On this day exactly 25 years ago, the small island city of Macau officially returned to Chinese administration following more than 400 years of Portuguese management.

In 1999, the tiny island area of just 33 square kilometers — located near Guangdong Province and around 60 kilometers from Hong Kong — became a special administrative region of China, meaning it is part of the People’s Republic of China while retaining its own systems of governance and law, among other things.

Since then, it has exceeded most of the world by many metrics. The local population of around 720,000 enjoy the third-highest life expectancy on the planet, at 85.5 years of age. Their GDP per capita is also right up there, at nearly US$70,000 per year.

Some more quick facts: The city is one of the most densely populated regions in the world, with 21,055 people per square kilometer. And despite being called the “Sin City of the East,” Macau’s casinos, believe it or not, made nearly three times as much as Las Vegas last year, raking in US$22.8 billion compared with Vegas’ mere US$8 billion. Vegas may as well become “Macau of the West!”

I recently visited the island city to chat with half a dozen locals about their city, its history, “One Country, Two Systems,” life in Macau, and more.

The history of Macau

“Macau has a very rich history,” Kevin Ho King Lun, a successful businessman and representative for the city at the National People’s Congress, told me inside his small, private bar somewhere in Macau.

A natural politician, he’s keen to get the terminology right from the outset.

“First of all, I must stress: We have never been a part of the Portuguese colony. We were managed by the Portuguese government (starting) 400-odd years ago. We have always been part of China.”

Agnes Lam, associate professor at the University of Macau, is particularly clear on the history.

“Back then, Macau was a pier that officially allowed foreign ships to dock,” she told me. “Officials of the Ming Dynasty could start collecting taxes and so on, so Macau became really important in the middle of the Ming period.”

Local tour guide Zhu Rongqian mainly takes visitors from the Chinese mainland around Macau.

“Portugal had to pay the Ming and Qing governments 500 taels of silver every year,” he recalled.

“But then one day they just stopped paying the rent they paid for years,” professor Lam added. “They unilaterally declared Macau a free port without the consent of the Qing government.”

Fast-forward to 1999, and Macau officially, smoothly and uncontroversially returned to Chinese administration.

“It’s very important to point out: It was not a change in sovereignty. China never gave up sovereignty over Macau, of course,” German national Harald Brüning, who has lived in Macau for four decades, told me. He’s the director of a daily English-language newspaper there called The Macau Post Daily.

Was there tension under the Portuguese?

Portugal managed Macau and its people for 442 years, from 1557 until 1999. During that time, 138 Portuguese governors were chosen by the King before 1910, and by Portugal’s president following that.

So were there any conflicts or uprisings from the locals? And how were they treated?

“Under the Portuguese management, the Chinese had very little power or even freedom to express themselves,” Ho said. “Luckily Macau was a peaceful land, so everything was settled in a peaceful way.”

Lam agrees. “During the entire history of Portuguese administration, Chinese and Portuguese were friendly with each other for the vast majority of the time. Historical conflicts were rare, and large-scale conflicts were extremely rare.”

‘One Country, Two Systems’ 
and Macau

On December 20, 1999, Macau became China’s second special administrative region after Hong Kong.

Brüning explained: “Well, ‘One Country, Two Systems’ means, of course, one China, right? I mean the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. And of course there are two systems. The one system is the socialist system on the mainland, and then you have those systems, capitalist systems actually, practiced in Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan.”

Basically, “One Country, Two Systems” means that while Macau is official part of China, it can follow its own systems of governance and law, and make decisions based on its own history, culture and so on.

“We have good autonomy,” Ho assured me. “We can do everything that Macau has been doing. ‘One Country, Two Systems’ in Macau has been very successful, I must say.”

Wu Jianzhong, head of the library at the University of Macau, believes his university is a model example of the policy in practice.

Since the land area is so small, the central government made a piece of land across the river on the Chinese mainland available for the university’s new campus.

“Without ‘One Country, Two Systems,’ the university wouldn’t exist today,” Wu said.

After building the new campus in Zhuhai on the mainland, students from Macau are able to freely cross the river for study without technically leaving Macau.

“The university sits on 1.09 square kilometers,” Wu told me. “That’s 20 times the university’s original size!”

How is life in Macau after 1999?

The million-dollar question: Has life in Macau improved since returning to China in 1999?

Lam is certain it has.

“I think most Macau locals would feel that life is better,” she smiled. “Firstly, society as a whole is wealthier.”

She is absolutely right: Last year, the people of Macau earned more than even most Western nations on a per capita basis.

“Better is an understatement,” Ho added. “It has been much better if you judge from salary, median level, the unemployment rate, GDP, tax revenue ... compared with the day of the handover” in 1999.

That wealth has in large part come from gambling, with Macau now the world’s top earning gambling location.

Despite that industry creating massive problems in many societies, Brüning told me that the tax it generates is extremely helpful for Macau society as a whole.

“Macau’s casinos pay a gross revenue tax of 35 percent, which means that if you lose MOP$100 in Macau ... MOP$35 of it goes directly to the government.”

He said another 5 percent tax generates income for “social, cultural and all other kinds of activities, which means 40 percent out of MOP$100 that is lost on the gaming table goes at least to the public sector.”

Apart from gambling, is there anything else to do in Macau?

Of the people who know of Macau, probably a majority know the city due to its gambling industry. But there’s more to the city, and the locals wish the rest of the world would see that.

“The gaming industry in 2023 only accounted for 37 percent of our GDP,” Ho insisted. “Gaming is not everything in Macau.”

Wu from the university library hopes people will come to admire the city’s long, cultured history.

“Macau has preserved the culture of more than 500 years,” he explained. “If you come to Macau, you will see and experience various different cultures.”

Local teenager Godfredo Castilho, who has a Chinese mother and Portuguese father, has his own ideas for selling Macau to the world.

“I will promote Macau as a beautiful and prosperous place with a strong historical and cultural atmosphere,” he told me. “Also, Macau is not just for gambling. There are so many entertainment and cultural facilities.”

Professor Lam has one wish: “We hope people will see that there’s another aspect of Macau.”