What are the highlights of the last decade of speedy growth?

text Rebecca Lo

In 1999, asia’s oldest colony became china’s youngest special administrative region (SaR), with the formal handover of macau after nearly five centuries of Portuguese rule. While some feared that the city would fast become another asian Economic crisis casualty and others mourned the good old sleepy days of tranquillity, macau got busy. In the past 10 years, the city has developed at an astonishing rate. Shiny new buildings seemingly mushroomed overnight, each surpassing the previous in scale and design. While the most obvious developments have been on cotai, a parcel of reclaimed land connecting Taipa and coloane that did not exist 25 years ago, there have also been countless other achievements. Here are our picks.

2005 Let the games begin

To prepare for the 4th East Asian Games in late 2005, the city went through a period of stadium-mania. State-of-the-art sporting facilities were erected to accommodate athletes, fans and media from across the region. Five major venues – the Macau Hockey Centre, the Macau Stadium and Pavilion, the Sports Field and Pavilion at Macau University of Science and Technology, the Macau East Asian Games Dome and the Tennis Academy – enabled the city to compete at an international level in sports, both during the games and for future tournaments or events. For instance, the Macau Dome not only contains 7,000 seats, but also includes a theatre, exhibition centre and convention space.

2005 Old is New

Perhaps the most unique thing about Macau is that its past is clearly visible to anyone taking a walk through the city’s historic centre. In 2005, UNESCO officially recognised what fans of the city had known all along: the city’s heritage buildings are cultural gems that must be protected for future generations. “Although none are individual masterpieces, it is the best preserved collection in Asia,” says Stephen Chan, Vice-President at Macau’s Cultural Affairs Bureau. “Temples and cathedrals exist side-by-side here.”

Macau worked hard to achieve World Heritage status. Its conservation policy was first implemented in 1953, at a time when Hong Kong was blithely tearing down old buildings to make new ones as quickly as possible. Today, approximately 400 people work in the Cultural Affairs Bureau, with about 15 of those dedicated to heritage. “Preservation should be a continuous process, not just because there is money to do it,” explains Chan. “We have been restoring buildings since 1984.”

A-Ma Temple, built in the 15th century, is the earliest surviving example of Fukkienese architecture built according to tradition. Its popularity today reaffirms the Cultural Affairs Bureau’s dedication to keeping old buildings alive and relevant. Others, such as the 1881 Mandarin House, 1784 Leal Senado Building and 1569 Holy House of Mercy or Santa Casa da Misericordia, currently undergoing extensive external renovations, show that a building boom can harmoniously co-exist with the preservation of historical treasures.