers in the cold winter and enjoying the fun of the orchard.
The Arsmayr United Flower Auction Centre is the largest flower market in the Netherlands, equivalent to the size of 120 football fields. Florists are also a great attraction for Dutch cities. Traditional Dutch gardens can now be seen in some old houses. The dutch old-fashioned garden fence shows that the owner of the garden likes to let others enjoy the beauty of their own garden from the outside.
There are more holidays in the Netherlands, and there are 7 national holidays stipulated by the government alone, namely New Year's Day, Easter, Queen's Day, Liberation Day, Ascension Day, Eminence Day and Christmas.
The most important of the worldly holidays in the Netherlands is Queen's Day, which can be seen as the national holiday of the Netherlands. Amsterdam is particularly lively on this day, with the whole city transformed into a party venue and a street market, full of costumed crowds. Usually on this day the queen receives congratulators in the royal palace in the countryside.
On Queen's Day in 1997, 700,000 people took part in the celebrations on the streets of Amsterdam, but none of them happened.
May 4 is the Netherlands' Day of Remembrance for those who have been martyred during successive wars, especially those of the Resistance Movement who died in World War II and Jews who died in Nazi concentration camps.
Opposite the upper palace on Dam Square is a white monument built in 1956, also known as the War Memorial, in honor of the victims of World War II. Next to it is the cathedral, where the coronation ceremony was held for the kings of the Netherlands. The area around the square is Amsterdam's bustling business district.
On 5 May 1945, Canadian troops liberated the last piece of Dutch territory occupied by Nazi Germany. 5 May is Liberation Day in the Netherlands. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, the theme of Liberation Day is "Good Neighborliness", which promotes the unity of communities, promotes the integration of different races, and helps those around them.
Religion plays a pivotal role in the social and political life of the Dutch people. Half of the Catholics in the Netherlands are concentrated in the southern provinces, and the remaining half is scattered in the 10 northern provinces.
In the last decade of the 20th century, there was a call for a confluence between the Dutch Reformed Church and the Dutch Reformed Church, two major factions of Protestantism in the Netherlands. The Netherlands was once a very protestant country, and calvinism dominated the religious life of the people for a long time.
Until the end of the 20th century, Christianity (including Protestant denominations and Catholicism) was still dominant in the Netherlands, but popular enthusiasm for religion was waning. By 2020, the proportion of the non-religious population will reach 72%.
4. The struggle for supremacy at sea
The Netherlands is a european country with relatively late development, but due to special geographical and natural conditions, the Netherlands has become an important commercial power in the world since the Middle Ages.
In order to develop commerce, the Netherlands established a large commercial fleet and navy. Before the Netherlands achieved full independence, its fleet was already vying for maritime supremacy in the Americas, Asia, and other powers.
The Dutch Navy not only served as a self-defensive escort in the course of its development, but also launched several offensives against its traditional enemies Spain, Portugal and their territories. Britain and the Netherlands fought for supremacy at sea, rivals and friends, which led to several changes in the North American colonies, and finally formed today's political geography.
When Britain, France and the two German principalities jointly attacked the Netherlands in 1671, the Dutch navy stubbornly defended the sea line in the face of a strong enemy. After the end of a naval battle, it is often necessary to compensate for their losses in battle by capturing and auctioning off enemy ships and property.
Subsequent actions aimed at looting also had a strategic role in destroying the economies of hostile states. The Dutch Navy also fought in wars for colonies during its heyday, competing for supremacy at sea and controlling key points of maritime traffic.
The Dutch navy also occupied China's Taiwan in the 17th century, competing with Portugal for macau and the West Indies, participating in the War of the Spanish Succession, and competing with other powers for European hegemony. In the end, the Dutch navy, as well as the Dutch, declined as they consumed their own power in the struggle for supremacy. This also reflects the inevitability of history.
In the First World War, the Netherlands tried to avoid being involved in disputes between the great powers for its own benefit. Only 10 countries, including Argentina, Chile, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Venezuela, Sweden and Switzerland, were able to maintain their neutrality until the end of the war.
The Dutch made overtures to Germany during World War I, but did not receive good recompense from Germany. After the outbreak of World War II, in 1940, Germany still invaded the Netherlands in spite of the neutrality policy pursued by the Netherlands, and occupied the Netherlands for five years, and the Dutch royal family and government were forced into exile. Hitler began the persecution of Jews, sending all Dutch Jews to German concentration camps, where there were 140,000 Jews in the Netherlands before the war, and only 30,000 remained after the war. On May 6, 1945, Germany surrendered and the Netherlands was liberated.
5. A constitutional monarchy
The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. Royals in Europe have no real political power. At the heart of the Central Government of the Netherlands is the Council of Ministers, the Cabinet. The Council of Ministers is composed of all ministers, with the Prime Minister as the convener. The ministries of the Central Government of the Netherlands are responsible for the formulation and implementation of various guidelines and policies in various fields.
Judging from the proportion of the three major industries in the Netherlands in GDP and the proportion of labor in the three major industries, the labor productivity of agriculture is higher than that of industry, and the industry is higher than that of the service industry.
Agriculture in the Netherlands, which includes farming, livestock, fishing and horticulture, is a highly profitable sector. Agriculture uses state-of-the-art technology to produce, thereby maximizing yields.
The Netherlands is an important producer of agricultural products in the world and a base of technological innovation in agricultural production. The Netherlands is the world's second largest exporter of agricultural products after the United States, the world's second largest exporter of vegetables after China, and the world's fourth largest fruit exporter.
The Dutch Government believes that the establishment of a free economic system and the accession of the European system of economic cooperation and collective security should be politically decentralized in order to avoid the revival of a powerful centralized state and a renewed threat to neighbouring countries.
On 15 March 1948, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg signed the Treaty on Economic, Social, Cultural Cooperation and Collective Self-Defence in Brussels, which was valid for 50 years. Although the treaty still regarded Germany as an imaginary enemy, the potential enemy in the hearts of the signatories was the Soviet Union. On 4 April 1949, representatives of the five countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty.
In 1953, the first hydrogen bomb of the Soviet Union was successfully developed. Soviet nuclear forces changed NATO's strategic plan. In December 1957, the NATO Council decided to use tactical nuclear weapons to strengthen the defenses of Western Europe. The Netherlands was the first country to accept a nuclear warhead, but the nuclear button remained under U.S. control. The Netherlands announced that it would only accept the European nuclear deterrent program under the Atlantic framework, that is, in close coordination with U.S. strategic forces and under the joint command of NATO.
The Netherlands represents the will of the most typical small European states to accept the distant and moderate hegemony of the other side of the Atlantic rather than the leadership of an unreliable country in the region, to avoid reducing itself to a third-class state.
After more than 70 days of BOMBING Yugoslavia by the eight NATO countries, Europeans have reflected and deeply felt that they have no autonomy in defense issues.
The Netherlands and Britain had always advocated maintaining the leadership of the United States in European defense, and joined the establishment of an independent European defense camp after the Kosovo crisis.
In the post-Cold War period, the Dutch army was further involved in international affairs to highlight the image of the Netherlands as a "small and influential country".
In today's world, capital and modern science and technology are flowing and spreading internationally with unprecedented speed and breadth, and the wave of "globalization" has swept around the world, greatly affecting the course of world history and having an extremely profound impact on China's development.
In the face of different "great changes" from the past, China has entered the world in an opener manner and at a faster pace to meet the challenges of the times.
How can we better enter the world, how to better safeguard the sovereignty and independence of nation-states in the process of integration into the world, actively participate in international affairs, and contribute to safeguarding world peace and promoting the common development of the world and mankind.
This requires us to have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the external world than ever before, and only by understanding the world more comprehensively and deeply can we integrate into the world at a higher level, and can we not lose our way and maintain ourselves in the process of integration into the world.
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