|Official Country Name:||Macau| |Region (Map name):||East &
South Asia| |Language(s):||Portuguese, Chinese (Cantonese)|
Macau, a peninsula bordering China and the South China Sea, was
colonized by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, becoming
the first European settlement in the Far East. In 1987 through
an agreement with Portugal and China, Macau became a special
administrative region of China. Despite China's socialist
system, Macau enjoys a high degree of autonomy. The president of
China serves as the chief of state, but the local government is
run by a chief executive who presides over a 23-seat, unicameral
Legislative Council. The population of Macau is approximately
445,000, and the literacy rate is 90 percent. National languages
are Portuguese and Cantonese, but the majority of the population
speaks Cantonese. Mainstays of the economy are
tourism—especially gambling— textiles and fireworks. Although
the press in Macau is private, it is not out-spoken, especially
concerning the Chinese capital of Be