Macao, a little city located in the Orient, ranked number one on the list of world population density, covers only 31 square kilometers, yet has a population of over 600,000.

Gaming and tourism are the local leading industries, but apart from these, what else remains in Macao? A question has floated into my mind: where is our suburb? Where is our clear starry sky? Developing gaming and tourism industries are beneficial to the economic growth. I consider the two fields are to bring Macao into a bright future beyond our imagination. Macao, however, lacks the connection between the locals and the industries. Do we really know what Macao is missing? Have we tried to listen to our city’s heartbeat? Is the pace synchronized with every one of us? Is this development really what we want?

Our suburb?

Macao consists of three islands, Macao Peninsula, Taipa Island and Coloane Island. Consider the Macao Peninsula and Taipa Island being the urban area, is the Coloane Island our suburb? If so, isn’t the Cotai Strip a part of it from a geographic standpoint? It does not appear to be sensible as resorts and luxury properties are all over on the Cotai Strip. The ratio of our urban sections is extending and taking over the rural sections. The economic housing built in Coloane is developing the area. Have you ever asked yourself: is this the development that we want.

When I look for stars at night, the sky is covered by the giant spotlights and signboards. A clear sky is nowhere to be found. It seems to me more of a scene in sci-fi films than a city I call home.

Luxury hotels, large chain stores are everywhere. While enjoying the five star services, have you ever thought of our local characteristics and culture? What is our core value? Have you ever tried to hear the city’s heart beat? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves, as a Macanese. The most unwanted thing would be that hotels and casinos become all we have for our daily lives.

We are under the same sky, yet we are having such different lifestyles. Just in Senado Square and Coloane, we find a totally different scene. Every Macanese is a storyteller. Let’s explore what the city means to them.

Although they may not know each other, they will always give support. They laugh at you, yell at you, but they give you a hand, with a warm heart, when it’s needed.

They are Macanese.
They are your most loyal listeners either when you are cheered or frustrated. Hawkers call the kids “sons” and “daughters”. The locals have grown up in this atmosphere, which is full of intimacy and connections.
They share with you their wisdom from the bottom of their hearts for just raising you up.

This is Macao.

In fact, when you get up every single morning, you may have loud noises as accompany, neighbors’ chatting, talking, negotiating, debating in their daily lives, laughing at each other, but these just make our days, these are our precious joint memories.

This is the harmony and preciosity this place exclusively has.

May we now focus onto the other side of Macao, more than just money and growth? Let’s explore the peaceful and untouched part of Macao, Coloane. They’re under the same sky. We’re under the same sky.

The most central district versus the most southern island;

The most developed part versus the most untouched part;

High skyscrapers versus lowrise houses;

Streets occupied by a crowded human wave versus quiet tree- lined streets;

Luk Fook Jewelry and Koi Kei versus Lord Stow’s Bakery and Fernando’s…

The post We’re Under the Same Sky appeared first on Umac Bridges Spring 2014.

Macao, renowned for being the “Oriental Las Vegas”, used to be a little known fishing village. Thanks to the boom of the gambling and tourism industries, she has become an international city, making a tremendous amount of revenue. Life is never perfect, not all parts of the city can share in the economic boom. Some places are underdeveloped, bringing different kinds of hardship to the neighborhood. Fortunately, people pull up their socks and decide to raise the sail by themselves for a better living.

Ng Kun Cheong, the village head.

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The rise of casinos makes the development of the non-mainstream places stagnant, especially faraway places like Pacoação HácSá, an old small village located in the southeast part of Coloane, which is under-developed with worn-out cottages. Ng Kun Cheong, the native village head, said that the predominance of casinos is putting Macao at a threat. He pointed out, “Due to unsolved historical issues, the maintenance of cottages is illegal, making villagers’ life inconvenient.” Though it is a faraway village, they would like to develop it into a leisure tourist spot. The government is a key player in pushing the cultural industry, but the governmental procedures are complex and time-consuming.

The making of farm for family agriculture.

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According to Ng, they never want to see their home to be destroyed by tall buildings and pollution. He believes that there are lots of valuable things aside from casinos, “but we need to tell people about it.” They proposed to the government to establish hostels and food streets, building more farms for family agriculture. These measures lead to development, an enhancement of people’s knowledge of traditional cultures, and an opportunity for people to taste and experience originality and nature. This also reduces the pressure of tourism in the Macao Island. Of course, life is not that easy, there has been no news for three years since their proposal. However, they are never stopped by these obstacles. Villagers have injected new elements to the village, offering free guided tours, conducting promotions through different kinds of media, negotiating and collaborating with different organizations. They will continue to persuade the government and improve the popularity of the village. Ng will never stop striving for the best for his village.

Ng also emphasized that balancing developments of every part of the city is, without a doubt, a hard task to accomplish, though the government has the key role to play in it, a step taken by each person can turn into a giant leap.

The post The Ignored Village Striving for Light appeared first on Umac Bridges Spring 2014.

It was in the reclamation between Taipa and Coloane and was established by the Macao government in the period of 2003 to 2004. It is the first man-made coastal conservation area in Macao in order to protect Mangroves and migratory birds.

What’s more, it was named one of the “Ten Charming Wet- lands of China” in 2013 by CCTV, China’s national TV, which is not only the recognition of the natural beauty, but also the acknowledgment of ecological protection achievements of Macao.

Casinos and construction projects around the conservation area.

However, Leong Kun Fong, an administration committee member, who has been involved in the front line work of wet- land protection, was quoted by Macao Monthly that the protection of Macao wetlands has suffered from more problems like the construction of casinos and noise pollution. And the size of wetlands has decreased year by year.

Why does this situation happen?

As an example of the conservation area in Co- tai, Macao wetlands don’t own a core area and buffer zone like other places such as the Xixi National Wetland Park in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Shahu Nature Reserve in Ningxia, etc. The distance between the city area and the wetlands is very short. It is basically wetlands in the city, part of the urban scenery to connect the city with the nature. There are bird pavilions where people can watch birds through a telescope. Obviously, it brings a special beauty of harmonious combination of city and natural environment.

However, with the economic development, this scenery has changed dramatically. A large number of construction projects are being planned and carried out, colossal buildings are every- where. As various construction projects have been underway continuously, they have dam- aged the surrounding environment and disturbed the bird habitat. The conservation area is now surrounded by various casinos, hotels and never-ending construction sites.

The roads, which go around the conservation, bear a heavy traffic now with large construction trucks coming and going. It makes a certain noise pollution and imposes a certain impact on the habitat of migratory birds. Mandy Wang, a Birding Association member expressed that, as the time goes by, more and more problems have appeared like the noise pollution, especially the noise of helicopters. According to their observation, the habitat is smaller and smaller. She said that the Macao government should plant trees to surround the conservation area to reduce the impact of noise on the birds.

Wetlands serve as human life purifiers, which bear significant environmental features. The natural ecology can make appropriate accommodation with the social development. Once the environment is damaged, it cannot be easily rescued. A natural environment will never come again, and the last victim is always our own.

Whether the ecological protection zone can keep a sustainable development or not, the prospect is uncertain.

The post Do You Know There Is A Conservation Area In Cotai? appeared first on Umac Bridges Spring 2014.

“Could I borrow some preserved bean curd and buy you a new bottle of it tomorrow?” Miss Chong asked. “Sure. I have many bottles of them. Just take one,” her neighbor replied readily. This conversation was found in Ka Ho Village. Unfortunately, this kind of simple lifestyle no longer exists in the center of Macao due to increasing foreign laborers that have come in recently. It seems Ka Ho Village is the last “Peach Garden” in Macao.

Banner in Ka Ho Village: Destroy my home. Grab my fortune.

Ka Ho Village is in the northeast part of Coloane in Macao. Most villagers belong to Chong’s clan who has settled in Coloane by getting a papyrus deed from the government of the Qing Dynasty in the 19th century. However, the papyrus deed’s legal status is ambiguous in the Macao Basic Law.

According to the Article 7 of Chapter 1 in the Macao Basic Law: “Land and natural resources within the territory of the Macao Special Administrative Region, except in accordance with the law prior to the establishment of Macao SAR confirmed private land, owned by the state and are managed, used and developed by Macao SAR who is able to lease or grant to individuals, legal persons for use or development as all benefits from the transaction above are owned by Macao SAR.” In this context, villagers of Ka Ho have to move out because the Macao government has to take back the land.

Chong, a villager of Ka Ho Village.

Chong, one of the villagers, said, “The government would take back the land just because of the collusion between the government and businessmen. The government nowadays just focuses on the pecuniary interest.” She mentioned that she understood the city development is essential but the government should have the arrangement for villagers’ future life. Until now, the government has not approved the rebuilding projects of damaged brick houses.

Meanwhile, the greatest impact on the villagers is the air pollution caused by the cement plant nearby. “I must wipe the dirt for four to five times per day to keep my house clean,” Chong said, pointing to the car parked by the road which was covered with a thick layer of dust in just half a day. “There are many old people and children here. The quality of the environment is absolutely bad for human beings. But the government has not done anything to improve the situation because they aim at dislodging us, I know.”

“Hey, Miss Chong. Are you going downtown? Do you want a free ride?” one of Chong’s neighbors asked while he was driving his car during the interview. “No, thanks,” Chong replied with a big smile.

In recent years, the economy of Macao has been developing rapidly. At the same time, many valuable things are at risk of disappearing, especially the moral standards and local customs. In order to attract more tourists, valuable wetland has been sacrificed for building gigantic casinos and hotels, which has destroyed the ecological environment. Besides, citizens’ living quality has been affected due to an influx of tourists. Even now, the last remaining village, which preserves a local historic culture in Macao, is forced to be displaced. Sometimes, I may ask myself, “Is money the only thing that remains in our society?”

The post The Vanishing Ka Ho Village appeared first on Umac Bridges Spring 2014.

In recent years, the Macao government has planned to activate the old sites of shipbuilding factories in order to develop them into a testimonial of the inherited traditional shipbuilding culture.

The shipbuilding industry in Macao is connected to the history of the fishery industry. In the past 300 years, these industries were the backbone of Macao and shaped it as the way it is. In the 1920s, Macao had over 30 shipbuilding factories. Among them, the government-run factory near Barra, which was founded in 1890, was the biggest and was installed with the most advanced equipment, according to the Chinese book “Macao Dockyard: Building and Re- pairing for One Century”.

Now, when you pay a visit to Coloane, the wretched factories still could give a visualization to show how busy they used to be. Can’t help but wonder, how did they come to an end? After World War II, the fishery industry began to fall and this was followed by the decline of shipbuilding. A number of factories chose to reduce production and eventually closed up. In the late 1990s, when the government started the town planning, the shipbuilding factories had to move to the Litchi Bay in Coloane. Macao later began to reclaim more land from the sea for economic development and expand residential are- as. The fishery and shipbuilding industries eventually disappeared.

Although it is nearly impossible for Macao to revive its shipbuilding industry because of the current economic and social structures, there are still potential ways to develop new uses of the old factory sites. Still under consideration, according to the head of the Works Bureau of City Planning Office in Macao, the government has planned to revitalize the old sites by regulating the Litchi Bay area into four sub districts, hoping to hold shipbuilding related activities like shipyard showcases, artwork and design pieces, workshops, catering services, as well as providing accommodations. In this plan, the public, especially the younger generation, will be able to learn more about the history of Macao. At the same time, the profits generated can be used to further preserve these historical sites of Macao. In addition, some other factories, according to Zhidong Hao, Professor of Sociology from the University of Macau, and businesses such as making and selling ship toys, ship models and other side products could produce more profits.

The post Keep it Sailing appeared first on Umac Bridges Spring 2014.