N many ways,Maeao SPeeialAdministrative Region(SAR)renlalns as it was before be-ing Ilanded baek to China inDeeember 1999.The free Port15 still there,Portuguese 15 stillw idely sPokell and the Pataea(MOP)15still the omeial currelley.Coins also srilljingle as they fly in and out oftheeasinoslot maehines,and the dog and horseraeing stands are as erowded as ever. “Macao 15 the Mozlte Carlo of theEast,a一ld gamblingisa一1 imPorta一It as-Peet of its tourism industry.The gam-bling busi一less 11as grown steadily sineethe handover in 1999,with gross earn-i一195 of 29.5 billion Pataea in 2003,andnearly 20 billion Pataea in the first halfof 2004.,,says Joao Manuel Costa An-tunes,the SAR’5 Direetor ofTourism. A一It一nes cltes two reaso一15 for theindustry’5 reeent boom.Firstly, the 10-eal government has issued businesslieenses to three exPerienced bettingcomPanies,eneouraging them to trans-form gambling into an aPPealing tour-ist leisure aetivity,and thus reel inmore custolners.Seeondly,the flood otmainland holidaymakers now deseend-ing uPon the SAR means that the easi-nos are bursting at the seams.In 1999,a total of 7.44而Ilion PeoPle visitedMaeao.In 2004 that figure shot uP to15 million,or 30 times the loeal PoPu-lation.Before 2003,more than half ofthe tourists hailed from Hong Kong,butnow Chinese mainlanders make uP thelargest grouP·Portuguese Descendents Portuguese and their deseendentshave been livi一19 in Maeao for400years.Knowli loeally as indigenous Portu-guese,nn estimated 10,000 of them Iivein the SAR,and most have retained theirEuroPean lifestyle.It was this grouP 01、peoPle that had the most eoneerns aboutMaeao,5 return to China. “Ourlifestylehasn,taetuallyehanged一nueh,”says Manuel Maria dos Sa一ztosGonealves,viee一ehairman of Teledi-fusao De Maeao,S.A.R.L.,whosefa-ther 15 Portuguese and motller Chi一lese.“You ean tell from ours一niling faeesthat we’ve had a good Iife through thesePast five years.,,The Basie Law of Ma-eao SAR eontai一15 sPeeial artieles tllatProteet and resPeet the rights,eustomsand eulture of Portuguese deseellde一ltsin Maeao. Rita Botelho dos Santos has a tyPi-eally oriental aPPearanee,but 15 aetu-ally of third一generation Chinese一Por-tuguese lineage.Before the handover,she worked as a eivil servant for tWO orthree times the average salary,and alsoreeeived a lot ofPerksalidPrivileges.In1995,all eivil servants in Maeao、veregiven tllree oPtions in the run一uP tothe handover:stay in Maeao,return toa Portuguese government Post or takeearly retirement.Santos says:“Mostof my family was in the eivil serviee.My 10 brothersandsistersallworkedindiffererlt government bodies.、晚talkedabout our ehoiees for almost a year, anddeeided to stay in Maeao.”She adds:“W七were born here,we live here,andmany Portuguese一style buildings inMaeao,and it 15 imPortant to keeP thePortuguese language alive.,,She 15 eon-fident that the indigenous Portugueseeulture will be Preserved for future gen-erations. The Associatioli for IndigenousPo卜tuguese in Maeao was established in1996.Boasting 900 members,it isagovernment一sPonsored grouP,mainlyeonsisting of retirees.They meet at thelast weekend of every month in a hallthat the loeal government renovated ataeost of400, 000 Pataea, Chen Guoxing,eha帅erson oftheas-ourre>atlvesandfriendsa化here.P0rtu-gal was our aneestor,5 11ome,not ours.” Deeidixlg tostay’ Sarltos hit the Chi-nese textbooks.Flrst she Iearned Can-tonese.Then she Passed and reeeivedthe third level eertifieate in PI￡toIZghlraissuedbytheBeijingLanguageandCul-tureU一liversity.“The handover has en-eouraged marzy indigenous Portugueseto learn Chinese,,,she said.“And theirPolitieal and soeial status 15 aetuallyhigller than before.Under the PrineiPleof‘one eountry,two systems,,Maeao15 run by eitizens of Maeao.Whateveryour ethnie origin,the most imPortantrllillg 15 that you love Maeao.IfyoueansPeak both Chinese and Portuguese,oP-Portunities abound.,, Santos believes that the indigenousPortuguese make uP an essential Partof tlle eharaeter of Maeao.“There aresoeiatio
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