What are the customs and customs of the Netherlands?

Country name: The Kingdom of the Netherlands (The Kingdom of the Netherlands)

Flag: rectangular, with a length-to-width ratio of 3:2. From top to bottom, it is composed of three parallel and equal horizontal rectangles of red, white and blue. Blue represents the country facing the ocean and symbolizes the happiness of the people; white symbolizes freedom, equality, democracy, and the people's simple character traits; red represents the victory of the revolution.

National emblem: the royal emblem of the royal family of Orange and Nassau. For the cloak style. There is a coat of arms in the cloak with a crown on the top. There is a lion wearing a trefoil crown on the blue shield. One claw holds a silver Roman sword and the other claw holds a bundle of arrows, symbolizing that unity is strength. There is a crown on top of the coat of arms, with a lion on each side, and the blue ribbon below reads Archduke William's motto "Perseverance".

Memorial Day: May 4 (the fascist German troops who occupied the Netherlands signed a surrender letter in Wageningen on May 4, 1945, and it is designated as the "Memorial Day" in the Netherlands)

National flower: Tulip

Bird: Spoonbill

Windmills near Rotterdam. More than half of the land in the Netherlands is below sea level, and 1/3 is only 1 meter above sea level. In order to reclaim land from the sea and expand living space, the Dutch invented the windmill in 1229. At its peak, there were 9,000 windmills across the country. With the development of science and technology, windmills are gradually "retired", but most of them are completely preserved to attract tourists.

Physical geography: 41,528 square kilometers, located in western Europe, bordering Germany to the east and Belgium to the south. It borders the North Sea to the west and north, and is located in the deltas of the Rhine, Maas and Scheldt rivers, with a coastline of 1,075 kilometers. There are many rivers in the territory, mainly the Rhine River and the Maas River. There is Lake IJsselmeer on the northwest coast. Its western coast is lowland, its eastern part is wavy plains, and its central and southeastern parts are plateaus. "The Netherlands" is called Netherlands in Germanic, which means "Low Country". It is named because more than half of its land is below or almost horizontal to sea level. The climate of the Netherlands is a maritime temperate broad-leaved forest climate. Due to the low tide of the land, the Dutch accepted the wooden shoes invented by the French Gauls and gave them typical Dutch characteristics over hundreds of years of history.

In order to survive and develop, the Dutch tried their best to protect their originally small territory and avoid being "destroyed" when the sea tide rose. They have been fighting against the sea for a long time and reclaiming land from the sea. As early as the 13th century, dams were built to hold back the sea water, and wind-driven waterwheels were used to drain the water in the cofferdams. Over the past several hundred years, the Netherlands has built 1,800 kilometers of sea dams, increasing the land area by more than 600,000 hectares. Today, 20% of the Netherlands is artificially reclaimed from the sea. The word "perseverance" engraved on the national emblem of the Netherlands appropriately depicts the national character of the Dutch people.

Population: 16.34 million (as of August 2006), more than 90% are Dutch, and there are also Frisians. The official language is Dutch, and Frisian is spoken in the province of Friesland. 31% of the residents believe in Catholicism and 21% believe in Christianity. The Dutch population has been "making ends meet" for three consecutive years

The capital: Amsterdam (Amsterdam) has a population of 735,000 (2003); the seat of government: The Hague (The Hague), has a population of 458,000 (2003).

Administrative divisions: The country is divided into 12 provinces, with 489 cities and towns under the provinces (2003). The names of the provinces are as follows: Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe, Overijssel, Gelderland, Utrecht, North-Holland, South-Holland, Zealand, North-Brabant, Limburg, Frei Folan.

On September 10, 2003, Ms. Xue Hanqin, the new ambassador of the Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands, handed over her credentials to the Queen of the Netherlands and returned to the embassy in a golden carriage provided by the royal family. According to local custom, whenever an ambassador submits his credentials, the Queen of the Netherlands will appoint a chamberlain, escorted by the cavalry guard, to lead a gold carriage and a black carriage to the embassy to greet the ambassador and counselor. After submitting the credentials, they will be returned to the embassy in the same way.

Brief history: Before the 16th century, it was in a state of feudal separatism for a long time. It came under Spanish rule in the early 16th century. The war against Spanish rule broke out in 1568 and lasted for 80 years. In 1581, the seven northern provinces established the Republic of the Netherlands (officially known as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands). In 1648 Spain officially recognized the independence of the Netherlands. It was a maritime colonial power in the 17th century. After the 18th century, the Dutch colonial system gradually collapsed. French troops invaded in 1795. In 1806, Napoleon's brother became king, and the Netherlands was granted the title of a kingdom. Incorporated into France in 1810. It broke away from France in 1814 and established the Kingdom of the Netherlands the following year (Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830). It became a constitutional monarchy in 1848. remained neutral during World War I. Declared neutrality at the beginning of World War II. It was occupied by German troops in May 1940. The royal family and government moved to the United Kingdom and a government-in-exile was established. After the war, it abandoned its neutrality policy and joined NATO, the European Union, and later the European Union.

Economy: The Netherlands is a developed capitalist country and one of the top ten economic powers in the West. The Netherlands is relatively poor in natural resources, but rich in natural gas reserves. In 2001, it mined about 74.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas, making it more than self-sufficient and capable of exporting.

The Netherlands has a developed industry. Its main industrial sectors include food processing, petrochemicals, metallurgy, machinery manufacturing, electronics, steel, shipbuilding, printing, diamond processing, etc. In the past 20 years, it has attached great importance to the development of high-tech industries such as space, microelectronics, and bioengineering, as well as traditional industries. Mainly shipbuilding, metallurgy, etc. Rotterdam is Europe's largest oil refining center. The Netherlands is one of the world's major shipbuilding countries. The Netherlands' agriculture is also developed and it is the third largest exporter of agricultural products in the world. The Dutch have used land that is not suitable for farming to develop animal husbandry according to local conditions. Now the average person has one cow and one pig, ranking among the most developed countries in the world in animal husbandry. They grow potatoes on sandy soil and develop potato processing. More than half of the world's seed potato trade is exported from here. Flowers are a pillar industry in the Netherlands. There are 110 million square meters of greenhouses in the country used to grow flowers and vegetables, so they enjoy the reputation of "European Garden". The Netherlands sends beauty to every corner of the world, and flower exports account for 40%-50% of the international flower market. The Dutch financial services, insurance and tourism industries are developed. Dutch Tulip Float Parade

Transportation: The Netherlands has very developed land, sea and air transportation. There are rivers crisscrossing the territory and waterways extending in all directions. Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, known as the "Venice of the North", has more than 160 large and small waterways and more than 1,000 bridges. The Port of Rotterdam, located at the estuary of the Rhine and Maas rivers, is the largest port in the world. Amsterdam Airport is one of the major airports in the Netherlands and Europe and has been awarded the title of the best airport in the world many times. The Dutch have made full use of this unique geographical condition to develop the transportation industry. Its land, sea and air transportation account for 30% of the total EU transportation market.

At the cheese trading center in Gouda, a small town in the west of the Netherlands, a trader negotiates prices with sellers using the traditional high-five method. The Netherlands is the world's largest cheese producer, with more than half of the cheese produced in the small town of Gouda. Gouda City Cheese Trading Center was founded in 1668 and is the oldest cheese trading center in the world. To this day, locals still follow ancient customs such as laying out on the floor and negotiating prices with high fives to trade cheese. >>

News and publishing: The distribution of newspapers and periodicals began in 1618. Currently, there are nearly 90 daily newspapers (including 8 national daily newspapers) and about 4,000 comprehensive and professional periodicals. The main newspapers include "Telegraph", "Daily Report", "Volkswagen", "New Rotterdam Handelsblatt", "Oath", "Loyalist", "Financial Daily", "Elsheville Weekly", " Free Netherlands". The Netherlands News Agency is a semi-official news agency. The Netherlands has 5 national radio stations, 10 regional radio stations and 150 local radio stations. Television broadcast coverage is 100%, with 76% of households receiving cable TV. There are 35 radio and television organizations in the country, and the Dutch Radio and Television Association allocates radio and television broadcast time according to the number of members of each organization. Among them, the eight major radio and television organizations have the majority of broadcast time in three sets of semi-official national television programs. In recent years, Dutch commercial television stations have developed rapidly.