Today, Macau is making headlines for overtaking Las Vegas as the world's richest casino city, even as Hong Kong, its better-known fellow Special Administrative Region (SAR) neighbor, frets about losing tourists to Macau's shiny new mega-hotels.

Somewhat lost in the bright lights of the largest casino in the world—the brand-new Venetian Macau—is the other Macau, the one that consists of centuries-old cobblestone streets fronted by Portuguese colonial architecture where one can wander charming markets, people-watch in lush subtropical parks, enjoy a strong coffee in a European café and, perhaps best of all, eat like no place else: dim sum for breakfast, Portuguese caldo verde or bacalhau for lunch and, for dinner, something Macanese—a unique blend of Cantonese, Portuguese, Goan and African flavors—perhaps Galinha à Africana (African chicken) or Macanese chili shrimp.

Tiny Macau's significance in the history of modern China is disproportionate to its size. It was the first foothold in the Imperial Qing Dynasty China won by a colonial European power, and by the time Portugal formally handed control of the city to the People's Republic in 1999, Macau had been a Portuguese possession for 442 years, making it the longest-standing European colony in all of East Asia.

The Qing granted Portugal the territory as a trading outpost in 1553, partly out of gratitude for the Portuguese having taken care of some particularly nasty South China Sea pirates. This initiated a trend that would become all too familiar over the next four centuries: a weakened China giving up degrees of sovereignty to Western powers. There are many examples to draw on, from the Opium Wars to the Taiping rebellion to the Boxer Rebellion to the transfer of German concessions to Japan at the close of World War I, just to name a few. As the first of many concessions to Western power, it's only fitting that the tiny Macau Peninsula's 1999 return to Chinese rule marked the end of a period that saw China suffer some of its worst times, only to emerge in the 21st century as a strong and sovereign nation.

Macau's story precedes the colonial era, of course. Prior to the Portuguese, the region had been controlled by Imperial China since the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), though its remoteness relegated it to relatively obscurity—a place to send exiles, at best. That changed somewhat in 1277, when Song Dynasty notables fleeing the invading Mongols arrived, establishing a strengthened Han Chinese presence in what had been an imperial hinterland. Still, Macau did not become a major port until Portuguese explorers and merchants began to arrive in the mid-1500s, having given the area the name "Macao" based on the Cantonese "A-Ma Gao," meaning Bay of the A-Ma, a goddess whose temple stood nearby.

By 1557, Portugal had won a lease for Macau and began to fortify its settlement. Over the next century, Macau flourished as a trade center connecting China to various points in Portugal's far-flung colonial empire. By 1685, China had granted trading rights to other European powers and the Qing began their precipitous decline. Portugal, however, was no longer in a position to exploit Qing weakness. The British, however, were, and when they wrested Hong Kong from China during the first Opium War (1847), Macau's golden age was drawing to close, leaving a legacy of beautiful colonial architecture and a unique cultural blend that delights to this day.

After a brief period of good business during World War II as the region's sole neutral port, Macau joined Hong Kong in a profitable political limbo when the Communists triumphed in 1949. Beijing was unwilling to force the sovereignty issue, largely (and ironically) due to its recognition of the vital economic links the colonies provided to the outside world. Even when Chinese residents of Macao rioted in 1966 and 1967, demanding union with the PRC, Beijing declined to push the issue, preferring that Portugal retain its stewardship. This arrangement continued until 1999, when Hong Kong and Macau were granted Special Administrative Region status as part of the PRC, allowing them significant autonomous control over local politics, media and economic policy while yielding to Beijing on major foreign policy and defense matters. Today, Macau's cultural heritage, tradition of savvy wheeling and dealing, and special political status have combined to make it a tourist favorite and gaming Mecca.

 

Macau sits opposite Hong Kong on the western edge of the Pearl River Delta and shares its steamy subtropical climate. The weather is subject to the East Asia Monsoon system, which makes for rainy summers and relatively dry winters. With an average year-round temperature of 22°C, Macau is quite tolerable in the winter (average January temperature is 15°C) and rather hot in the summer (July's average is 29°C, with many days soaring well into the 30s°C). Add high humidity—usually between 75% and 90%—and you'll join many Macanese in seeking air-conditioned relief between June and September. October through early December are lovely, with sunny, warm days and lower average humidity. Spring is also nice, though the humidity begins to build in April and rain is fairly frequent.