Macao: A Chinese Las Vegas? 2004
Distributed by Filmakers Library, 124 East 40th Street, New York, NY 10016; 202-808-4980
Produced by SCEREN-CNOP and France 5
Directed by Jean-Louis Cros
VHS, color, 26 min.
Sr. High - Adult
Asian Studies, Business, Economics, History, International Relations, Multicultural Studies, Popular Culture, Postcolonialism, Travel and Tourism
Date Entered: 10/13/2005
Reviewed by Brad Eden, Ph.D., Head, Web and Digitization Services, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las VegasThis video examines the city of Macao, China, a former Portuguese colony that was ceded to China in 1999. Macao has become China's gambling and vacation destination, since it is a short ferry ride from Hong Kong, and is accessible and desirable as a tourist destination for China's new middle class. The film provides a short history of the colony, its importance as the largest Chinese commercial ocean port until the nineteenth century, and how its fast growth is creating challenges as it deals with both internal and external reactions to gaming, prostitution, money, and housing. In many ways, Macao is going through much of what Las Vegas did in its recent history, and it will be interesting to see how the city and the Chinese government meet the challenges of capitalism in a communist society.