On Wednesday 10 February the city of Breda hosted the Chinese New Year Celebration on behalf of BrabantStad, the five large cities in Brabant. The start of the Year of the Tiger was celebrated with performances by the Jiangsu Performing Arts Group, who entertained the audience of more than 650 people with music, song, dance and acrobatics. Together with a local music school they sang the song Brabant, the unoffical anthom of this province. The festive meeting was concluded by an informal dinner and a market with information stands.

The Province of Noord-Brabant has strong and friendly ties with the Province of Jiangsu in China. In the past years there were several trade delegations from The Netherlands to China and vice versa. Most of the five BrabantStad cities also have individual relationships with twin cities in Jiangsu. Besides the economical ties, more and more cultural and educational exchanges take place.

The Chinese Ambassador in the Netherlands, Mr Zhang Jun, and her Majesty's Governors of the Province of Brabant and Zeeland, Mr Wim van de Donk and Ms Karla Peijs were present. Also the Netherlands' Consul-General to Shanghai, Mr Eric Verwaal and many governement officials attended the gathering as well as entrepeneurs and many representatives of the Chinese community in Brabant.

The Municipality of Breda organized the celebration on behalf of the BrabantStad cities together with the Jiangsu Representative Office, the Province Noord-Brabant and the Brabant Development Agency (BOM).