Macau

Macau comprises Macau Peninsula, Taipa island and Coloane island. Coloane has an area of 3 square miles and a length of 2 miles. Taipa has an area of 2.44 square miles. These two islands were originally connected by Estrada do Istmo, which is a highway. Now they are physically connected by a piece of reclaimed land—–Cotai. Taipa is connected to peninsular Macau by Governador Nobre de Carvalho Bridge, Friendship Bridge and the Sai Van Bridge.

In 1557, Macau was rented to Portugal from Ming Dynasty  as a trading port. The Portuguese Empire administered the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty until 1887, when Macau became a colony. It wasn’t until 1999 the sovereignty of Macau was transferred back to Chinese government.

Because it is such a small piece of land, there are no heavy industries. The economy of Macau heavily relied on tourism and casinos. It is known for its casinos in the world. The gambling tourism made up of at least 50% of the income revenue.  Gambling in Macau has been legalized since 1850s. There are 33 casinos in Macau, 10 of them are on Taipa island. 4 casinos in Macau are ranked as the Top 10 best casinos in the world, with The Venetian Macau ranks NO.1.  I have been to The Venetian Macau many times. It is both a luxury hotel and a casino resort, and I only visited the hotel part because I wasn’t old enough yet to be allowed to enter the casino. The hotel is impressive inside out. A mini Venice was put inside the hotel.

The following video shows how it was built.

Macau was one of the world’s richest city because of the casino revenue. The casino industry was once 7 times bigger than that of Las Vegas. Most of the gamblers are from Chinese mainland. However, the economy becomes very bad recently due to the anti-corruption in China. Many people are not willing to come to the casinos any more.

Here are some pictures of The Venetian Macau I took during one of many visits in Macau