Macao a Decade on.docVIP

Macao a Decade on 　　“Macao remains a microeconomic entity even after ten years of integration, but its economic aggregate has seen dramatic augmentation.” 　　?C Dr. Leong Wan Chong, chief of One Country Two Systems Research Center at the Macao Polytechnic Institute. 　　 　　WE have higher incomes, better public security and more job opportunities; our government isalso more attentive to public opinion and has increased subsidies for public undertakings. But there are too many casinos around, and housing prices are too high.” This is how Zheng Bingkun, a 59-year-old bus driver, sums up life in Macao since it returned to the PRC. 　　Zheng and his wife Liang Shuqin, a worker at a local garment factory, are not just ordinary folks. In 2004 they hosted President Hu Jintao in their 70-square-meter apartment on the Avenida do Coronel Mesquita. A picture of that stellar meeting still hangs in their sitting room. 　　What delights the couple most about the past decade is that both of their children have landed stable jobs. Their son works for the Secretariat for Administration and Justice in the local government, and their daughter is a teacher. “Opportunities were always slim for Macao natives to gain entry into the local government under the Portuguese rule. Now all applicants compete fairly in a meritocracy through a system of exams,” Mr. Zheng explained. 　　According to a survey conducted in December by the One Country Two Systems Research Center of the Macao Polytechnic Institute, 82 percent of the people in Macao feel that the “one country two systems” policy has been successful for the region. As Edmund Ho Hau Wah, the first chief executive of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), noted:“The people of Macao are confident about the policy, as it has brought them substantial benefits.” 　　 　　A Plump Public Purse 　　 　　Sou Tim Peng, acting director of Macao抯 Economic Service served in the government of Macao prior to the region抯 handover to the PRC. 揇uring the