Macao, or Macau, is a special administrative region of the
People's Republic of China, the most densely populated region in the
world.
The population is 653,100 people (as of December 31,
2017). Official languages: Portuguese and Chinese (predominantly
Cantonese).
The Macau Special Administrative Region was
formed on December 20, 1999 as a result of the liquidation of the
Portuguese colony of Macau and became one of two special
administrative regions of the PRC (the other is Hong Kong). Prior to
that, for 442 years, since 1557, Macau was ruled by Portugal, it was
the oldest European colony in East Asia. The Basic Law was approved
by the National People's Congress in March 1993 and is based on the
principle of "one country - two systems", that is, on maintaining
two different economic and legal systems within the framework of a
single Chinese state. As part of the PRC, Macau has significant
autonomy: its own laws, legal, monetary, customs and immigration
systems, as well as the right to participate in international
organizations.
Visa
Macau has its own visa policy, separate
from both mainland China and Hong Kong, and even more so from any other
countries. Macau's border with the rest of China is a full-fledged
interstate with all the necessary procedures: if you want to leave China
for Macau and then return back, you will need at least a double-entry
Chinese visa.
For a trip of up to 30 days, citizens of Russia and
Belarus do not need a visa (for a complete list of visa-free countries
in Macau and the length of stay allowed for their citizens, see here).
With multiple entries and exits, migration officials may reduce the
period of permitted stay in Macau. Passport is not stamped at the
border, instead an immigration card is issued.
Citizens of
countries requiring a visa in Macau (with the exception of citizens of
several Third World countries, see link above) can obtain one upon
arrival by paying a visa fee of MOP 100 (MOP 50 for children under 12).
A multivisa is issued for a period of 30 days.
The official languages are Portuguese and Chinese (Cantonese).
The currency of the Special Administrative Region is the Macau Pataca (MOP).
The international dialing code for Macau is +853. Internet domain .mo
Macau is located on the coast of the South China Sea, in the Pearl
River Delta. It includes the territory of the Macau Peninsula, the
islands of Taipa and Coloane, with a total area of 30.8 km². Across the
strait it borders the metropolis of Zhuhai.
The Macau Peninsula
is formed by the estuary of the river. Zhujiang (Pearl) in the east and
the river. Xijiang in the west. The surface is mostly flat, formed as a
result of the gradual reconquest of land from the sea. Numerous steep
hills are a remnant of the former relief. The peninsula used to be an
island, but in the 17th century it was connected to the mainland. Both
other islands are connected to Macau by a road and two bridges. Most of
the territory is built up, there are no agricultural lands, pastures and
forests, but green spaces occupy 22.4%. The maximum height above sea
level is 172.4 m.
Macau is located, according to Alisov's classification, on the border of the subtropical and subequatorial zones, and according to the Köppen classification, in the humid subtropical climate zone, the average temperature in January is above +14 °C, and in July about +28 °C. Over 2100 mm of precipitation falls annually.
The oldest discovered traces of the South Chinese culture date
back to 4-2 thousand BC. e. on about. Coloane - 3 thousand BC e.
From the time of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), the territory of
Macau was part of its Guangdong province. Since at least the 5th
century, merchant ships sailing between Guangzhou and Southeast Asia
have used the area as a stopover. In 1277, representatives of the
Chinese Song dynasty and their followers found refuge in Macau, who
fled south from the Mongol conquest. They formed the first permanent
population of the territory and managed to gain a foothold on it. At
this time, the oldest temple of Wanxia, dedicated to the Buddhist
goddess Guanyin, was built. Subsequently, the Hakka Chinese showed
interest in Macau as a trading center for the southern provinces.
During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), fishermen from various regions
of the Guangdong and Fujian provinces moved to Macau. They built the
temple of A-ma, from which the name "Macao" is derived. Another
Chinese name "Aomen" is reminiscent of two towering hills - Nantai
and Beitai.
At the beginning of the 16th century, Macau
remained a small settlement. In 1513, the Portuguese landed for the
first time at the mouth of the Pearl River, and in 1517-1518 they
found themselves in the neighborhood of Haojingao. This caused
dissatisfaction with the Chinese authorities, and in 1521 the
Portuguese were expelled from the coast of Guangdong. However, after
a shipwreck in 1536, merchants from Portugal appeared in Haojingao.
In 1553, the Portuguese founded their trading post in Macau.
European attempts to settle on other islands off the southern coast
of China failed, but Macau prospered. The Portuguese used it as a
base for trading with Guangzhou and other regions of China, as well
as with Japan (after the Ming Dynasty banned direct Chinese trade
with this country, the Portuguese used Macau as a stopover for
sailing to Nagasaki). Portuguese and Chinese merchants settled in
Macau; developed trade with India and Southeast Asia. In 1557,
Portugal obtained the consent of the Chinese authorities to grant it
this territory in exchange for paying tribute, and in the same year
a fortified settlement was erected, which became administratively
part of Portuguese India. Officially, sovereignty over Macau still
belonged to China, the Chinese inhabitants were subject to imperial
laws, and Portugal from 1573 made rent payments for the territory.
Beginning in 1563, the Jesuits were active in Macau. However, in
the early years, the success of the missionaries in converting the
Chinese to Christianity was very limited, because instead of
learning the Chinese language and “getting used to” Chinese culture
themselves, they wanted the Chinese to learn to speak and live in
Portuguese. Although missionaries occasionally visited the Chinese
"mainland" outside of Macau (mainly the port city of Guangzhou,
where the Portuguese from Macau were allowed to travel for regular
fairs), none of them managed to settle there for any length of time.
The radical turning point in this situation is associated with the
name of the leader of the Jesuits in the Far East, Alessandro
Valignano, who, having arrived in Macau in 1578, pointed out the
need for the Jesuits in China to follow the example of their
colleagues working in Japan and India, that is, to start with the
development of oral and the written language of the country where
they want to do missionary work. At his request, the Jesuit Order
sent talented priests Michele Ruggieri (1579) and Matteo Ricci
(1582) to Macau, who seriously took up the Chinese language and were
able to move inland in 1583 to the city of Zhaoqing. From this
humble beginning, a Jesuit organization grew in China, with Macao as
its base for more than two centuries.
Gradually, the
Portuguese began to expand the boundaries of their possession. In
1582, the first land lease agreement was signed with the neighboring
Chinese county of Xiangshan (now Zhongshan). In 1586, Macau received
the rights of urban self-government. The Dutch attacks forced the
Portuguese authorities to build a fortress without asking permission
from China. Only in 1670 did the Chinese authorities recognize the
city.
In 1640, after the separation of Portugal from Spain,
the Portuguese royal dynasty awarded Macau the official title of
"the most loyal city of the holy name of God" (Cidade do Santo Nomi
de Deus de Macau). In 1680, the first Portuguese governor was
appointed. In 1685, China officially recognized Macau as a port for
foreign trade, but continued to insist on its sovereignty by
charging land fees and customs duties.
In the 17th century,
the Portuguese actively drained the maritime territories. The former
island of Macau, which was connected to the mainland only by a
narrow sandy isthmus, has turned into a real peninsula. Stone
buildings were built, the house of mercy, which was founded in 1568
by the first missionaries, was rebuilt, the Sao Paulo Cathedral and
other buildings were erected.
In the 17th-19th centuries,
Macau was still the most important center of Portuguese trade with
China, Japan, the Philippines, Southeast Asia, Goa and Mexico. But
after the collapse of the Portuguese maritime dominion in the middle
of the XVII century. the city lost its commercial hegemony.
Subsequently, the decline in the importance of Macau was due to the
capture of Hong Kong by Great Britain, as well as the opening of
Chinese ports for foreign trade after 1842.
On April 20,
1844, Macau was removed from the control of the authorities of the
Portuguese India and passed into the control of the administration
of the Portuguese colony of Timor. China continued to consider it as
its territory and even signed a treaty of peace, friendship and
trade with the United States in the city in 1844. The Wanxia Temple
was used by Chinese officials to supervise foreigners. But in 1845,
Portugal, taking advantage of the weakening of China after the
defeat in the first Opium War, declared Macau a free port and
expelled Chinese officials and soldiers. However, by this time, the
importance of Macau in international trade had fallen sharply, due
to the creation of Hong Kong.
In 1849, the colonial
authorities stopped paying rents, abolished Chinese customs, and
proclaimed the separation of the territory from China. China
retaliated: Governor Ferreira do Amaral was assassinated. In the
same year, Portugal occupied about. Wanzhai to the west of the Macau
Peninsula, but cleared it in 1887. In 1851 and 1864, the Portuguese
annexed the islands of Taipa and Coloane to their possessions.
Treaty of Tientsin (Chinese)rus. 1862 recognized Macau as a
Portuguese colony, but China never ratified it. In 1887, both
countries signed the Protocol of Lisbon, which confirmed the
"permanent occupation and administration" of Macau by Portugal, with
the latter undertaking "never to alienate Macau and dependent
territories without the consent of China." Taipa and Coloane also
ceded to Portugal, but the border on the continent was not agreed
upon. The New Treaty of Trade and Friendship (1888) recognized
Portuguese sovereignty over Macau, but China did not ratify it
again. In 1890, Fr. Ilha Verdi (Qingzhou), which in 1923 was
connected to the Macau Peninsula as a result of reclaiming land from
the sea. In 1897, Macau received the status of a separate colony of
Portugal.
In 1922, clashes between the Chinese population and
the Portuguese authorities took place in Macau, accompanied by a
strike of Chinese workers and a boycott of Portuguese goods. In
April 1928, the Chinese Foreign Ministry notified Portugal of the
termination of the 1887 agreement, but Lisbon did not recognize this
declaration.
With the Japanese capture of Guangzhou in 1938
and Hong Kong in December 1941, Macau remained the last neutral port
in South China. This was the reason for a short period of economic
growth of the colony. In 1943, Japan established forceful control
over the territory. Only after the end of World War II, Macau again
came under the jurisdiction of Portugal.
In the post-war
period, the colony was still governed by a governor appointed from
Lisbon. The city of Macau was divided into two parts - European and
Chinese, and each had a separate administrator. Education in schools
was also conducted separately for Europeans and Chinese.
After the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (1949), its
government declared the Lisbon Protocol of 1887 invalid. It demanded
the return of the territory to China and expressed its willingness
to resolve this issue at the appropriate time through negotiations
with Portugal. But Lisbon was not going to give up his possession.
In 1951, Macau was declared an "overseas province" of Portugal.
In 1966, riots broke out in Macau. The Chinese Students'
Association, which was influenced by the "cultural revolution" in
the PRC, demanded that the head of the Portuguese police be
punished, that the repression be stopped and that it not be repeated
in the future. China has expressed support for these demands.
Portuguese governor José Nobre de Carvalho (Chinese)rus. (1966-1974)
was preparing to evacuate, but the crisis was resolved on the basis
of a compromise. On December 12, the governor accepted the demands;
The Portuguese authorities agreed to shut down the pro-Taiwan
organizations and the Association for Aid to Refugees from the
Continent. In order to force Macau to fulfill its promises, the PRC
cut the supply of drinking water by half in January 1967, which
dealt a heavy blow to the colony's economy. Chinese residents of
Macau announced a boycott of the Portuguese: they were no longer
allowed into transport, shops and restaurants. The Chinese stopped
paying taxes, providing services to the Portuguese and selling goods
to them. On January 29, 1967, the Portuguese governor was forced to
make an official apology to the Chinese; According to the signed
agreement, Portugal returned 32 refugees to China. The commander of
the Portuguese garrison and the chief of police were recalled to
Lisbon.
After the victory in 1974 of the democratic
revolution in Portugal, Macau received broad administrative,
economic and financial autonomy. In the spring of 1976, the
Legislative Assembly was established. Most of its members are
elected by the population, and the Portuguese governor heads the
work of the Legislative Assembly. Since 1989, the city parliament of
Macau has been functioning with 13 members (3 are appointed by the
governor, 10 are elected). Executive power in Macau is exercised by
the government, which consists of seven departments (ministries).
In February 1979, Portugal and the PRC established diplomatic
relations, and China recognized Macau as "Chinese territory under
Portuguese administration". In 1980, the Portuguese Governor Melu
Egidio (1979-1981) visited China for the first time; both sides were
now determined to find a mutually satisfactory solution to the
problem of Macau. On May 20, 1986, China and Portugal signed a joint
communiqué calling for negotiations. From June 1986 to March 1987, 4
rounds of negotiations were held, and on April 13, 1987, a joint
declaration on the issue of Macau was signed in Beijing. It provided
for its transformation into a special administrative region of the
PRC from December 20, 1999 for a period of 50 years. In March 1993,
the National People's Congress approved the basic law of the future
district.
As part of the gradual expansion of
self-government, municipal parliaments were established in 1989 in
Macau and the islands; most of their members were Chinese. In May
1991, the government of Macau (Executive Council) began to work,
consisting of 7 departments. Then the number of members of the
Legislative Assembly was increased to 23 (of which 8 were directly
elected). 9 deputies were Chinese. In the assembly elections in
1996, candidates representing the interests of business circles won:
they won 4 seats, the representation of pro-Chinese political groups
was reduced from 4 to 3, and democratic groups - from 2 to 1 seat.
By agreement with China, the term of office of the assembly was
extended until 2001.
The PRC authorities have approved
billionaire Edmund Ho (English) Russian, one of the leaders of the
largest Typhoon Bank, as the head of the executive branch of the
future special region. In anticipation of Macau's handover to China,
steps were taken to somewhat curb the rise in organized crime that
had hit the area hard in the 1990s. One of the gangster bosses, Wan
Guokhui, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. On December 20, 1999,
in accordance with the 1987 agreement, Macau was transferred to the
PRC.