Macau - travel to Macau

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Travel to Macau.

The Macau Special Administrative Region, commonly known as Macau or Macao, was established on December 20, 1999, as one of the two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Hong Kong. For 442 years it was ruled by Portugal, making it the oldest European colony in the history of East Asia.

Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century. After the Opium War in 1841, most of the foreign merchants in Macau left for Hong Kong, and as a result business and economic activities in Macau declined. Administered by Portugal until the handover in 1999, it was the oldest European colony in China. Since then Macau has developed industries such as textiles, electronics and toys, as well as a notable tourist industry, which boasts a wide range of hotels, resorts, stadiums, restaurants and casinos. What remains unchanged through Macau's history is Macau's strong economic links with Hong Kong, one of the East Asian Tigers and the Pearl River Delta region in mainland China. With a good foundation and infrastructure, Macau provides good financial and banking services, staff training, transport and communications support.

Macau is 60 kilometres (37 miles) southwest of Hong Kong and 145 kilometres (90 miles) from Guangzhou. It consists of a peninsula, and the islands of Taipa and Coloane. The peninsula is formed by the Zhujiang (Pearl River) estuary on the east and the Xijiang (West River) on the west. It borders the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone in mainland China. Macau has a generally flat terrain resulting from extensive land reclamation, but numerous steep hills mark the original natural land mass. The Macau peninsula was originally an island, but gradually a connecting sandbar turned into a narrow isthmus. Land reclamation in the seventeenth century made Macau into a peninsula. With a dense urban environment, Macau has no arable land, pastures, forest, or woodland. Because of this deficiency, Macau's people traditionally have looked to the sea for their livelihood.

Macau has a humid subtropical climate. Seasonal climate is greatly influenced by the monsoons and therefore temperature difference between summer and winter is fairly noticeable. The average annual temperature of Macau is 22.3 °C.[24] July is the hottest month, with average monthly temperature being 28.6 °C (daytime temperatures are usually above 30 °C). The coldest month is January, with average monthly temperature 14.5 °C (occasionally temperature drops below 10 °C). Located in the coastal region of south the People's Republic of China, Macau has ample rainfall, with average annual precipitation being 2,030 millimetres. However, winter is mostly dry due to the monsoon from mainland China. The humidity is high with an average range between 75% and 90%. The best season in Macau is autumn (i.e. October - December) when days are sunny & warm and the humidity is basically low. Winter (i.e. January - March) is relatively cold but sunny. In spring (i.e. start from April), the humidity starts to increase and in summer (i.e. May to September) the climate is warm to hot and humid with rain and casual typhoons.

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