MACAU

also spelled Macao, Wade-Giles romanization t'e-pieh hsing-cheng-ch', Pinyin tebie xingzhengqu special administrative region of China, on the country's southern coast. It is located on the western side of the Pearl River (Chu Chiang) estuary (at the head of which is the port of Canton) and it stands about 40 miles (64 km) opposite the special administrative region of Hong Kong, which is on the eastern side of the estuary. It comprises a small, narrow peninsula projecting from the mainland sheng (province) of Kwangtung and includes the islands of Taipa, 2.2 square miles (5.7 square km), and Coloane, 3 square miles (7.7 square km). The total area of Macau is 9.1 square miles (23.6 square km). Extending up a hillside and overlooking La-Pa Island is the city of Macau, which occupies almost the entire peninsula. The name is derived from the Chinese A-mangao, or Bay of A-m, for A-ma, the goddess popular among sailors. Pop. (1991) 339,464; (1998 est.) 430,500. Additional reading Geography General works on Macau include R.D. Cremer (ed.), Macau: City of Commerce and Culture, 2nd ed. (1991); and Jonathan Porter, Macau, the Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to the Present (1996, reissued 1999). Economic issues in Macau are discussed in Ieong Wan Chong (Yn-chung Yang) and Ricardo Chi Sen Siu, Macau: A Model of Mini-Economy (1997); and R.D. Cremer (ed.), Industrial Economy of Macau in the 1990s (1990). Lo Shiu Hing, Political Development in Macau (1995), offers perspectives on politics in Macau. History A general history of Macau is provided by Geoffrey C. Gunn, Encountering Macau: A Portuguese City-State on the Periphery of China, 15571999 (1996). Historical interpretations of Macau prior to its establishment as a special administrative region are provided by Austin Coates, Macao and the British, 16371842: Prelude to Hong Kong (1988); and Steve Shipp, Macau, China: A Political History of the Portuguese Colony's Transition to Chinese Rule (1997). Christina Miu Bing Cheng, Macau: A Cultural Janus (1999), addresses the cultural and social history of Macau.