Macau was added to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site list in 2005, apparently to retain Macau's 'uniqueness'. And Macau's centre is certainly that – its admixture of colonial Portuguese architecture sits beautifully alongside its East-Asian flair.

Macau was officially founded in 1557 during the great era of Portuguese overseas exploration. Macau soon became the major entrepôt between the Far East and Europe; several other colonial powers made repeated attempts to conquer the Province. Eventually, in 1670, Macau was confirmed as a Portuguese possession by the Chinese. Macau went into decline as a regional trading centre from the early 19th century, when the British, the most recent colonial power in the region, began to settle along the Chinese coast and occupied Hong Kong. Macau continued to be held under firm Portuguese control until the leftist military coup in 1974. The new Portuguese regime immediately determined that all remaining territories undergo a rapid transition to full independence. Macau demanded more delicate handling because of the Chinese interest.

In 1999, Macau, like Hong Kong, become a 'Special Administrative Region' within China. Operating under a ‘one country, two systems’ policy, Macau will maintain its own political, social and economic systems in an arrangement that will last for 50 years. Portuguese and Chinese will both remain the official languages.

Parts of Macau offer serenely traditional countryside, such as beach resorts, ancestral Chinese villages and pine-forested hills. A lot of 'old' Macau is preserved on its islands, including fishing boat-building yards, colonial mansions, Chinese temples and floating fisherfolk communities. Yet Macau also entices visitors because of its glitzy casinos and highly regarded motor-racing fixtures. It is these inconsistencies, and its juxtaposition of style and influence, that make it such an interesting destination.