Macau

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(Redirected from Macao)
For other uses, see Macau (disambiguation).
中華人民共和國澳門特別行政區
Região Administrativa Especial de Macau da República Popular da China
Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
Image:Macau flag.gif Image:Coat of arms of Macao.png
(Flag) (Emblem)
Image:LocationMacau.png
Official language Portuguese, Chinese
(Cantonese and Putonghua are both official languages, however Chinese prevails in official documents in cases of doubt; Patua (Portuguese-Asian Creole) spoken by several dozen Macanese (people of mixed Asian and Portuguese extraction); Pilipino (Tagalog) and other Philippine languages spoken by several thousand Filipino guest worker; Fujianese spoken by large immigrant community from Fujian.
Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah
Area
- Total

- % water 		Ranked 191st
27.3 km²
10.5 sq mi
0%
Population
- Total (2005)
- Density 		Ranked 162nd
488,100
17,50/km²
42,952/sq mi
Establishment
 - Date 		Handover from Portugal to the PRC


20 December 1999

GDP (PPP)
  - Total (2005)
  - per capita 		Ranked 139th
US$ 11.5 billion
US$24,300
Currency Pataca (MOP)
Time zone UTC+8
Internet TLD .mo
Calling Code +853
Government Portal http://www.gov.mo
Tourism Portal http://www.macautourism.gov.mo

The Macao 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 [Template:Audio-nohelp, Template:Audio-nohelp] ; Portuguese: Região Administrativa Especial de Macau da República Popular da China [Template:Audio-nohelp], abbreviated as RAEM), commonly known as Macau or Macao (Chinese: 澳門, or informally known as 馬交; see Names), is a small territory on the southern coast of China. Administered by Portugal until 1999, it was the oldest European colony in China, dating to the 16th century. The administrative power (in Portuguese "potência administrante") over Macau was transferred to the People's Republic of China in 1999, and it is now one of two Special Administrative Regions of the PRC, together with Hong Kong. Macau has played a unique and influential role in relations between China and the West, especially between the late 16th and 19th centuries.

Residents of Macau mostly speak Cantonese natively; Portuguese, Mandarin, and English, Fujianese, Pilipino, Thai and several other languages are also spoken. The Macanese language, which is generally known as "Patua," is a distinctive Creole that is still spoken by several dozen Macanese, an ethnic group of mixed Asian and Portuguese ancestry that accounts for about two per cent of Macau's population. (However, Macanese is sometimes also used in the broader sense to describe any permanent resident of Macau.)

Besides historical colonial relics, Macau's biggest attraction is its gambling industry and casinos. Though many forms of gambling are legal here, the most popular game is Pai Gow, played with Chinese dominoes. Gamblers from Hong Kong often take one-day excursions to Macau; ferry service by hydrofoil to and from Hong Kong is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Contents

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Names

The name "Macau" (Portuguese pronunciation IPA: /Template:IPA/) is thought to be derived from the Templo de A-Má (Temple of A-Ma or Ma Kok Temple) (媽閣廟, Cantonese Jyutping: Maa1 Gok3 Miu6, local pronunciation: Maa5 Gok3 Miu6 or Maa5 Gok3 Miu5), a still-existing landmark built in 1448 dedicated to the goddess Matsu. The Chinese name Aomen 澳門 (pinyin: Àomén, Cantonese Jyutping: Ou3 Mun4) means "Inlet Gates". The "gates" refer to two erect gate-like mountains of Nantai (Template:Zh-cp) and Beitai (Template:Zh-cp). Alternately, Ao may derive from Macau's previous name Heong San Ou, as it is geographically situated at "Cross' Door". Macau is also known as Hou Keng Ou (壕鏡澳; pinyin: Haojing'ao; "Oyster-mirror Inlet"), Heong San Ou (香山澳; Xiangshan'ao; "Fragrant-mountain Inlet"), Lin Tou (蓮島; Liandao; "Lotus Island"), as well as "Soda Port" (疏打埠).

While Àomén/Ou3 Mun4 is the traditional Chinese name of the place, it is common among the Cantonese-speaking population of the territory to use the Portuguese name when speaking in Cantonese, pronouncing it Maa3 Gaau1 (Jyutping romanization), occasionally rendering it phonetically as 馬交 in Chinese characters.

The form "Macao" was the original Portuguese spelling, and has been retained in most European languages. In modern Portuguese, the correct spelling is "Macau". During the 20th century, the official spelling "Macau" became more and more common in English-language sources, including most print media.

Since the handover of administration in 1999 (Portugal had unilaterally relinquished its sovereignty over the enclave in 1974 already), the government of Macau considers "Macao" the official English spelling of the name, whereas "Macau" remains the official spelling in Portuguese. This is the practice followed in official documents such as passports and immigration forms.

The pinyin transcription Aomen has occasionally been used in English as if it were the official name for Macau. However, this is not the case, as only "Macao" is official in English, and "Macau" is used to a certain extent.

Image:Macau church.jpg

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History

Main article: History of Macau

Macau, a fishing village populated by Chinese over four thousand years ago, 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 the 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 [Template:Audio-nohelp], which means City of the (Holy) Name of God of Macau, "There is none more Loyal".

The motto "There is none more Loyal" was granted in honour of the fact that the territory of Macau (Amacao, in older Portuguese writings) never recognized Spanish sovereignty, and thus it is considered by historians as a (now former) part of Portugal that was never surrendered. Realistically, the Habsburgs could never have changed this situation anyway since they were heavily involved in European wars and Macau was far away. Additionally, the successful, decades-long resistance against Dutch privateers demonstrated that Macau was not a soft target.

With Hong Kong established as a British Crown Colony, Macau's status as the major regional trading centre declined due to the fact that 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 fascist Salazar regime declared Macau, as well as 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.

Image:FortalegoDoMonte.jpg In 1966 residents tried to obtain a licence for a private school in Taipa, the first of two islands connected to and forming part of Macau. After being rejected many times they went ahead and started building without permits. On November 15, 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 Palace to protest, some even got inside the Palace to cite the quotations of Mao Zedong and sang Chinese revolutionary songs. On December 3 the government ordered them to be arrested. This stirred up the anger of the general public and more people came to protest. They pulled down the statue of Colonel Vicente Nicolau de Mesquita at Largo do Senado at the city centre, and burnt down archive documents - some irreplaceable - at the Leal Senado Building and the Holy House of Mercy. Portuguese soldiers from Africa, who came to Macau on holiday, were called in and martial law was declared. As a result of the protests, 11 people died and 200 were injured.

The Chinese people adopted a "three no's" approach as a means to continue their struggle with the Government — no taxes, no service, no selling to the Portuguese. They were successful and on January 29, 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 "territory under Portuguese administration," and granted it a large measure of administrative, financial and economic autonomy. In addition, Portugal and the PRC agreed in 1979 to regard Macau as 'a Chinese territory under (temporary) Portuguese administration'. This status was made anomalous by the agreement in 1985 to return Hong Kong to China, and in 1987, an agreement, known as the "Joint Declaration" was made to make Macau a Special Administrative Region of the PRC. The Macau Special Administrative Region finally came into being on December 20, 1999.

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Politics

Main article: Politics of Macau Image:EdmundHo.jpg The chief executive is appointed by the People's Republic of China's central government after election by an election committee, whose members are nominated by corporate and community bodies. The chief executive's cabinet comprise five policy secretaries. He is advised by an Executive Council that has between 7 and 11 members. Edmund Ho Hau Wah, a community leader and former banker, is the first China-appointed chief executive of the Macau SAR, having replaced General Vasco Rocha Vieira at midnight on December 19, 1999.

The legislative organ of the territory is the Legislative Assembly, a 29-member body comprising 12 directly elected members, 10 appointed members representing functional constituencies and seven members appointed by the chief executive. The Legislative Assembly is responsible for lawmaking and like many other legislatures, it has power to impeach the Chief Executive. It has power to amend the method of electing the chief executive after 2009.

The legal system is based largely on Portuguese law. The territory has its own independent judicial system, headed by the Court of Final Appeal (CFA), which makes final judgments on court cases. Judges are selected by a committee and appointed by the chief executive.

Image:AdministrativeDivisionOfMacao.png

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Subdivisions

Main article: List of cities and parishes in Macau

Macau comprises two administrative subdivisions:


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Geography

Main article: Geography of Macau

Macau is 70 kilometres (43.5 mi) southwest of Hong Kong and 145 kilometres (90 mi) from Guangzhou. It 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.

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Economy

Main article: Economy of Macau

Macau's economy is based largely on tourism, namely gambling. Other chief economic activities are export-geared textile and garment manufacturing, banking and other financial services. The clothing industry has provided about three-fourths of export earnings, and the gaming, tourism and hospitality industry is estimated to contribute more than 50% of Macau's GDP, and 70% of Macau government revenue.

From 9.1 million in 2000, arrivals to Macau has grown to 18.7 million in 2005 [1], with over 50% of the arrivals coming from mainland China. This recent growth has been driven by gambling and related tourism. Tourists from Hong Kong remain numerous, representing about 30% of arrivals. Since the 1999 return to Chinese rule, Triad underworld violence, a dark spot on the economy, has virtually disappeared, to the benefit of the tourism sector. The average growth rate between 2001 and 2005 has been approximately 10% annually. The GDP per capita in 2005 was USD24,300. In the last quarter of 2005, the unemployment rate stood at 3.9 %.

With the opening of the Sands Casino [2] in 2004 gambling revenues from Macau's casinos were for the first time greater than those of Las Vegas (each about $5 billion), making Macau one of world's highest-volume gambling centres in the world. Other casinos slated to be opened through 2008 are the Wynn Macau Casino [3] in 2006, the Venetian Macau [4] in 2007, the Galaxy [5], Crown Macau and others. As a result, the small economy is growing rapidly due to gambling related tourism from mainland China and construction from the new casino entrants.

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Demographics

Template:Main

Considered as a dependency, Macau is the world's most densely populated country/dependency.

Macau's population is 95% Chinese, primarily Cantonese and Fujianese, as well as some Hakka, Shanghainese and overseas Chinese immigrants from Southeast Asia and elsewhere. The remainder are of Portuguese or mixed Chinese-Portuguese ancestry, the so-called Macanese, as well as several thousand Philippine and Thai nationals. The official languages are Portuguese and Chinese. Though the residents commonly speak Cantonese, both Cantonese and Mandarin are de facto official. English is widely taught and used as a language of instruction in schools and tertiary education establishments and widely spoken in tourism, trade and other businesses, being Macau's de facto "lingua fraca" among its different ethnic communities. Macanese (Patuá), a Portuguese-Asian Creole dating back to the mid-16th century, is nowadays spoken by just several dozen, mostly elderly residents.

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Culture

Main article: Culture of Macau

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Landmarks

Some 24 historic monuments and eight public squares, together forming the "Historic Centre of Macao", has been inscribed onto the World Cultural Heritage List of UNESCO, on 15 July 2005.

Image:MacauLotusFountain.JPG

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Miscellaneous

  • 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.
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Macau-related topics

Main article: List of Macao-related topics
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External links

Template:Sisterlinks


Province-level divisions administered by the People's Republic of China Image:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg
Provinces: Anhui | Fujian | Gansu | Guangdong | Guizhou | Hainan | Hebei | Heilongjiang | Henan | Hubei | Hunan | Jiangsu | Jiangxi | Jilin | Liaoning | Qinghai | Shaanxi | Shandong | Shanxi | Sichuan | Yunnan | Zhejiang
Autonomous Regions: Guangxi | Inner Mongolia | Ningxia | Tibet | Xinjiang
Municipalities: Beijing | Chongqing | Shanghai | Tianjin
Special Administrative Regions: Hong Kong | Macau
Template:Seealso
Countries in Eastern Asia

People's Republic of China (PRC) (Special Administrative Regions : Hong Kong, Macau) | Republic of China (ROC)* | Japan | Mongolia | North Korea | South Korea
* See also: Political status of Taiwan

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