Famous landmarks in Macao SAR China

Macao (also spelled Macau) is a special administrative region of China on the southern coast, across the Pearl River estuary from Hong Kong. It is made up of the Macao Peninsula and the islands of Taipa and Coloane, which are now joined by land reclaimed from the sea. Macao is one of the most densely populated places in the world. For more than 400 years it was run by Portugal, so it mixes Chinese and Portuguese streets, food and buildings, alongside giant modern resorts.

On My Earth Toy you can see the Ruins of St. Paul's, the stone front of a 17th-century church that still stands after a fire, the 338-metre Macau Tower, and the Grand Lisboa, a golden tower shaped like a lotus flower.

Geography and nature

Macao is tiny, with an area of only about 33 square kilometres, and much of that land was created by filling in the sea. The highest point, Alto de Coloane, is just 172 metres tall. Coloane still has green hills, hiking trails and beaches. The climate is subtropical, with warm, humid summers and cool winters, and typhoons can strike between May and October. Bridges link the peninsula and the islands, and a very long sea bridge connects Macao with Hong Kong and Zhuhai.

People, languages and culture

Chinese and Portuguese are both official languages, but most people speak Cantonese. Street signs are written in both Chinese and Portuguese, and the old town has Portuguese-style squares paved with wavy black-and-white stones next to Chinese temples. The Historic Centre of Macao is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Macanese food blends Portuguese, Chinese and other flavours, and Macao's egg tarts are famous. Many visitors come for the city's huge entertainment resorts.

History in a nutshell

Portuguese traders began settling in Macao in the 1550s, and it became an important port for trade between China, Japan and Europe. The Church of St. Paul was built in the early 1600s and burned down in 1835, leaving only its front wall. Portugal governed Macao for centuries, and under an agreement with China, it was handed over on 20 December 1999 to become a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China.