China trip a success

Van Gogh exhibition

The trip to China coincided with the opening of an exhibition featuring artworks by Van Gogh, as well as letters written by the Dutch painter, translated into Chinese. After his meeting with Mayor Van der Laan, the Mayor of Beijing, Guo Jinlong, announced a return visit to Amsterdam in the coming week. This is regarded as an important sign of strengthening relations between Beijing and the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. In addition, a number of Chinese companies with bases in Amsterdam announced expansion, and a new Chinese IT company will be coming to the capital. 

The letters and paintings of Van Gogh

A canvas measuring 8 by 18 metres currently hangs over the façade of the Beijing Capital Museum, showing an infamous self-portrait by Van Gogh.

Vincent van Gogh is undoubtedly popular throughout China, thus Mayor Van der Laan delivered the small exhibition from Amsterdam. The Rijksmuseum, which owns the works, has placed the Van Gogh pieces amoung his Amsterdam contemporaries, with pieces by Breitner, Schwartze and Israëls also included in the travelling exhibition. 

Over the coming month the museum expects to receive 150,000 visitors. The director of Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam, Axel Ruger, also signed an agreement to take Van Gogh’s letters to the Chinese market in 2013.

Mayor Van der Laan said "This was the greatest gift we could give Beijing. We are building upon our relationship via cultural bridges. We stand at the beginning; the immediate return visit by my colleague from Beijing demonstrating how important their concern is for our city. It has led to immediate results for the inhabitants of both cities.”

Trade relations

In Beijing, Amsterdam was asked to share knowledge about metropolitan food supply and planning. Hereafter Beijing city will work together with Wageningen UR and Greenport Holland International.

Carolien Gehrels, alderperson for economic affairs and culture, visited a large IT company. They had Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London on their shortlist. "This company chose Amsterdam because of its good accessibility, the strength of the service sector and proximity to other Chinese companies. They also tell each other how pretty Amsterdam is. The historic inner city, our culture and Ajax clearly matter too."

Chinese companies in Amsterdam region

Huawei, China's largest telecom and IT company will expand in Amsterdam this year, opening a European headquarters for its Enterprise Business Group. In its first year, this activity will result in 100 immediate job placements, on top of the 300 employees Huawei already has in Amsterdam.

In January 2011, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) moved into Amsterdam, and in the first half of the year it proved to be the most successful of their five recently opened European sites. ICBC is the largest bank in the world, with 270 million customers. An agreement has been made between Amsterdam, the ICBC and the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency to collaborate closely towards acquiring business clients. ICBC currently has four million business customers.

The Netherlands now houses almost 300 Chinese companies, of which approximately 30% are located within the Amsterdam region.

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