On 18 September 2019, MCM College is honored to have Ambassador Annemieke Ruigrok, Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as the guest speaker of the European Union Lecture Series on the Netherlands. With a warm welcome from MCMC College Master Professor Kevin Thompson, Ambassador Annemieke Ruigrok shared with students the five most common misunderstandings about the Netherlands. The audience first learned about the misunderstanding between Holland and the Netherlands, for which the latter refers to the country as a whole while Holland only refers to two provinces of the country. Then, the audience learned about the usage of the English word “Dutch”, the freedom one can enjoyed abiding to the rules, laws, and regulations in the Netherlands, the circular economy, solar energy and water management, arts and architect in the Netherlands in addition to windmills, tulips and wooden shoes. Lastly, the audience learned about the fact that the Netherlands is actually the world’s second largest agricultural food products exporter.

Many may not know that the relationship between Macau and the Netherlands dated back in the 1600s. The Netherlands had tried to set foot on Macau in 1601, 1603, and 1607 like the Portuguese did. In 1622, the tension and conflict had raised to such extend that the Dutch and the Portuguese fought a war in Macau, and the Portuguese army managed to win this battle under unfavorable conditions. This is the only battle that was fought between two European powers on Chinese land. At the end of the lecture, Ambassador Ruigrok shared with the audience sweets made in the Netherlands.

The next European Union Lecture Series will be held on 23 October 2019, with Professor Benjamin Hodges from the Department of Communication as the guest speaker on Bulgaria. We welcome all who are interested in knowing more about each country in the European Union.