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As a citizen of China, I must say that Macau seldom come into our view. There are few report on Macau in the country's media coverage. Taiwan and Hong Kong has independent movements, political elections, technology innovations, stock markets, etc. What does Macau have?
So, I think it's no strange that Portuguese is fading out. I'd suggest Macauese students not waste time on learning Portuguese, but learn Chinese and English.
According to Beijing and the China gov't, MACAU is being strongly encouraged to be the Portuguese conduit to the Portuguese-speaking world. It's the city that Chinese can keep a connection to extremely large foreign markets in Brazil and Portuguese-speaking Africa.
It is true that China/Macau is doing a horrible job of encouraging Portuguese...in fact, they are doing the opposite. But, their policy and desire is to keep Macau as a Portuguese-speaking connection for CHina for those foreign markets. In short, China WANTS Macau to keep that Portuguese connection. They are doing a lousy job of encouraging it, but their will is to keep it.
Last edited by Tiger Beer; 04-21-2017 at 12:20 PM..
Macau is the world gambling capital by far. In comparison to Macau, Las Vegas and Monte Carlo are children's game.
As to Portuguese, of course it wil die out.
HK has "independent movements"? Where and how? The possibility is close to zero.
You haven't been to Las Vegas. I've spent a lot of time in Las Vegas and currently live in Macau. The casinos in Macau are rigged with horrible odds. They are simply there to exploit the Chinese, as the Chinese are known as insane gamblers. They are just exploiting them. Most of the CHinese-gambling games have horrible odds, that would never fly in the other markets. Therefore, Macau just rapes/pillages the mainlander's money, giving these enormously huge profits.
But, regarding entertainment and on and on...Las Vegas just kills Macau. Additionally, most tables in Macau ask for minimum bets of around 500HK$ ($US60)....which is another way to absolutely pillage/steal/rape from gamblers.
In the U.S., you have tons of $1 tables everywhere, and a lot of low stakes gambling games. It's more designed for fun and entertainment...as opposed to Macau's rape/pillage/high-stakes/high-profits/little entertainment approach.
There is definitely a reason that the wealth that Macau casino generates are extremely high. If Las Vegas took a strict high-stakes gambling without entertainment, they'd increase profits tremendously, but I don't think an American marketplace would tolerate that kind of rape for long.
However, in the China market, China doesn't have any other options anywhere in China, and they aren't the strategic/odss-based type of gambler either. Chinese gamble more on 'luck' games which ignore bad winning odds, as they just believe luck is more important than strategy or odds.
You can't compare Macau and Taiwan and Hong Kong. It's tiny, it's the size of a few neighborhoods. Once a Portuguese told me that the media rarely ever spoke about Macau and that few and far between Portuguese nationals choose to live there. Nearly no one speaks French in Vietnam, it's like even some vietnamese aren't even aware their country had french presence no so long ago. Portuguese will have a similar fate, it will remain as historic Macanese. Chinese people are too proud of their culture to give up on any of it.
It's different. Each place has a different set of circumstances happening.
Macau is still under Portugese Law. Anyone who wishes to work in gov't in Macua, MUST know Portuguese Law. Hence, you still have a lot of Portuguese civil servants and lawyers throughout this peninsula, who are directly from Portugal.
According to Beijing and the China gov't, MACAU is being strongly encouraged to be the Portuguese conduit to the Portuguese-speaking world. It's the city that Chinese can keep a connection to extremely large foreign markets in Brazil and Portuguese-speaking Africa.
It is true that China/Macau is doing a horrible job of encouraging Portuguese...in fact, they are doing the opposite. But, their policy and desire is to keep Macau as a Portuguese-speaking connection for CHina for those foreign markets. In short, China WANTS Macau to keep that Portuguese connection. They are doing a lousy job of encouraging it, but their will is to keep it.
I am not so sure --- I think the CPP always prefers a homogenous culture instead of encouraging cultural diversity. The central government does not want any region have too strong an indentity because that always comes at a risk of separatist movement, and this probably is especially true for Macau and HK which were under foreign rule for a century and are already somewhat different.
I actually support the idea of using Macau as a bridge to connect to the Portuguese speaking world, that of course is something beijing would say because it sounds reasonable, but I don't see that happening. The influence of Portugal will eventually die out.
You can't compare Macau and Taiwan and Hong Kong. It's tiny, it's the size of a few neighborhoods. Once a Portuguese told me that the media rarely ever spoke about Macau and that few and far between Portuguese nationals choose to live there. Nearly no one speaks French in Vietnam, it's like even some vietnamese aren't even aware their country had french presence no so long ago. Portuguese will have a similar fate, it will remain as historic Macanese. Chinese people are too proud of their culture to give up on any of it.
These two points are very true indeed. In Portugal, Macau is not mentioned very often and people know very little about it, other than being a former colony. From what I heard Portuguese was never really popular in Macau anyways, even when it was a Portuguese colony. Only higher ranking officials used and knew it.
The situation with French in Vietnam is the same. Barely anyone knows it, especially nowadays. And the French influence is only noticeable in the architecture in big cities.
You haven't been to Las Vegas. I've spent a lot of time in Las Vegas and currently live in Macau. The casinos in Macau are rigged with horrible odds. They are simply there to exploit the Chinese, as the Chinese are known as insane gamblers. They are just exploiting them. Most of the CHinese-gambling games have horrible odds, that would never fly in the other markets. Therefore, Macau just rapes/pillages the mainlander's money, giving these enormously huge profits.
But, regarding entertainment and on and on...Las Vegas just kills Macau. Additionally, most tables in Macau ask for minimum bets of around 500HK$ ($US60)....which is another way to absolutely pillage/steal/rape from gamblers.
In the U.S., you have tons of $1 tables everywhere, and a lot of low stakes gambling games. It's more designed for fun and entertainment...as opposed to Macau's rape/pillage/high-stakes/high-profits/little entertainment approach.
There is definitely a reason that the wealth that Macau casino generates are extremely high. If Las Vegas took a strict high-stakes gambling without entertainment, they'd increase profits tremendously, but I don't think an American marketplace would tolerate that kind of rape for long.
However, in the China market, China doesn't have any other options anywhere in China, and they aren't the strategic/odss-based type of gambler either. Chinese gamble more on 'luck' games which ignore bad winning odds, as they just believe luck is more important than strategy or odds.
I am not arguing against the facts you presented, which all sound true, however, Macau is about gambling, not "entertainment". When they say gamble, they mean gamble, not playing 10 cents slot machines for hours - which is more like gramma's pasttime than "gamble". If someone thinks $60 is too high stake, they are looking for entertainment, not adult gambling.
Maybe in America, people often associate entertainment with gamble just because Las Vegas puts them together. But they don't have to be because they are two completely different things. When people talk about gamble with me, I automatically think about high risks and large amount of money at stake (someone I don't do). I do not associate the word gamble or casino with fancy entertainment whatsoever because if I want that, I won't go to a casino. Macau is the city for gambling, not entertainment and I never suggested otherise.
Rape/pillage are too dramatic words. I am sure those gambles know what they get into so using those sensational words is a bit misleading. You can't rape or pillage someone who voluntarily come to be raped and pillaged, can you?
It's different. Each place has a different set of circumstances happening.
Macau is still under Portugese Law. Anyone who wishes to work in gov't in Macua, MUST know Portuguese Law. Hence, you still have a lot of Portuguese civil servants and lawyers throughout this peninsula, who are directly from Portugal.
Really? Isn't Macau covered by the Chinese law even after transferring from Portugal to China?
When I went to Macau, although there are lots of signs in Portugese, you mostly heard people speaking Cantonese or English. After getting out of the historical colonial districts of the Peninsula, it felt like most of the middle-class areas of Guangzhou. The supermarkets had some Portugese wine, candies, and alcohol, but otherwise it was mostly Chinese stuff - contrasted with HK, which is much more thoroughly international.
I've only been once... would love to go back and spend a few more days and get a more nuanced opinion of it.
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