25th Anniversary of Macao's Return to China: a look at its past and future

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe spoke to Rana Mitter, Professor of History at the University of Oxford, where he is Director of the China Centre.

Transcript

00:00Let's talk now to Rana Mitta, Professor of History at the University of Oxford.

00:04Rana, welcome back, good to see you.

00:05I mean, handovers aren't the easiest thing to do in history.

00:08Give us some perspective, if you would, on the significance of Macau's handover

00:13from Portugal to China 25 years ago.

00:18Well, Jamie, this was actually in some ways rather a low-key handover.

00:21It is actually one that came after a very long period of possession.

00:27Portugal was in charge of Macau really since the 16th century,

00:30which is a very, very long period indeed.

00:32But essentially, Portugal had a revolution back in 1974,

00:36which overthrew the dictatorial government at the time.

00:39And essentially, its successor democratic governments were not that keen to hang on to Macau.

00:43So it was a pretty smooth, pretty easy process in that sense.

00:47And in one sense, I think most of the people living in Macau at the time

00:50saw it as a change of who was in government,

00:53but daily life carried on in a pretty smooth and effective way.

00:57And what about the political and symbolic importance of Xi Jinping's visit on this 25th anniversary?

01:06Well, it's interesting. One of the points that your correspondent Chen Yuan made

01:10was the way in which Macau is increasingly being put forward

01:14as one of the key elements of the Greater Bay Area Project.

01:18In other words, the idea that large parts of southern China around Guangdong province

01:22are going to be part of an economic powerhouse.

01:24The idea is that there'll be investment in research and development and infrastructure.

01:28So Zhuhai, the major city which essentially sits just across the bridge from Macau,

01:34will become more and more a sort of hub in terms of being able to put more economic

01:39and research effort into Macau's presence.

01:42In other words, Macau's being moved away from being a place that is separate

01:46in the sense of having its own very separate economy and society

01:49and being much more integrated into that Greater Bay Area Project.

01:53It's very clear from what's been said today that is the direction of travel

01:56for the next 25 years and probably beyond that.

01:59But I mean, just following that up, how has Macau's unique Portuguese colonial heritage

02:05shaped its identity under Chinese rule?

02:11Oh, there's plenty of heritage, I think, still being pushed forward.

02:13I mean, technically speaking, you can still use Portuguese as the language of usage in Macau today,

02:21although relatively few people do do that, much less than, say, use English in Hong Kong.

02:26That said, the buildings which come from the period of Portuguese colonialism,

02:30including some rather picturesque, sort of now slightly ruined looking buildings,

02:35but the look is wonderful, is there.

02:38Also, Portuguese-influenced cuisine is something that people go over to Macau for even now.

02:43And of course, although it may not be quite so much part of the heritage,

02:46but for a long time, the gaming industry, gambling, casinos have been part of the scene in Macau.

02:51They're not available in the mainland. They're not available in Hong Kong.

02:54And so that gives Macau a unique leisure and tourism option

02:58that has been there for certainly a number of decades

03:00and I think in some ways still sits very much at the heart of the idea of Macau as a sort of fun city,

03:06a place that you go essentially to enjoy that kind of slightly, how can one put it,

03:11loose lifestyle which comes with gambling that you're not allowed to do

03:14in the perhaps more sober confines of the Chinese mainland.

03:18Rana, good to see you. Thank you for that.

03:19Rana Mitt, a professor of history at the University of Oxford.

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