Strolling along the multicultural Senado Square, apart from lashings of pastel colored neo-classical buildings, you can also find a great many brand-name shops, up-market restaurants and large-scale cosmetic chains. Yet, behind all the glamour and the glitz, have you got any impression of the landscape of this pedestrian paradise in the past decades?

Humane old restaurants and civilian stores, together with traditional industries as well as folk handicrafts, had once made up an integral part of the square's landscape; nevertheless, all these, could now only become an imprint of the past and pieces of our collective memory.

Since the liberalization of the gaming industry in 2002, Macao's economy has been prospering with the construction of new casinos as well as a sustaining growth of tourism from mainland China, resulting in a tremendous change in the urban landscape of the territory.

The Senado Square is not an exception. Various typical old shops, buffeted by the rapid surge in rent, are gradually vanishing in the square.

"I loved to go to Meng Un for its wonton noodles, and the staff working there are very nice and cordial," said Mr. Wong, a regular customer who has patronized the restaurant since its opening.

The Meng Un Noodles has operated for almost 20 years and was famous for its soup and wonton noodle. But in mid 2010, the restaurant, together with others stores in the same building, were purchased by a large company and shut down.

"I was shocked when I first heard that Meng Un was going to shut down, it's really a pity for these old shops to perish one by one," Wong added.

Another well-known old store in the Senado Square, the Chinese Stationery Company, is now replaced by a cosmetic chain named Colourmix.

"Lots of my youthful memories were filled in those old shops in the square, particularly the Chinese Stationery Company. I used to go there with my classmates and bought stationery for school. There were wide varieties to be chosen and the price was reasonable as well," said Jancy Ng, a 25-year-old clerk who had once studied in a secondary school near the Senado Square.

The Chinese Stationery Company had once been one of the major stationers in Macao. As various schools are located nearby the Senado Square, lots of students loved to buy stationery there for convenience. The shop had been in business for nearly 30 years and was forced to move out due to the extreme rent rise in recent years.

Though many people may feel pity for the fading of the old shops, inevitably, they have to go with the tide and be eliminated as prosperity grows. We should be thankful for their contributions to our community; we should also be gratified to have them be part of Macao's history as well as fragments of our collective memory.