Everything about Macau totally explained
The
Macau Special Administrative Region, commonly known as
Macau or
Macao, is one of the two
special administrative regions of the
People's Republic of China, the other being
Hong Kong. Macau lies on the western side of the
Pearl River Delta, bordering
Guangdong province in the north and facing the
South China Sea in the east and south. The territory has thriving industries such as textiles, electronics and toys, and a notable tourist industry that boasts a wide range of hotels, resorts, stadiums, restaurants and casinos.
Macau was both the first and the last European colony in China. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the
handover on December 20, 1999. The
Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the
Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operates with a high degree of
autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer. Under the policy of "
one country, two systems", the
Central People's Government is responsible for the territory's defence and foreign affairs, while Macau maintains its own
legal system,
police force, monetary system, customs policy,
immigration policy, and delegates to international organisations and events.
Etymology
Before the
Portuguese settlement in the early 16th century, Macau was known as
Haojing (Oyster Mirror) or
Jinghai (Mirror Sea). The name
Macau is thought to be derived from the
Templo de A-Má, a temple built in 1448 dedicated to
Matsu - the goddess of seafarers and fishermen. It is said that when the Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside the temple and asked the name of the place, the natives replied "A-Ma-Gao" (Bay of A-Ma). The Portuguese then named the peninsula Macau.
History
The recorded history of Macau can be traced back to the
Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC), when the region now called Macau came under the jurisdiction of
Panyu County,
Nanhai Prefecture of the province of
Guangdong. Later in the
Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 AD), fishermen migrated to Macau from various parts of Guangdong and
Fujian provinces. However, Macau didn't develop as a major settlement until the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century. In 1535, the Portuguese traders obtained the rights to anchor ships in Macau's harbours and the right to carry out trading activities, though not the right to stay onshore. Around 1552–1553, they obtained a temporary permission to erect storage sheds onshore, in order to dry out goods drenched by sea water. They later built some rudimentary stone-houses around the area now called Nam Van. In 1557, the Portuguese establish a permanent settlement in Macau, at an annual rent of 500
taels of silver.. In 1576, Macau was established as an
episcopal see by
Pope Gregory XIII. In 1583, the Portuguese in Macau were permitted to form a Senate to handle various issues concerning their social and economic affairs under strict supervision of the Chinese authority, but there was no transfer of sovereignty. by the
Dutch to conquer it in the 17th century. Following the
Opium War (1839–42), Portugal occupied
Taipa and
Coloane in 1851 and 1864 respectively. In 1887, the
Qing government was forced to sign the
Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Amity and Commerce, under which China ceded to Portugal the right of "perpetual occupation and government of Macau"; conversely, Portugal pledged to seek China's approval before transferring Macau to another country. Macau officially became a Portuguese colony. and in its place the Sino-Portuguese Friendship and Trade Treaty was signed. Making only a few provisions concerning tariff principles and matters relating to business affairs, the treaty failed to mention the question with regard to the sovereignty of Macau. Consequently, the situation of Portuguese occupation and government of Macau remained unchanged. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Beijing government declared the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Amity and Commerce to be invalid as an “
unequal treaty” imposed by foreigners on China. However, Beijing wasn't ready to settle the treaty question, leaving the maintenance of “the status quo” until a more appropriate time.
In 1966, with the general dissatisfaction of the Portuguese government and under the influence of the
Cultural Revolution in mainland China, more serious riots broke out in Macau. The most serious one is the so-called
12-3 incident that resulted in more than 200 people killed or injured. On
January 28 1967 the Portuguese government 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, as an official apology underlined the fact that after 1949, administration of Macau continued only at the behest of the mainland communist government. Negotiations between the Chinese and Portuguese governments on the question of Macau started in June 1986. In 1987, an international treaty, known as the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration, was signed to make Macau a special administrative region of China. The Chinese government assumed sovereignty over Macau on
December 20 1999.
Government and politics
National People's Congress in 1993, specify that Macau's social and economic system, lifestyle, rights, and freedoms are to remain unchanged for at least 50 years after the transfer of sovereignty to China in 1999. Macau maintains its own separate
currency, customs territory, immigration and border controls, and police force.
The Macau government is headed by the
chief executive, who is appointed by the central government upon the recommendation of an election committee, whose three hundred members are nominated by corporate and community bodies. The recommendation is made by an election within the committee. The chief executive's cabinet comprise five policy secretaries and is advised by the Executive Council that has between seven and eleven members.
Edmund Ho Hau Wah, a community leader and former banker, is the first chief executive of the Macau SAR, replacing
General Vasco Rocha Vieira at midnight on
December 20 1999. Ho is currently serving his second term of office.
The legislative organ of the territory is the
Legislative Assembly, a 29-member body comprising 12 directly elected members, ten indirectly elected members representing
functional constituencies and seven members appointed by the chief executive. Any permanent residents at or over 18 years of age are eligible to vote in direct elections. For indirect election, it's only limited to organisations registered as "corporate voters" and a 300-member election committee drawn from broad regional groupings, municipal organisations, and central governmental bodies. The basic and original framework of the legal system of Macau, based largely on
Portuguese law or Portuguese civil law system, is preserved after 1999. The territory has its own independent judicial system, with a high court. Judges are selected by a committee and appointed by the chief executive. Foreign judges may serve on the courts. Macau has a three-tier court system: the Court of the First Instance, the Court of the Second Instance and the
Court of Final Appeal.
Geography
Macau is situated southwest of
Hong Kong and from Guangzhou. Macau Peninsula was originally an island, but a connecting
sandbar gradually turned into a narrow
isthmus, thus changing Macau into a peninsula. Land reclamation in the 17th century transformed Macau into a peninsula with generally flat terrain, though numerous steep hills still mark the original land mass. Seasonal climate is greatly influenced by the
monsoons and therefore temperature difference between summer and winter is significant. The average annual temperature of Macau is . July is the warmest month, with average temperature being . The coolest month is January, with average temperature . However, winter is mostly dry due to the monsoon from mainland China. Autumn in Macau (for example October to December) is sunny and warm with low humidity. Winter (for example January to March) is relatively cold but sunny. In spring (for example start from April), the humidity starts to increase and in summer (for example May to September) the climate is warm to hot and humid with rain and occasional typhoons.
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|Senior officials/managers || 14.6
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|Professionals|| 9.9
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|Technicians|| 28.1
|- align="center"
|Clerks|| 83.7
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|Service & sale workers|| 63.2
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|Workers in agriculture/fishery|| 0.8
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|Craft & similar workers|| 33.7
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Macau's economy is based largely on tourism, much of it geared toward gambling. Other chief economic activities in Macau are export-geared textile and garment manufacturing, banking and other financial services.
World Bank classifies Macau as a high income economy and the GDP per capita of the region in 2006 was US$28,436. After the
Handover in 1999, there has been a rapid rise in the number of mainland visitors due to China's easing of travel restrictions. Together with the liberalization of Macau's gaming industry in 2001 that induces significant investment inflows, the average
growth rate of the economy between 2001 and 2006 is approximately 13.1% annually.
In a
World Tourism Organization report of international tourism statistics for 2006, Macau ranked 21st in terms of tourist arrivals and 24th in terms of tourism receipts. From 9.1 million visitors in 2000, arrivals to Macau has grown to 18.7 million visitors in 2005 and 22 million visitors in 2006, with over 50% of the arrivals coming from mainland China and another 30% from Hong Kong. Macau is expected to receive between 24 and 25 million visitors in 2007. Since the Handover,
Triad underworld violence, a deterring factor for tourists, has virtually disappeared, to the benefit of the tourism sector.
Starting in 1962, the gambling industry had been operated under a government-issued monopoly license by
Stanley Ho's
Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau. The monopoly ended in 2002, and several casino owners from
Las Vegas attempted to enter the market. With the opening of the
Sands Macau, the largest casino in the world as measured by total number of table games, in 2004 and
Wynn Macau in 2006, gambling revenues from Macau's casinos were for the first time greater than those of
Las Vegas Strip (each about $6 billion), making Macau the highest-volume gambling centre in the world. In 2007,
Venetian Macau, the second largest building in the world, opened its doors to the public, followed by
MGM Grand Macau. Numerous other hotel casinos, including Galaxy Cotai Megaresort and
Ponte 16, are also to be opened in the near future.
In 2002, the Macau government ended the monopoly system and six casino operating concessions and subconcessions are granted to
Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau,
Wynn Resorts,
Las Vegas Sands,
Galaxy Entertainment Group, the partnership of
MGM Mirage and Pansy Ho Chiu-king, and the partnership of Melco and PBL. Today, there are 16 casinos operated by the STDM, and they're still crucial in the casino industry in Macau, but in 2004, the opening of the
Sands Macau ushered in the new era.
Macau is an
offshore financial centre, a
tax haven, and a
free port with no foreign exchange control regimes. The offshore finance business is regulated and supervised by the
Monetary Authority of Macau, while the regulation and supervision of the offshore non-finance business is mainly controlled by the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute. In 2007,
Moody's Investors Service upgraded Macau's foreign and local currency government issuer ratings to 'Aa3' from 'A1', citing its government's solid finances as a large net creditor. The rating agency also upgraded Macau's foreign currency bank deposit ceiling to 'Aa3' from 'A1'.
As prescribed by the
Macau Basic Law, the
government follows the principle of keeping expenditure within the limits of revenues in drawing up its budget, and strive to achieve a
fiscal balance, avoid
deficits and keep the budget commensurate with the growth rate of its
gross domestic product. All the financial
revenues of the Macau Special Administrative Region shall be managed and controlled by the Region itself and shan't be handed over to the
Central People's Government. The Central People's Government shan't levy any
taxes in the Macau Special Administrative Region.
Demographics
Macau is the
most densely populated region in the world, with a population density of 18,428 persons per square kilometre (47,728/sq mi). 95% percent of Macau's population is Chinese; another 2% is of mixed Chinese/Portuguese descent, an ethnic group often referred to as
Macanese. According to a recent survey conducted by the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Macau is among the top 10 countries/regions with the highest
life expectancy at birth, while its
infant mortality rate ranks among the lowest in the world.
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Both
Chinese (
Cantonese) and
Portuguese are Macau's official languages. Standard
Macanese Portuguese is identical to
European Portuguese. Other languages such as
Mandarin, English and
Hokkien are also spoken by some local communities. The
Macanese language, a distinctive
creole generally known as
Patuá, is still spoken by several dozen Macanese.
Most Chinese in Macau are profoundly influenced by their own tradition and culture, of which
Chinese folk religion, that includes the faiths of
Taoism,
Buddhism and
Confucianism, forms an integral part.
Having an economy driven by tourism, 14.6% of Macau's workforce is employed in restaurants and hotels, and 10.3% in the gambling industry. Some local workers complain about the lack of jobs due to the influx of cheap imported labour. Some also claim that the problem of illegal labour is severe. Another concern is the widening of income inequality in the region: Macau's
Gini coefficient, a popular measure of income inequality where a low value indicates a more equal income distribution, rises from 0.43 in 1998 to 0.48 in 2006. It is higher than those of other neighbouring regions, such as mainland China (0.447),
South Korea (0.316) and
Singapore (0.425)..
In 2007, there were a total of 4,537 births and 1,545 deaths.
(External Link
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Education
A fifteen-year free education is currently being offered to residents, that includes a three-year kindergarten, followed by a six-year primary education and a six-year secondary education. Despite the fifteen-year free education, the
literacy rate of the territory is only 93.5%. The illiterates are, however, mainly among the senior residents aged 65 or above; the younger generation, for example the population aged 15-29, has a literary rate of above 99%. Nevertheless, education levels in Macau are low among high income regions. According to the 2006 by-census, among the resident population aged 14 and above, only 51.8% has a secondary education and 12.6% has a tertiary education. Currently none of the Macau hospitals is independently assessed through
international healthcare accreditation. There are no western-style medical schools in Macau and thus all aspiring physicians in Macau have to obtain their education and qualification elsewhere. Currently there are no training courses in
midwifery in Macau.
The Health Bureau in Macau is mainly responsible for coordinating the activities between the public and private organisations in the area of
public health, and assure the health of citizens through specialised and
primary health care services, as well as disease prevention and
health promotion. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention was established in 2001, which monitors the operation of hospitals, health centres, and the
blood transfusion centre in Macau. It also handles the organisation of care and prevention of diseases affecting the population, sets guidelines for hospitals and private health care providers, and issues
licences.
Transport
While the traffic in mainland China drives on the right, in Macau traffic moves on the left. Macau has a well-established public transport network connecting the
Macau Peninsula,
Cotai,
Taipa Island and
Coloane Island. Buses and taxis are the major modes of public transport in Macau. Currently two companies, namely
Transmac and
Transportas Companhia de Macau, operate franchised public bus services in Macau. The
trishaw, a hybrid of the tricycle and the rickshaw, is also available, though it's mainly for sightseeing purposes.
The Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal provides cross-border transportation services for passengers travelling between Macau and Hong Kong, while the Yuet Tung Terminal in the Inner Harbour serves those travelling between Macau and cities in mainland China, including
Shekou and
Shenzhen. Macau has one active international airport, known as
Macau International Airport located at the eastern end of Taipa and neighbouring waters. Since currently there are no regular direct passenger-flights between mainland China and
Taiwan, the airport serves as a transient avenue for the passengers travelling between the two regions. It is the primary hub for
Viva Macau and
Air Macau. In 2006, the airport handled about 5 million passengers.
Culture
The mixing of the
Chinese and
Portuguese cultures and religious traditions for more than four centuries has left Macau with an inimitable collection of holidays, festivals and events. The biggest event of the year is the
Macau Grand Prix in November, when the main streets in Macau Peninsula are converted to a racetrack bearing similarities with the
Monaco Grand Prix. Other annual events include Macau Arts festival in March, the International Fireworks Display Contest in September, the International Music festival in October and/or November, and the Macau International Marathon in December.
The Lunar
Chinese New Year is the most important traditional festival and celebration normally takes place in late January or early February. The Pou Tai Un Temple in Taipa is the place for the Feast of Tou Tei, the Earth god, in February. The Procession of the Passion of Our Lord is a well-known Catholic rite and journey, which travels from Igreja de Santo Agostinho to Igreja da Sé Catedral, also taking place in February. Many unique dishes resulted from the spice blends that the wives of Portuguese sailors used in an attempt to replicate European dishes. Its ingredients and seasonings include those from Europe,
South America,
Africa,
India, and Southeast Asia, as well as local Chinese ingredients. Typically, Macanese food is seasoned with various spices and flavours including
turmeric,
coconut milk,
cinnamon and
bacalhau, giving special aromas and tastes. Famous dishes include
Galinha à Portuguesa, Galinha à Africana (African chicken),
Bacalhau, Macanese Chili Shrimps and
stir-fry curry crab.
Pork chop bun,
ginger milk and
Portuguese-style egg tart are also very popular in Macau.
Macau preserves many historical properties in the urban area. The
Historic Centre of Macau, which includes some twenty-five historic monuments and public squares, was officially listed as a
World Heritage Site by
UNESCO on
July 15 2005 during the 29th session of the
World Heritage Committee, held in
Durban,
South Africa.
Further Information
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