THE HAGUE, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Since the first Chinese migrants moved to the Netherlands in 1911, the community has been doing very well in Dutch society, according to new research.
Second generation Chinese are extremely well educated, in some cases even more so than the natives, Dutch research institute Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau said in a report published on Friday.
"The contact between the two generations is most remarkable," said Merove Gijsberts, one of the authors of the report.
The Chinese are the fifth largest non-Western immigrant group in the Netherlands after the Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese and Antilleans. Some 71,500 Chinese migrants and their descendants currently live in Holland.
The first Chinese to arrive in the Netherlands mainly came for work and they were followed later by their families. The Chinese population grew considerably in recent years, mainly due to immigration for study and business.
Other large Chinese groups originating from former Dutch colonies such as Indonesia and Suriname were not included in the research.
Based on earlier research, first generation Chinese in the Netherlands were thought of as a relatively closed community. However, second generation Chinese born in the Netherlands buck the trend and are doing especially well in the field of education.
The vast majority of second generation Chinese complete their secondary education in the Netherlands, with many of them continuing with higher education. They are much better educated than other migrant groups and also have an advantage over native Dutch students. Around 85 percent of second-generation Chinese migrants go on to higher education, compared to 59 percent of Dutch students.
