Macau, the World Heritage
By Sarah Hong, Sharon Lai, Rachel Leong, Jessie Un


Macau is the only city of China which bid for a site of Cultural and Natural Heritage in the 28th World Heritage Convention in 2004. Will the "Historical Monuments of Macau" be successfully listed as the World Heritage? The final result will be announced in the 29th World Heritage Convention (July 10-16) this summer.

However, most people, both tourists and local residents have little knowledge about this event, according to a survey conducted by this group of reporters of Umac Bridges. The interviews were conducted at the Senado Square in Macau on March 15. Among 100 people (50 locals and 50 tourists) interviewed, most of them didn't know anything about Macau's bid for the World Heritage. Only about 30 percent of local people and 20 percent of tourists, mainly from Hong Kong, heard of this news.
Of 50 tourists interviewed, about 70 percent were Hong Kong people, 20 percent tourists from mainland of China, 10 percent from foreign countries, including America, Australia, England, etc.

The World Heritage Committee is an intergovernmental organization under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the preservation of the cultural and natural heritage of priceless universal value.

Until now, the World Heritage Committee has listed 788 World Heritage monuments in 134 countries. They include 611 of the World Cultural Heritage, 154 of the World Natural Heritage and 23 of the Cultural and Natural Heritage. Spain is the country with the most World heritage monuments followed by Italy and China.

Many years ago, Macau was just a fishing port. But now Macau is an internationally recognized city full of cultural characteristics. Its tourism and casino industries are famous all over the world. After more than 400 years of colonization by Portugal, Macau became a nexus where Eastern and Western cultures met and mingled. The results of this combination of cultures can be seen today in baroque-style churches and exotic temples, pastel-colored palaces and classic Chinese gardens.

Because of the unusual cultures in Macau, the Central Government of the People's Republic of China submitted Macau's bid to the UNESCO's World Heritage Center in 2001, and it succeeded in being accepted after a technical analysis by the Center in 2003. The result will be declared in the 29th Session of the World Heritage Committee this year.

The "Historical Monuments of Macau" are composed of Barra Temple, Harbour Captaincy, Mandarin's House, Church and Seminary of St. Joseph's, Dom Pedro V Theatre, Building of Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Santa Casa da Misericórdia, Ruins of St. Paul, Na Tcha Temple, Section of the old city walls, Fortress of Our Lady of the Mount, and Guia Fortress (including Guia Chapel and Guia Lighthouse).

There are many unique style buildings in Macau. However, most of Macau people and tourists do not recognize the values of the heritages.

Richard Stone is a tourist from America who came to Macau for the first time said that he had never thought that Macau would qualify to apply for the World Heritage.

A Hong Kong tourist Peter Chan said, 'I've heard of the news from newspapers. I believe that Macau buildings are so special and Ruins of St. Paul is the best symbol of Macau.'

Check Hoi Man, a Macau resident said, 'I am proud of Macau which has a lot of Portuguese feature buildings. This enables Macau to have a chance to become the World Cultural Heritage.' He continued, 'But it is such a pity that many of my friends don't know it at all. So I think the Macau government has to do more promotions.'

Macau's cultural conservation work has made a great progress in these few years. The Tak Seng On Pawnshop ("Heritage Exhibition of a Traditional Pawnshop Business") represents a successful effort of heritage conservation work of Macau. Located in No 396, Avenida Almeida Ribeiro, the pawnshop has been listed in the Macau Heritage, which has been awarded with the Honourable Mention in the UNESCO 2004 Asia - Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation that helps Macau to further promote its cultural heritage to foreign countries.

Charles Lam, Chief Executive of the Special Projects Division of the Cultural Institute of Macau SAR said that the result would be announced in Durban, a city of South Africa, between the end of June and early July this year. Lam also stated that everything is in good progress - in September of 2004, the staff of UNESCO came to Macau for observation and the report of the Macau Heritage was completed and submitted to the International Council on Monuments and Sites in February of 2005.

Lam added, 'The government has made a great deal of effort in promoting the preservation of the historic spots in Macau these years, especially aimed at local students.'

According to Lam, they organized some primary teachers to visit the Macau historic monuments and informed them more about the related laws and policies as well.

In order to increase the public awareness of Macau's cultural heritage, The Macau SAR government assigned year 2004 as the "Macau Cultural Heritage Preservation Year". The Cultural Institute of Macau SAR launched a series of activities such as the "Heritage Conservation Work", the "Heritage Ambassador Program", the "Cultural Heritage Tours of Macau - Route Design Competition", etc.

'We have published a pocket-sized edition of "The Historic Monuments of Macau" that introduces the background and information of the Macau historic sites. It is free to people and available in many bookstores and shops,' Lam pointed out.

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