Macau
| Macau | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| File:Macau in Chinese T.png | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Language/data/iana scripts' not found. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Language/data/iana scripts' not found. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cantonese Jyutping | ou3mun4*2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cantonese Yale | Oumùhn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | Àomén | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Bay gate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Macao Special Administrative Region | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Language/data/iana scripts' not found. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Portuguese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Portuguese | Região Administrativa Especial de Macau for "Macau Special Administrative Region" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Macao Special Administrative Region (Macau or Macao, Script error: No such module "Zh".) 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 has a large amount of autonomy, with its own passport, currency, economic rules, and constitution.
It consists of Macau Peninsula (Aomen Bandao), 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.
Macao 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.[7]
Today, Macao mostly lives off of offshore gambling. In fact, Macau generated 7 times greater gambling revenue than Las Vegas in 2013[8]. People in Macau also make some money from exporting clothing.
References
- ↑ As reflected in the Chinese text of the Macau emblem, the text of the Macao Basic Law, and the Macao Government Website, the full name of the territory is the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Although the convention of "Macao Special Administrative Region", "Macao" and "Macau" can also be used.
- ↑ The Macau Basic Law states that the official languages are "Chinese and Portuguese." It does not explicitly specify the standard for "Chinese". While Mandarin and Simplified Chinese characters are used as the spoken and written standards in mainland China, Cantonese and Traditional Chinese characters are the long-established de facto standards in Macau.
- ↑ "Demographic Statistics for the 2nd Quarter 2012". Statistics and Census Service. Macao SAR Government. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
- ↑ "Results of 2011 Population Census". Statistics and Census Service. Macao SAR Government. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- ↑ CIA World Factbook
- ↑ "Macao in Figures 2010". Statistics and Census Service, Macau SAR. 2010. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
- ↑ "What language is spoken in Macau?".
- ↑ Riley, Charles. "Macau's gambling industry dwarfs Vegas". CNN.
