Macau festive as handover nears

Macau festive as handover nears
REUTERS

MACAU, DECEMBER 3: Normally sleepy Macau is buzzing with activity as it prepares for the end of 442 years of Portuguese administration and its return to China on December 20.

With the handover less than three weeks away, the tiny gambling enclave of 430,000 people is rushing to add the finishing touches before some 5,000 guests and journalists swoop in to capture the historic moment at midnight on December 19.

A translucent green building, which will serve as heart of the handover ceremony, will house 2,500 VIPs who will witness the flag change at the stroke of midnight.

Luminous by night, the temporary structure can be seen a short distance from the ferry terminal, the main entry point for visitors from nearby hong kong.

Across the street, dozens of workers put up a giant black and silver tent and hall by the waterfront, which will serve as reception and dining areas for guests on the eve of the handover.

To be sure, macau's handover festivities lack both the extravagance - and the angst - thatsurrounded Hong Kong's return to china in July 1997.

Compared with Hong Kong, which spent a cool US $ 615 million just on its handover site, the Macau government will spend just US $ 30 million.

But there is no less excitement in this sleepy town, where the grand but aging structures of its colonial past now lie in the shadows of brash new high-rises.

``Macau is the last bit of Chinese land still in foreign hands. Once the handover is through, all of China will be Chinese,'' said Macau resident Lou Hok Fong, a member of one of several pro-China Macau organisations.

Just about everywhere, shopkeepers have put up large messages reading ``Welcome the return to the motherland'' in lucky red colours to herald the new era.

At an office in charge of handover celebrations, staff are coordinating dances and colourful parades organised by schools and community, grassroots and social groups.

``We could live several lives, but there's only one handover,'' said school principal Lau Siu Peng, who is also vicedirector of the commission of various sectors of Macau for activities celebrating the return of Macau to the motherland.

The oldest permanent European settlement in Asia, Macau was a Portuguese trading post beginning in 1557 and later became part of its colonial empire.