Macau

“ Nationality: noun: Chinese adjective: Chinese
Ethnic groups: Chinese 95%, Macanese (mixed Portuguese and Asian ancestry) , Portuguese, other
Religions: Buddhist 50%, Roman Catholic 15%, none and other 35% (1997 est.)
Languages: Portuguese, Chinese (Cantonese)
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 90% male: 93% female: 86% (1981 est.)
@Macau:Government
Country name: conventional long form: Macau Special Administrative Region conventional short form: Macau local long form: Aomen Tebie Xingzhengqu (Chinese) ”

“ Much of Macau's textile industry may move to the mainland as the Multi-Fiber Agreement is phased out. The territory may have to rely more on gambling and trade-related services to generate growth. The government estimated GDP growth at 4% in 2003 with the drop in large measure due to concerns over the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) , but private sector analysts think the figure may have been higher because of the continuing boom in tourism. ”

“ IN THE PORTUGUESE COLONY OF MACAO FORTY miles from Hong Kong, hidden away among the countless islands that fringe the entrance to the estuary of the Chukiang or Pearl River, lies the Portuguese settlement of Macao. Once flourishing and prosperous, the centre of European trade with Southern China, it is now decaying and almost unknown—killed by the competition of its young and successful rival. Long before Elizabeth ascended the throne of England the venturesome Portuguese sailors and merchants had reached the Far East. ”

“ Though most of the land is under garden cultivation, the mass of the people is dependent more or less directly on mercantile pursuits; for, while the exclusive policy both of Chinese and Portuguese which prevented Macao becoming a free port till 1845–1846 allowed what was once the great emporium of European commerce in eastern Asia to be outstripped by its younger and more liberal rivals, the local, though not the foreign, trade of the place is still of very considerable extent. ”

“ In 1516 came the first vessel to China under a European flag, a Portuguese trader. Others followed, and trade began through Canton and other ports. But the foreign traders soon began to act rather as pirates than as peaceful visitors, and in the end the Chinese drove them all away. About the middle of the sixteenth century a foreign settlement was begun at Macao, on an island near the southeast boundary of the empire, and here the trade grew so brisk that for a time Macao was the richest trading-mart in Eastern Asia. ”

“ The trade between Macao and the mainland is very active: in the quarter of an hour that we were upon the isthmus there passed at least 60 men loaded with goods or provisions, moving to and fro to the settlement. Among these there were also sedan-chairmen, conveying back to the neighbouring villages such of the better class of Chinese as had been doing business in the city. The effect of warlike rumours from Canton and the Pei-ho had meanwhile become apparent 405among the European population of Macao. The insecurity of life and property increased daily. ”

“ The Sisters of Charity, who had come all the way from France to soothe the sufferings of European mariners in a strange land, taught the people of Macao that there was another love than that of the piastre, another intoxication than that produced by the fumes of opium: the love of helping others, the intoxication of zeal for humanity. The much-abused and hated Macao is now the seat of a bishop and the head-quarters of French missionary effort in China, whilst the export trade has passed from the hands of the Portuguese into that of the British, a truly beneficent change for all concerned. ”

“ The importance of the Portuguese settlement has dwindled away. Macao is but a relic of the past. Its harbour is empty. The sea around has silted up with the detritus from the Pearl River until now no large vessels can approach. A small trade in tea, tobacco, opium, and silk is all that is left. The chief revenue is derived from the taxes levied on the numerous Chinese gambling‐houses in the city, which have gained for it the title of the Monte Carlo of the East.
Macao is situated on a small peninsula connected233 by a long, narrow causeway with the island of Heung Shan. ”

“ Los Rios with eight men lands in order to seek a pilot, and after various adventures is granted audience by the Chinese, who offer asylum to the Spaniards and rebuke [198] the Portuguese. Continuing, a short description is given of Macao, which has about five hundred Portuguese inhabitants; its duties and other gains, however, belong to the Chinese monarch. The principal occupation of the inhabitants is the raw-silk trade with Japan. For the benefit of trade and religion, Los Rios thinks it advisable to depopulate Macao and suppress it. ”

“ Macao, though in, is not of China; instead of the low hut-like structures of unburnt blue brick and fantastic tile of the Celestial, the eye, as it takes in the fine sweep of the Praya, rests on large mansions whose verandahs exclude the sun, whose portals are spacious and stylish, and whose stucco little discolored by time, only appears all the more impressive, and sees rising on the eminence behind venerable cathedrals; while garrisons, crown batteries, and old-looking forts on either side, with the ensign of Portugal, define its ownership, and make the picture more imposing. ”

“ Indeed, what strikes the stranger most sadly and forcibly as he saunters through the streets, is the universal evidence of decay. It is melancholy to see buildings, which must once have been magnificent, slowly sinking into rain. The mind cannot help picturing these buildings, brilliant with beauty, and resounding with festivity, when Macào was the depôt for the trade with China, with a fleet of all nations filling its harbor, and its storehouses teeming with the rich merchandise of the East. ”

“ The Portuguese were an adventurous and energetic race in those days: it was the emporium of trade in Eastern Asia for three hundred years. To-day it is the most dead-alive place that I have ever visited, and its population is eighty thousand. It is a charming spot, with delicious sea breezes, making the climate far preferable to that of Hong Kong. Its industries (?) are gambling and opium smuggling, with their attendant vices.
An interesting detail is that the dominant colour of Macao is red. The dominant colour in China, on the other hand, is blue. ”

“ Macao is interesting as the only Portuguese settlement to be found on the coast of China. It may be reached by steamer either from Hongkong or Canton, and it is a favourite summer resort for the residents of our own little colony. In that pretty watering-place we may enjoy the cool sea-breezes, and almost fancy, when promenading the broad Praya Grande, as it sweeps round a bay truly picturesque, that we have been suddenly transported to some ancient continental town. Macao is a magnificent curiosity in its way. The Chinese say it has no right to be there at all ”

“ The three hours' transit from Hongkong to Macao carries one into another world. The incessant scream of steam-launches which plough the harbour in all directions night and day gives place to the drowsy chime of church bells, and instead of the throng of busy men, one meets a solitary black mantilla walking demurely in the middle of a crooked and silent street. Perhaps nowhere is the modern world with its clamour thrown into such immediate contrast with that which belongs to the past.
The settlement of Macao is a monument of Chinese toleration and of Portuguese tenacity. ”

“ The island is situated at the mouth of the Canton River, and is separated by about sixty miles from the Portuguese town of Macao, on the opposite coast. Hong Kong has beaten Macao in the struggle for the Chinese trade, and now the greater part of the transportation of Chinese goods finds its depot at the former place. Docks, hospitals, wharves, a Gothic cathedral, a government house, macadamised streets, give to Hong Kong the appearance of a town in Kent or Surrey transferred by some strange magic to the antipodes. ”

“ The town of Macao is built on hilly ground. There are two principal ranges of hills, one running from south to north and the other from east to west. The level ground is covered with many houses of European architecture, and a great number of Chinese shops for tradesmen and mechanics, called the Bazaar. On the lofty mount to the eastward is a fort, enclosing the hermitage of Nossa Senhora da Guia, and above it stands the oldest lighthouse on the coast of China. ”

“ Without receiving provisions from the adjacent country, the inhabitants of this city cannot subsist for a day; and besides, it is so surrounded by populous islands, and the Chinese are here so completely masters of the sea, that the Portuguese at Macao might be completely starved on the slightest difference with the Chinese. The Portuguese have indeed the government over their own people within the walls of this city; yet Macao is strictly and properly a Chinese city: For there is a Chinese governor resident on the spot, together with a hoppo or commissioner of the customs ”

“ The higher class are carried from one street to another by negroes, in clumsy and tawdry palankeens.
I have before observed that Macao signifies in the Portuguese language a mallet, and the name has been given to it from the resemblance of the peninsula to that instrument; the sandy isthmus which runs out, connecting the elevated spot upon which Macao has been erected to the main land, resembles the handle. At the distance of about half-way across this sandy neck of land the Chinese barrier is erected, beyond which no European is suffered to pass. ”

“ Though politically Hong Kong is not China, more than 212,000 of its busy population (about 221,000) are Chinese; and it is preëminently the gate of China. By a wise and liberal policy the British Government has made it the chief emporium of the Eastern seas.
We now take a trip to Canton and cross a bay studded with islands. These are clothed with copious verdure, but, like all others on the China coast, lack the crowning beauty of trees. In passing we get a glimpse of Macao, a pretty town under the flag of the Portuguese, the pioneers of Eastern trade. ”

“ Macao was first occupied by the Portuguese trading with China in 1557; though there is a story that in 1517 certain Portuguese landed there under pretence of drying some tribute presents to the Emperor, which had been damaged in a storm, and proceeded to fortify their encampment, whereupon the local officials built a wall across the peninsula, shutting off further access to the mainland. It also appears that, in 1566, Macao was actually ceded to the Portuguese on condition of payment of an annual sum to China, which payment ceased after trouble between the two countries in 1849. ”

“ Commercial intercourse is most intimate with Hong-Kong, Canton, Batavia and Goa. The preparation and packing of tea is the principal industry in the town. In fishing a large number of boats and men are employed.
In 1557 the Portuguese were permitted to erect factories on the peninsula, and in 1573 the Chinese built across the isthmus the wall which still cuts off the barbarian from the rest of the island. Jesuit missionaries established themselves on the spot; and in 1580 Gregory XIII. constituted a bishopric of Macao. ”

“ The forts are effective additions to the general view, but do not add much to the strength of the place. Along the east side of the peninsula runs the Praya Grande, or Great Quay, the chief promenade in Macao, on which stand the governor’s palace, the administrative offices, the consulates and the leading commercial establishments. ”

“ It possesses a healthy climate, though the summer is very hot, the thermometer ranging in the shade from 85° to 90°. Many of the houses occupied by the wealthier portion of the inhabitants, are large, airy, and convenient residences. Since the war with China broke out, Macao, which had greatly declined from its ancient importance, has thriven, and many of its citizens have become wealthy in consequence of the British trade to China being thrown by circumstances into its harbour. ”

“ We left the harbour of Macao on the 11th of December, and sailing round the south-eastern extremity of the island, we steered to the northward, leaving as we passed along, Lantao Lintin, and several smaller islands, to the right. All these islands, as well as that of Macao, which lie to the left, are entirely without wood; the land is high and barren, and uninhabited, except occasionally by fishermen. As we approached the Bocca Tygris, which is thirteen leagues from Macao, the Chinese coast appears to the eastward in steep white cliffs ”

“ The young men — for there seem to be no old men here, at least all dress alike, quite irrespective of years — are a slender race, but not more slender than diminutive. But if Macao is interesting as a Portuguese settlement, and the only one which now remains to Portugal of those which her early traders founded in China, it can also boast of historic associations, giving it a special and independent ”

“ Malacca is a strong city and castle belonging to the Portuguese, and the centre of a great trade in those parts of India. From this place the king of Acheen has long sought to root them out, and has burnt and plundered some of their ships this year, 1619. At Macao, an island on the coast of China, they have a city with a castle, where they are said to carry on much trade with the Chinese. They have a factory in Japan, but neither town nor fort; and trade thence with the coast of China. ”