Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MACAU
853 / POP 549,500
Why Go?
Mainlanders can't get enough of this once Portuguese-administered
backwater-turned-gambling megaresort. Such has been its explosive growth
since 2002 that it is commonplace to refer to Macau as the Vegas of the East.
It might be more appropriate to put that the other way round, since Macau has
eclipsed its American rival in gambling income. And there are many other
things that Macau does better. Beyond the gaming halls, it offers cobblestoned
streets punctuated with Chinese temples and baroque churches, pockets of
(natural) greenery, a historic centre of Unesco World Heritage status and
balmy beaches.
History
Portuguese galleons first visited southern China to trade in the early 16th cen-
tury, and in 1557, as a reward for clearing out pirates endemic to the area,
they obtained a leasehold for Macau and were allowed to establish a tiny en-
clave here. However, after the Opium Wars between the Chinese and the Brit-
ish, and the subsequent establishment of Hong Kong, Macau went into a long
decline.
In 1999, under the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration, Macau was returned
to China and designated a Special Administrative Region (SAR).
