Macau's population consists of mostly Han Chinese with a minority (less than 2%) of Portuguese. The official language until the handover from Portugal to the People's Republic of China in 1999 was Portuguese. The primary language of the population is Cantonese. Mandarin is also spoken when necessary because it is the official language of China. Han Chinese (Simplified Chinese: 汉族; Traditional Chinese: 漢族; Hanyu pinyin: ) is a term which refers to the majority ethnic group within China and the largest single human ethnic group in the world. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Cantonese (Traditional Chinese: 粵語; Simplified Chinese: 粤语, Cantonese: Yuet6yue5; Mandarin pinyin: Yueyu, Yụet (Guangdong) language) is one of the major dialect groups or languages of the Chinese language or language family. ... Mandarin, or Guanhua (Traditional Chinese: 官話; Simplified Chinese: 官话; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally official speech), or Beifanghua (Chinese: 北方方言; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally Northern Dialect(s)) is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. ...

A sign in both Chinese and Portuguese in Macau — "主教座堂辦公室" (in Chinese) or "Cartório da Sé" (in Portuguese) means "Office of the Cathedral."

The signs in both Traditional Chinese and Portuguese can be seen everywhere in Macau. However, English is becoming more important in Macau, whereas Portuguese is becoming less important. In recent years, there are more signs in Chinese, Portuguese and English in Macau. Image File history File linksMetadata Macau-Chinese&Portugese. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Macau-Chinese&Portugese. ... Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ...

The primary religion is [[Buddhism]. Roman Catholic has considerable influence in education and social welfare. Catholics account, however, just four about six per cent of the population. Protestantism develops well in Macau. It attracts some juveniles to become Protestants The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Protestantism is a movement within Christianity, representing the splitting away from the Roman Catholic Church during the mid-to-late Renaissance in Europe—a period known as the Protestant Reformation. ...

The primary economy of the region is said to be tourism, but many reports show that 40-50% of the regional business is in gambling. There is also a strong business in trade between China and other countries. That trade is weakening as the process of joining Macau to China continues (it is expected to be complete by 2050). Tourist redirects here; for the album by Athlete, see Tourist (album) Tourism is the act of travel for the purpose of recreation and business, and the provision of services for this act. ... Gambling has had many different meanings depending on the cultural and historical context in which it is used. ... Centuries: 20th century - 21st century - 22nd century Decades: 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s - 2050s - 2060s 2070s 2080s 2090s 2100s Years: 2045 2046 2047 2048 2049 - 2050 - 2051 2052 2053 2054 2055 The year 2050 (MML) in the Gregorian calendar corresponds to to 5810-5811 in the Hebrew Calendar. ...

See also

• Gambling in Macau
• Education in Macau
• Macanese (a local Portuguese Creole, also called Patuá)
• Jose dos Santos Ferreira

This article is in need of attention. ... Most of the schools in Macau are private or subsidized schools. ... The Macanese language (Patuá to its speakers, Macaista Chapado in portuguese) was originally spoken in Macau, mainly by people of partial Portuguese ancestry (Macaneses). ... Portuguese creoles are creole languages which have been significantly influenced by Portuguese. ... Jose dos Santos Ferreira, better known as Adé, was born in Macau on 28 July 1919 and died in Hong Kong on 24 March 1993. ...