E-Paper
Macau marks 10 years of Chinese rule
Macau celebrated its 10th anniversary of Chinese rule on Sunday, a decade marked by the extraordinary transformation of this once seedy Portuguese colony into a glitzy international gambling capital.
Macau celebrated its 10th anniversary of Chinese rule on Sunday, a decade marked by the extraordinary transformation of this once seedy Portuguese colony into a glitzy international gambling capital.
The tiny territory, best known as a dingy casino town in the past half-century of its 400-year history as a Portuguese colony, returned to Chinese rule on December 20, 1999, as its economy was shrivelling and warring Chinese gangs were frightening away tourists.
Since then, violence has subsided and the economy has exploded. The one place in China where gambling is legal, Macau boomed after the government broke up a local company's long-standing monopoly seven years ago and started welcoming US gambling powerhouses like Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands and MGM Mirage.
As the operators built one flashy casino-resort after another, gamblers showed up by the millions -- the overwhelming majority of them from mainland China -- and profits surged.
By 2006, this enclave less than one-sixth the size of Washington DC, had surpassed the Las Vegas Strip as the world's most prosperous casino centre.
