MacauThe Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, shortened to Macau or Macao (See Names), is a small peninsula 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 is now run as a Special Administrative Region of the PRC. Residents of Macau mostly speak Cantonese natively. Broadly, Macanese refers to all permanent inhabitants of Macau. But narrowly, it refers to an ethnic group in Macau orginating 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.
\n
 SubdivisionsMacau comprises two administrative subdivisions: \n* The Northern District (北區): Macao proper\n* The Islands District (離島區): Taipa and Coloane\nAlthough 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 (i.e. on foot or all sorts of land transportation) through the northern district. \nGeography\nMain article: Geography of Macau Macau comprises 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 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\nMain article: Economy of Macau Macau's economy is based largely on tourism, including gambling, and textile and fireworks manufacturing. 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 declined somewhat, to the benefit of the tourism sector.Demographics\nMain 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. The official languages are Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese, though the residents commonly speak Cantonese Chinese. English is spoken in tourist areas.Culture\nMain article: Culture of MacauMiscellaneous topicsEducationMost of the schools in Macau are private or subsidized schools. There are only a few government or public schools in Macau. A basic nine-year compulsory, free education is offered to those students who have been enrolled in the schools which have met certain requirements stipulated by the government. Most of the schools in Macau are so-called grammar schools, which offer language learning, mathematics, science subjects, etc. to the students. There are only a few vocational schools in Macau, offering technical subjects such as car repairing, electronics, electrical engineering, etc. Regarding language learning in Macau, Chinese and English are offered in most of the schools. Portuguese is also taught as a subject in some schools in Macau. As Macau has already become a special administrative region of China, Mandarin or Putonghua is widely taught in most schools in Macau. Some languages such as French may also be offered in a few schools. Moreover, Macau does not have its own universal education system for the time being. In this way, schools in Macau follow different educational systems that reflect their goals and visions. In general, there are three types of educational systems in Macau. They are the Chinese educational system, the British educational system, and the Portuguese educational system. In those schools adopting the Chinese educational system, students attend six years of schooling for their primary school education, three years for junior secondary school education, and three years for senior high school education. In their senior secondary school education, students are required to choose their major, namely, science, commerce, or arts. In those schools adopting the British educational system, students attend six years of schooling for their primary school education, three years for junior secondary school education, two years for senior secondary school education, and one to two years for their matriculation. Students in their senior secondary school years are required to choose either one of the following majors, namely, science, commerce, or arts. Furthermore, after the completion of their education, students are required to sit for the General Certificate of Education (GCE) directed by different educational boards in Britain such as the University of London or the Cambridge University. In those schools adopting the Portuguese educational system, students attend four years for their basic education, five years for their junior secondary school education, and three years for their senior school education. In recent years, the Macau government has made an attempt to unify the educational system. In other words, it plans to standardize the number of years attended by students from different educational systems. However, such an attempt has not been well accepted by the educational circles, especially those from the schools that follow the British system. There are more than ten higher-learning institutions in Macau. However, some students of Macau choose to further their studies in the local universities or polytechnics whereas some others choose to further their studies in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, or some other places. \n*Inter-University Institute of Macau\n*University of MacauOthers\n* Communications in Macau\n* Transportation in Macau\n* Military of Macau\n* Crime and Police in Macau\n* Ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral\n* Macau Tower\n* Gambling in MacauExternal link\n*Government of Macau \n\nNot to be confused with the parrot macaw. Macau is also the name of a commune in the Gironde ''département, in France \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating." - Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 