- For other uses, see Macau (disambiguation).
The Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, （Chinese:中華人民共和國澳門特別行政區） short form Macau or Macao (short form of Chinese: 澳門，also informally known as "馬交") (see Names), is a small territory on the southern coast of China. It is 70 km southwest of Hong Kong and 145 km from Guangzhou. It was the oldest European colony in China, dating back to the 16th century. The Portuguese government transferred sovereignty over Macau to the People's Republic of China in 1999, and it is now run as a Special Administrative Region of the PRC. Residents of Macau mostly speak Cantonese natively; Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, and English are also spoken.
Broadly, Macanese refers to all permanent inhabitants of Macau. But narrowly, it refers to an ethnic group in Macau originating from Portuguese descent, usually mixed with Chinese blood.
Besides historical colonial relics, the biggest attractions in Macau are the casinos. Though many forms of gambling are legal there, the most popular game is Pai Gow, a game played with Chinese dominoes. Gamblers from Hong Kong often take a one-day excursion to the city. Ferry service by hydrofoil between Hong Kong and Macau is available 24 hours a day, every day.
Names
The name "Macau" (馬交 Cantonese Jyutping: Maa3 Gaau1) is thought to be derived from "'Templo de A-Má" (媽閣廟 Cantonese Jyutping: Maa1 Gok3 Miu6, but Macau people pronunciate as Maa5 Gok3 Miu6 or Maa5 Gok3 Miu5), a still-existing landmark built in 1448 dedicated to the goddess Matsu. The more popular Chinese name of Àomén (澳門, Cantonese Jyutping: Ou3 Mun4) means "Inlet Gates". The "gates" refer to two erect gate-like mountains of Nantai (Chinese: 南台; pinyin: Nántái) and Beitai (Chinese: 北台; pinyin: Běitái). Or the other source: "Ao" from Macau's previous name "Heung San O" and "men" from "door", as it is geographically situated at "Cross' Door". Macau is also known as Ho King O (壕鏡澳; Haojing'ao; "Trench-mirror Inlet"), Heung San O (香山澳; Xiangshan'ao; "Fragrant-mountain Inlet"), Lin Do (蓮島; Liandao; "Lotus Island"), as well as "Soda port" (疏打埠).
Macau is the only official Portuguese spelling. In English, both Macao and Macau are used. Macao is the English spelling used on government documents, such as passports and immigration forms.
History
Main article: History of Macau
Macau was first settled by the Portuguese in 1557. Beginning in 1670, Portugal leased the territory although there was no transfer of sovereignty. Macau prospered as a port and was a subject of repeated attempts by the Dutch to conquer it in the 17th century.
After the House of Braganza regained control of Portugal from the Spanish Habsburgs in 1640, Macau was granted the official title of Cidade do (Santo) Nome de Deus de Macau, Não há outra mais Leal (City of the (Holy) Name of God of Macau, There is none more Loyal).
A church in Macau, with the region's distinctive striped tiling.
With Hong Kong established as a British Crown Colony, Macau declined as regional trading center as larger ships were drawn to the deep water port of Victoria Harbour. In 1849, Portugal declared the colony independent of China. This was recognised by the Chinese government in 1887.
In 1955, the Salazar regime declared Macau, in common with other Portuguese colonies, an "Overseas Province" of Portugal.
Although Macanese culture had always been a mixture between Chinese and Portuguese this did not always come about peacefully. Chinese citizens efforts to establish their own identity were often counter to the aims of the Portuguese government.
In 1966 residents tried to obtain a licence for a private school in Taipa, a city in Macau. After being rejected many times they went ahead and started building without permits. On November 15th, 1966, the Portuguese police arrested the school officials and beat construction workers, residents, and press reporters. As a result, Chinese teachers and students gathered at the Governor’s house to peacefully protest, but on December 3rd the government ordered them to be arrested. This stirred up the anger of the general public and more people came to protest. The Portuguese government sent riot police and declared martial law. As result of the protests 11 people died and 200 were injured.
To peacefully oppose the government, the Chinese people enacted “three no’s” — no taxes, no service, no selling to Portuguese. They were successful and on January 29th, 1967 the Portuguese government of Macau signed a statement of apology. This marked the beginning of equal treatment and recognition of Chinese identity and of de facto Chinese control of the colony.
After the leftist military coup of 1974, the now democratic Portuguese government was determined to relinquish all its overseas possessions, but the People's Republic of China did not favour Macau's immediate return to Chinese sovereignty. In 1976, Lisbon redefined Macau as a Special Territory, and granted it a large measure of administrative and economic autonomy. In addition, Portugal and the PRC agreed to regard Macau as 'a Chinese territory under Portuguese administration'. This status was made anomalous by the agreement in 1985 to return Hong Kong to China, and in 1987, an agreement was made to make Macau a Special Administrative Region of the PRC. The Macau Special Administrative Region finally came into being on December 20th 1999.
Politics
Main article: Politics of Macau
The chief executive is appointed by the People's Republic of China's central government after selection by an election committee, whose members are nominated by corporate bodies. The chief executive appears before a cabinet, the Executive Council, of between 7 and 11 members. Edmund Ho, a community leader and banker, is the first China-appointed chief executive of the Macau SAR, having replaced General de Rocha Vieira on December 20th, 1999.
The legislative organ of the territory is the Legislative Assembly, a 23-member body comprising eight directly elected members, eight appointed members representing functional constituencies and seven members appointed by the chief executive. The Legislative Assembly is responsible for general lawmaking.
The legal system is based largely on Portuguese law. The territory has its own independent judicial system, with a high court — the Court of Final Appeal (CFA). Judges are selected by a committee and appointed by the chief executive.
Subdivisions
See Also: List of cities and parishes in Macao
Macau comprises two administrative subdivisions:
Although the phrase "Northern District", broadly speaking, may refer to the entire Macau peninsula, some of the people in Macau use the phrase "Northern District" more narrowly. It refers to the northern part of the Macau peninsula, and the northern part of the Macau peninsula is situated near the border of China. In this way, a lot of people travel to and from China by land (on foot or with land transportation) through the northern district.
During the last periods of Portuguese rule, the peninsular (northern) district was administered by the Macau Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal de Macau), and the islands by the Islands Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal das Ilhas). After the handover to China in 1999, these were transferred to the Provisional Municipal Council of Macau (臨時澳門市政執行委員會; Câmara Municipal de Macau Provisória) and the Provisional Municipal Council of the Islands (臨時海島市政執行委員會; Câmara Municipal das Ilhas Provisória) respectively per Article 15, Law 1/1999; the corresponding Municipal Assembly (Assembleia Municipal) was also changed to a provisional one (臨時市政議會; Assembleia Municipal Provisória). Article 16 and Annex XII of Law 6/1999 changed the Portuguese-style coat-of-arms with two angels as heraldic supporters to a simple design of a key with two birds as supporters. Implicitly, this also revoked the historical name of Cidade do (Santo) Nome de Deus de Macau, Não há outra mais Leal (City of the (Holy) Name of God of Macau, There is none more Loyal) which had religious and royal overtones. Subsequently in 2001, Law 17/2001 and Administrative Regulation 32/2001 introduced the Institute (or Bureau) of Civic and Municipal Affairs (民政總署; Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais; IACM) which replaced the Provisional Municipal Councils. The IACM was given a simple logotype based on the Han (Chinese) character for 'civilians'.
Geography
Main article: Geography of Macau
Macau consists of a peninsula, and the islands of Taipa and Coloane.
The peninsula is formed by the Zhujiang (Pearl River) estuary on the east and the Xijiang (West River) on the west. It borders the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone in mainland China.
Macau has a generally flat terrain resulting from extensive land reclamation, but numerous steep hills mark the original natural land mass. The Macau peninsula was originally an island, but gradually a connecting sandbar turned into a narrow isthmus. Land reclamation in the 17th century made Macau into a peninsula.
With a dense urban environment, Macau has no arable land, pastures, forest, or woodland. Because of this deficiency, Macau's people traditionally have looked to the sea for their livelihood.
Economy
Main article: Economy of Macau
Macau's economy is based largely on tourism, including gambling. Textile and fireworks manufacturing are the largest employers after gambling. Efforts to diversify have spawned other small industries, such as toys, artificial flowers, and electronics. The clothing industry has provided about three-fourths of export earnings, and the gambling industry is estimated to contribute more than 40% of GDP. More than 8 million tourists visited Macau in 2000. Although the recent growth in gambling and tourism has been driven primarily by mainland Chinese, tourists from Hong Kong remain the most numerous. Recently gang violence, a dark spot on the economy, has significantly declined, to the benefit of the tourism sector. During the last four years, the average growth rate of the economy has been approximately 10% per year. The GDP per capita in 2004 was $22,620 U.S. In the first quarter of 2005, the unemployment rate was 4.1%.
In 2004 gambling revenues from Macau's casinos were for the first time greater than those of Las Vegas (each about $5 billion), which means Macau is now the biggest gambling centre in the World.
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Macau
Considered as a "dependency", Macau is the most densely populated of the countries/dependencies in the world.
Macau's population is 95% Chinese, primarily Cantonese and some Hakka, both from nearby Guangdong Province. The remainder are of Portuguese or mixed Chinese-Portuguese ancestry, or the so-called Macanese. Some Japanese, including descendants of Japanese Catholics who were expelled by shoguns, also live in Macau. The official languages are Portuguese and Chinese. Though the residents commonly speak Cantonese, both Cantonese and Mandarin are de facto official. English is spoken in tourist areas. Macanese or Patuá, an ancient Portuguese based dialect, is almost extinct.
Culture
Main article: Culture of Macau
Landmarks
Miscellaneous
Lotus is the symbol of Macau. There is a fountain in the shape of a lotus outside the Macau Tower.
- Like Hong Kong, Macau also has a flower to represent the city. While the representative flower of Hong Kong is the Bauhinia, the representative flower of Macau is the lotus. The lotus is always used as a symbol of the Macau Special Administrative Region.
See also
External links
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