On February 12 you can wish your friends and relatives a Happy Chinese New Year. On this day the Chinese celebrate the start of their New Year. Would you like to celebrate with them? You are very welcome in the Nieuwmarkt quarter, the Amsterdam Chinatown. Come and enjoy the fireworks, without which it is quite impossible to celebrate the Chinese New Year, and the traditional Lion Dance.

MAIN FESTIVAL
The Chinese New Year is the main festival of the year for the Chinese. They celebrate the start of spring. Chinese New Year in celebrated on the first day of the moon month of the Chinese year. For this reason the date is a different one every year, however, it always falls between January 21 and February 20. February 9, 2005 is the first day of the Chinese year 4703.

LION DANCE
It is tradition to celebrate the Chinese New Year exuberantly and with lots of noise to exorcise the ghosts. The Lion Dance is also inextricably linked with the Chinese New Year celebrations. The dancing lion distributes the New Year’s blessing by spitting out pieces of lettuce.

CHINATOWN
Chinatown Amsterdam covers the area within the triangle Stormsteeg, Gelderse Kade and Zeedijk. When you are in Chinatown, do visit the Nieuwmarktplein square with its historical Waag weighing house and the many typically Amsterdam pubs. The Chinese quarter is known for its unusual shops and excellent Chinese restaurants. Make sure you also visit the beautiful He Hwa Temple on Zeedijk. The animals on the roof of the temple represent the Chinese Zodiac. The dragons protect both the building and the quarter.

Chinese New Year
Zeedijk, Amsterdam
February 12, 2005