By Caryn Kuong

“We prefer a simple and peaceful life; money can never be the substitute. Thus, I strongly urge the government not to develop this village into a commercial district," said Mrs. Chan, who is the owner of a marine food products store in Coloane.

The shop is called Loja De Peixe Tong Kei (????), it has been running for over 40 years. Mr. and Mrs. Chan have engaged in this career for 30 years. They said that they are not only selling food, but also a kind of culture of this place.

They have a particular business model that is only handed down from generation to generation. They also have their own particular customer group. Mrs. Lee, 65 years old, has been buying their salted fish for over 30 years. She said, “I love the flavor here, salted fish is my eating habit. Every meal of mine must have it otherwise I will have no appetite."

However, they are facing a big problem that no one will keep running their business. Furthermore, operating costs get higher and higher as the economy develops, making their life harder.

Recently, they received news that the government is going to change their neighborhood into a new commercial district. It is going to be another Rua Do Cunha (???). According to Mrs. Chan, most of the villagers object to this decision. They think once the government rebuilds the area, the unique fishing village tradition will be affected. The streets are not wide enough for tour buses and there will not be enough parking spaces for locals as well. Besides, most of the stores here are run by families. Once the number of customers increases, they will not have enough workers to handle the heavy workload. In general, the villagers cannot maintain their daily life as before, such development plan should not be proposed, Mr. Chan said.

In order to protect their life style, they have also refused people who wanted to cooperate with them for chain stores. Mr. Chan added that villagers here prefer a simple life. Though we might not earn much money without development, we insist on keeping the original life style, he emphasized.

As we know, the popular Macao souvenirs are almond cakes or dried beef. People may forget that salted fish is also one of the traditional foods of Macao. Thus people start to forget the taste of tradition as well.