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.

Subdivisions

See Also: List of cities and parishes in Macao

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Macau comprises two administrative subdivisions:

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• The Northern District (??): Macao proper
• The Islands District (???): Taipa and Coloane

Although the phrase "Northern District", broadly speaking, may refer to the entire Macau peninsula, some of the people in Macau use the phrase "Northern District" more narrowly. It refers to the northern part of the Macau peninsula, neighbouring Zhuhai in Mainland China. In this way, a lot of people travel to and from the Mainland on foot or with other land transport through the northern district.

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During the last periods of Portuguese rule, the peninsular (northern) district was administered by the Macau Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal de Macau), and the islands by the Islands Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal das Ilhas). After the handover to China in 1999, these were transferred to the Provisional Municipal Council of Macau (???????????; Câmara Municipal de Macau Provisória) and the Provisional Municipal Council of the Islands (???????????; Câmara Municipal das Ilhas Provisória) respectively per Article 15, Law 1/1999; the corresponding Municipal Assembly (Assembleia Municipal) was also changed to a provisional one (??????; Assembleia Municipal Provisória). Article 16 and Annex XII of Law 6/1999 changed the Portuguese-style coat-of-arms with two angels as heraldic supporters to a simple design of a key with two birds as supporters. Implicitly, this also revoked the historical name of Cidade do (Santo) Nome de Deus de Macau, Não há outra mais Leal (City of the (Holy) Name of God of Macau, There is none more Loyal) which had religious and royal overtones. Subsequently in 2001, Law 17/2001 and Administrative Regulation 32/2001 introduced the Institute (or Bureau) of Civic and Municipal Affairs (????; Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais; IACM) which replaced the Provisional Municipal Councils. The IACM was given a logo based on the Han (Chinese) character for "civilian".

Related Topics:
1999 - Coat-of-arms - Angel - Key - Religious - Royal - 2001 - Han (Chinese) character

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