Twenty-five years after its return to China, Macau dazzles visitors not just with its world-class hospitality and entertainment, but also with its deeply rooted heritage.

*Left to right:* The landmark Ruins of St. Paul’s; a fisherman casting his net of Coloane’s Cheoc Van Beach. (Photos: Mark Parren Taylor)

When the first bridge spanning the silty waters between the Macau Peninsula and Taipa Island took shape in the 1970s, few could have envisaged the project would kick of a decades-long construction spree. These days, three soaring viaducts carry traffic over the same channel. A fourth link has just been completed. And that’s not counting the 55-kilometer bridge and tunnel system stretching the whole way across the Pearl River Estuary to Hong Kong.

But Macau, a city of around 700,000 souls on the South China Sea, has been in the business of building bridges for centuries. The Portuguese leased the slender, hilly peninsula from China’s Ming dynasty as a trading post in 1557, catapulting its fishing villages into a place of global significance. You could say the fledgling harbor town had won the geographic lottery. It enjoyed a strategic position downriver from the bustling port of Guangzhou, while sea lanes provided easy access to the Spanish-ruled Philippines and a deeply isolationist Japan. Portuguese carracks setting out from Macau had their cargo holds filled with precious wares like silk and porcelain, and they rode the monsoons toward Southeast Asia, the first step in a long journey to India, Africa, and eventually Europe.

This tiny entrepôt quickly became a thriving marketplace for the exchange of goods and ideas. Jesuit missionaries flocked to Macau to gain new converts to Catholicism, and during the mid-17th century they commissioned what was then East Asia’s largest church. Today, what remains of that building are the Ruins of St. Paul’s, its granite facade carved with biblical scenes and figures interpreted by Japanese Christian craftsmen. The intermingling of peoples gave rise to a whole new multiethnic community, and Macau’s home kitchens became the testing ground for what is sometimes referred to as the world’s first fusion cuisine. Cross-cultural pollination also birthed an eclectic creole language; local theater performers are now bringing it to a wider audience.

Looking south over the Macau Peninsula. (Photo: Mark Parren Taylor)

Arrivals from mainland China added even more color to the mix. For much of the 20th century, Macau was a safe haven for refugees fleeing war and political upheaval. The influx of labor and skilled artisans drove local industries to new heights—traditional crafts flourished as incense, matches, and firecrackers were exported to the rest of the world. Heritage businesses still dotting the city’s historic center provide a valuable glimpse of those times. Recent decades saw Macau reinvent itself as a tourism hub, and development accelerated after the territory was returned to China in 1999. The most visible proof of this is the Cotai Strip, built on an expanse of reclaimed land that has fused the islands of Coloane and Taipa into a single entity. Yes, the integrated resorts here are palatial and undeniably grand in scale: some have been styled as make-believe versions of London, Paris, and Venice where any bon vivant can shop and dine to their heart’s content. But venture beyond Cotai and you’ll find that Macau is an alluring destination that punches well above its weight; the city packs in a diverse range of attractions in its 32.9 square kilometers.

On the Macau Peninsula, UNESCO World Heritage–listed monuments and streetscapes bear witness to 500 years of history. One can easily hop between Chinese temples and mansions in gray brick, Portuguese-style baroque churches, and cobblestoned squares lined with pastel-painted buildings—a vision of Iberia on the south China coast. But there are also surprising pockets of contemporary art hiding in plain sight, avenues for showcasing local talent alongside artists from abroad. Over in the hills of Coloane, a tranquil hiking trail will give you a sense of how these shores might have looked long ago, before the game-changing developments that transformed the city into a thriving entertainment mecca. Finally, a series of upcoming festivals and events offer yet another perspective on how the Macau of today bridges the past, present, and future while retaining its singular charm.

Macau, Now: An Overview

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