Antwerp, the little apple

The city of New York is often referred to as ' the big apple'.
Maybe Antwerp can be referred to as being 'the little apple' on the globe.
Anyway, there are striking similarities between the two cities.

For instance Antwerp has it's own, small but interesting ,version of Chinatown. In the Van Wesenbeeckstraat you find the biggest concentration of Chinese restaurants, take-aways, Asian shops, a real Chinese supermarket called 'Sun Wah' and much more.

Every year the Chinese New Year is being celebrated in the street and the annual parade of Dragons, is very much appreciated by the local inhabitants and tourists.

We have a large Jewish community, just like New York has. Just like in New York, their presence is very noticeable and Jewish entrepreneurs have a large impact on the local community. E.g. our diamond industry and trade. Maybe the Jewish quarter can be compared with Brooklyn. The Jewish quarter, being the heart of the diamond industry is of huge importance to the city's economy!

We also have a district called Hoboken, I've been told that our Hoboken is the original one and that Hoboken, New York was founded by emigrants coming in from Hoboken, Antwerp, Belgium ...

In short Antwerp, Belgium can be described as a melting pot of many nationalities. This topic will be dealt with later on in a log called 'Foreigners' ...