Macau

The Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, ?Chinese:??????????????? short form Macau or Macao (short form of Chinese: ???also informally known as "??") (see Names), is a small territory on the southern coast of China. It is 70 km southwest of Hong Kong and 145 km from Guangzhou. It was the oldest European colony in China, dating back to the 16th century. The Portuguese government transferred sovereignty over Macau to the People's Republic of China in 1999, and it is now run as a Special Administrative Region of the PRC. Residents of Macau mostly speak Cantonese natively; Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, and English are also spoken.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Macau

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Macau's economy is based largely on tourism, including gambling. Textile and fireworks manufacturing are the largest employers after gambling. Efforts to diversify have spawned other small industries, such as toys, artificial flowers, and electronics. The clothing industry has provided about three-fourths of export earnings, and the gambling industry is estimated to contribute more than 40% of its GDP. More than 8 million tourists visited Macau in 2000. Although the recent growth in gambling and tourism has been driven primarily by mainland Chinese, tourists from Hong Kong remain the most numerous. Recently triad violence, a dark spot on the economy, has significantly declined, to the benefit of the tourism sector. During the last four years, the average growth rate of the economy has been approximately 10% per year. The GDP per capita in 2004 was USD22,620. In the first quarter of 2005, the unemployment rate was 4.1%.

Related Topics:
Economy - Tourism - Gambling - Textile - Fireworks - Toy - Artificial flower - Electronics - GDP - 2000 - Hong Kong - Triad - 2004 - USD

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In 2004 gambling revenues from Macau's casinos were for the first time greater than those of Las Vegas (each about $5 billion), which means Macau is now the biggest gambling centre in the World.

Related Topics:
2004 - Las Vegas

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