Macao or Macau: Location, History, Size, Population, & Government

About Macao or Macau, information, history size, location, population, people, culture, and government.

Macao (Macau)

Size--6 sq. mi. (15.51 sq. km.). Population--295,000.

Macao (Ao-Men to the Chinese) is situated at the mouth of southern China's Pearl (Canton) River, about 17 mi. west of Hong Kong. Famous as a gambling resort, Macao attracts almost 2 million people annually, mostly from Hong Kong. Theoretically governed by a Portuguese governor, the people of Macao and the Government of China consider Macao a part of China to be returned in the near future. At the present time, however, China prefers to use Macao as an outlet for its exports to noncommunist nations. So real authority is exercised by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, led by Chinese business leaders who negotiated an agreement with the Portuguese following a series of riots by pro-Peking youths in 1967.