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Macau Handover

Macau's handover to China ends Portuguese era

December 18, 1999
Web posted at: 10:07 a.m. HKT (0207 GMT)

MACAU (CNN) -- Monday's handover of Macau to China marks the end of Portugal's colonial era in Asia and the second step in China's program to reunify its territory under the "one country, two systems" formula.

Macau, which has been governed by Portugal for 442 years, is a tiny enclave of 430,000 people -- mostly Chinese -- 40 miles (64 km) west of Hong Kong.

 VIDEO
VideoThe handover of Macau to China has parallels to Hong Kong two years ago. But as Mike Chinoy reports, this time, it should be smoother.
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Like Hong Kong, which was returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 after 156 years of British rule, Macau will become a Special Administrative Region of China, with local autonomy and greater freedoms for its citizens than those people on the mainland are allowed.

China hopes that Taiwan will be the next and final piece of its territory to return to Beijing's control under the same arrangement, but Taiwan's leaders have said they will not consider doing so under China's current Communist regime.

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Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio and Chinese President Jiang Zemin will preside over the handover ceremonies in Macau as the clock strikes midnight at the end of Sunday. There will also be celebrations in Beijing and elsewhere in China.

Portugal leaves behind its cultural legacy in the form of architecture, cuisine -- and even bullfighting. It also leaves an economy far less diversified than Hong Kong's. Macau relies heavily on the casino industry, which has attracted organized crime and violence.

CNN Interactive, in a special series of stories, examines Macau's history and people, the problems that have plagued the enclave in the past and hopes for the territory's future.


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