Macau was the first and last European colony in China

Macau is rich in tradition, history, and culture while being only a few hundred years old. Many old Chinese boat families settled in Macau and intermarried with Portuguese colonists, many of whom were unable to marry into aristocratic mainland Chinese families.

Macau has always been a significant port city, but Hong Kong surpassed it as a gateway to Western trade in the 1800s. Because of Portugal's neutrality, Macau was the only coastal city in China to remain mostly unaffected during WWII.

The dismantling of a government-sanctioned gaming monopoly established in 1962 was one of the benefits Macau received after its formal return to China in 1999. Foreign investment began to flood the city, transforming it into one of the world's most popular gambling resorts.