Macao, also known as Macau, is a small peninsula located in the south of China. It is considered to be one of the most unique cities in the world due to its combination of Chinese and Portuguese cultures. During the 16th century, the Portuguese established a trading port in Macao, which made it the center of economic and cultural exchange between China and the West. Consequently, Macao has been influenced by western culture, religion, language, and architecture making it an interesting cosmopolitan city. In addition to its cultural richness, Macao is also a famous tourist destination due to its many casinos, luxury hotels, and entertainment venues. It is often referred to as the “Las Vegas of Asia” as it is home to the largest gambling market in the world. Macao has a rich culinary scene influenced by Chinese and Portuguese cuisine. Its signature dishes include egg tarts, pork chop buns, and Macanese-style seafood. With its unique cultural heritage, vibrant entertainment scene, and delicious cuisine, Macao is a must-visit destination for anyone traveling to China or the surrounding areas.

Macao, 40 miles west of Hong Kong, became a place of Portuguese residence between 1555–57. In this short, lively and affectionate book, Austin Coates explains how and why the Portuguese came to the Far East, and how they peacefully settled in Macao with tacit Chinese goodwill. Macao's golden age, from 1557 to the disastrous collapse of 1641, is vividly reconstructed. There follows the cuckoo-in-the-nest situation of the late eighteenth century when the British in Macao were a law unto themselves, until the foundation of Hong Kong and the opening of Shanghai gave wider scope for their energies. Portugal’s subsequent struggle to obtain full sovereignty in Macao, and the extraordinary outcome in 1975, brings this account to a close. Special tribute is paid to the risks Macao gallantly undertook in harbouring Hong Kong's starving and destitute during World War II.

Macau, on the threshold of the twentieth-first century, is perhaps a harbinger of a new urban culture. Having been nurtured by the sharply constrasting legacies of China and Portugal, this unique city manages to meld cultural differences and avoid the destructiveness of ethnic clashes. It is thus likened here to the Roman deity Janus, who is usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. By concentrating on the ambivalent history of Macau, the author reveals the historical reality of cultural vacillation between two political entities and the emergence of a creole minority - the Macanese. With a judicious use of English, Chinese, and Portuguese sources, she has provided a pathbreaking, multi-focal perspective of the last Portuguese outpost in Asia. In light of the 'decolonization' of Macau in December 1999, the author's analysis challenges the easy assumptions of the causal sequence: colonialism/postcolonialism, and opens up an interdisciplinary purview of a local instance in cross-cultural studies.

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