Macau

The Macao Special Administrative Region (Macau or Macao, , ) is one of China's two Special Administrative Regions. (The other one is Hong Kong).  Macau is a small city in the southern coast in China. Like Hong Kong, Macau also has a large amount of autonomy, with its own passport, currency, economic rules, and constitution.

It consists of Macau Peninsula (Ou3mun2 Bun3dou2), Taipa Island (Dangzai Dao), Coloane Island (Luhuan Dao) and Cotai (Ludangcheng), the new reclaimed land between Taipa and Coloane. It is very densely populated, with over half a million people living in just over 12 square miles.

Macau used to be a colony of Portugal. Although Portuguese is an official language alongside Chinese (as a result of it being a Portuguese colony in the past), very few Macanese actually speak Portuguese; only about 0.7% speak it at home. As a matter of fact, English is more commonly spoken, despite it not being an official language (about 2.3% speak it at home). Cantonese is the main dialect of Chinese spoken in Macau. However, Mandarin has also become more common since Portugal returned it to China in 1999.

Today, Macau mostly makes money from offshore gambling. In fact, Macau generated 7 times greater gambling revenue than Las Vegas in 2013.  People in Macau also make some money from exporting clothing.

As Macau was previously a Portuguese colony, you can easily find traces of how the Portuguese culture is presented in the city. One of them is itinerary for couples, who are intending to spend a day exploring Macau.

Economy of Macau
Macau’s economy relies on gambling. Eighty percent of the government’s revenue  is derived from gambling. The revenue generated by gambling  in 2019 was $36.5 billion, which is about 6 times larger than Las Vegas. Macau has 41 casinos including several  that belong to Wynn resorts and Sands.

Macau is the only part of China where gambling is legal. Many of the customers of casinos are wealthy Chinese.

Around 2020 Chinese new year  authorities closed down travel from China to Macau. Visits fell eighty percent. It is estimated by some observers that the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak will cost Macau between 5-15 percent of its gambling revenue.

References


Category:People's Republic of China
Category:Former colonies in Asia