Macau, the world’s playing capital, is changing into extra intertwined with a Chinese neighbor — one individual, prepare and constructing at a time.
A former Portuguese colony, Macau was reclaimed 25 years in the past by China and declared a particular administrative zone, a part of the mainland however with some independence. Beijing agreed to largely preserve its palms off the 12-square-mile territory.
Like close by Hong Kong, Macau could be a part of China however free to control itself and run its economic system with out interference from Beijing. It rapidly rose to change into the world’s most profitable playing vacation spot, drawing large American casinos like Wynn and Sands and catering to largely Chinese vacationers.
Now China’s political experiment in Macau is present process one other transition. China’s chief, Xi Jinping, who visited Macau this week to mark the anniversary of the territory’s “return to the motherland,” needs Macau to function much less independently of mainland China. In Mr. Xi’s imaginative and prescient, Macau will wean itself off an financial reliance on playing and play a job in boosting China’s personal lagging client economic system.
At the guts of this new push is Hengqin, a Chinese island separated from Macau by a river.
