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In response to the emergence of a strong cross-border student flow of postgraduate students from mainland China to the Macau Special Administrative Region (Macau), this study examines the motivations and experience of a special group of doctoral students: college teachers working in Guangdong Province and simultaneously pursuing PhD degrees at private universities in Macau.

Using a qualitative research method, thirteen college teachers were interviewed.

The research findings reveal their motivations for pursuing doctoral studies in Macau, and the difficulties they faced and gains they obtained from this experience.

All the findings indicate a potential expansion of the role of Macau’s higher education system. Once merely a stepping-stone, it is now an acceleration site for brain circulation between Macau and Guangdong as part of a regionalization strategy for China’s Greater Bay Area.

For over a 100 years, Macau’s Pataca has been tied to Macau’s identity, its independent financial existence and its links to the Lusophone world. Its role as a supporter of the Macau identity relies upon the strength and capabilities of its financial institutions, the Macau Monetary Authority and banking institutions that issue its currency (Banco Nacional Ultramarino and Bank of China). The paper aims to discuss the above issue.

The author uses statistics and data from the Macau Monetary Authority.

There are three possible scenarios that could emerge: first, retired in favor of the RMB, the HK dollar; second, maintained with its use expanding as Macau’s revenues and investment funds grow, or third, become a force for stronger economic cohesion and identity among the Lusophone nations.

Which of these scenarios will offer Macau the highest possibility of maintaining its international network of relationships and representation, diversifying its economy into new growth markets and playing a unique role in China’s twenty-first century destiny?

This paper studies a rarely discussed topic and focuses on a core component of Macau’s existence.

This paper aims to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing the performing arts as one element in changing the destination image of the Macau special administrative region from that of the Las Vegas of the East to a “World Centre of Tourism and Leisure”. The context is of particular interest as rebranding is typically associated with negative or outdated images, whereas Macau’s existing brand is strong and associated with positive tourism revenues.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews with frontline participants in Macau’s performing arts sector are utilized to evaluate the relevant re-branding strategies and goals of the city’s administration. In-depth interviews focus on understanding policies through the thoughts and experiences of respondents. They are particularly useful in cases where insiders are likely to be better informed than others with respect to policy issues.

Three main themes related to the use of the performing arts as a vehicle for destination rebranding are explored. Findings suggest that few elements common to successful branding campaigns are evident in the approach of the Macau administration. Shortcomings are evident, for example, in communication, infrastructure development, long-term planning and the allocation and monitoring of funding.

Although qualitative research relies on rich data from small numbers, the study focuses only on the views of informed insiders in the performing arts. Input from commercial stakeholders and higher-level policy makers would broaden the perspective.

The findings are relevant for any destination wishing to alter or update its image.

Cultural aspects are increasingly utilized in destination branding. This study is one of only a few which focuses on the performing arts sector.

Within the analytical framework proposed by Margaret Archer, this paper charts the emergence and development of education systems during the twentieth century in Hong Kong and Macau. Although these two territories have much in common, in education they display considerable differences. During the twentieth century the Hong Kong authorities constructed a highly centralized system, which at the end of the century moved towards decentralization. In Macau, by contrast, government neglect led to an uncoordinated collection of imported systems. At the end of the century the Macau government endeavored to unify the sector, but faced major challenges and limitations.

The Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has a unique identity. This study is based on a long period of research undertaken between 1995 and 2014. Permanent residents, the Chinese of Macau and all other MSAR residents constitute a body of model “citizens” which makes their legal identity understandable in the MSAR’s present social and economic context. Macau’s legal identity is based on centuries of trade and commerce. In Article 5 of the first chapter (I-5) of the MSAR’s Basic Law, the “way of life” in Macau’s society and economy are recognized as part of the MSAR’s legal framework. However, social change may play an important role in Macau’s development. The purpose of this paper is to look at the legal corpus as though it was a physical body with rights and duties, but also capabilities based on the nationality and residence statuses of its citizens, its companies and other entities (which will be studied more specifically in following articles).

This study has used the combined approaches of fieldwork carried out between 2010 and 2015, interviews, and questionnaires.

Way of life and the concept of One Country, Two Systems are key points that contribute to Macau’s contemporary identity. Way of life in the Basic Law constitutes a complex matrix formulation based on a series of particular facts and cultural traits, which leads to a better legal definition of important concepts such as nationality and residency in the particular case of Macau. The Basic Law is the constitutional law of the MSAR, but “Chineseness” still dominates the locals’ identity from day to day. More than 65 percent of the interviewees in the survey asserted their “Chineseness.” However, both Chinese and Portuguese, will continue to be official languages of Macau until 2049. The MSAR’s Chinese society speaks Cantonese and increasingly Putonghua, but it does not seem concerned by communicating using the Portuguese language. Clayton’s thesis emphasized the “unique cultural identity” of the MSAR and wrote that what made the Chinese of Macau “different from other Chinese, is the existence of a Portuguese state on Chinese soil.” Portuguese cultural tolerance is not mentioned, but it is a historical fact that has influenced Macau’s legal identity. The MSAR’s government has done its best to harmonize Macau’s multicultural society and it has particularly protected the Sino-Portuguese way of life in Macau.

To apply the law and maintain the existing harmony in its society and economy, legal actions have had to be taken by the Macau government and courts. The courts of the MSAR are structured in three levels and have final powers of adjudication, except in very narrow political areas. The judicial system includes the following courts, from the highest to the lowest: the Court of Final Appeal, the Court of Second Instance and the Court of First Instance (Tribunal de Primeira Instância).

This research is unique inasmuch as studies of legal identities focussed on large regions such as the MSAR of China are rare.

The purpose of this study is to explore how three experiential factors – perceived social support from host-country nationals (HCNs), adaptation difficulties, and attitude towards assimilating into the host culture and society – influence the generation of worthwhile feelings and the intention to pursue expatriate career opportunities in the host country among short-term studying abroad (STSA) students.

This study used data from a survey of 297 Thai students who studied in Chinese universities between 2015 and 2019. A bivariate probit model was applied due to its ability to account for the potential correlation of errors between the two binary outcome variables: worthwhileness and aspiration for expatriate careers.

Adaptation difficulties reported by students negatively impacted their willingness to work in the host country, but did not diminish their perception of the sojourn as worthwhile. Satisfaction with social support from HCNs was found to not only enhance the worthwhileness of the sojourn but also inspire students' expatriate career intentions in the host country. The study also found that while willingness to assimilate into the host culture and society primarily enhanced the worthwhileness of the trip, its effect on students' willingness to consider working in the host country was relatively weak, compared with the effect of social support from HCNs.

The generalizability of the findings from this study may be limited to country pairs that are geographically and culturally similar.

Although it is commonly believed that STSA programs help inspire students to develop aspirations for international careers or lifestyles, the specific roles of various factors in their experiences abroad have not been sufficiently studied. This study aims to clarify the different effects between social support received, adaptation difficulties experienced, and inner acculturation attitudes on both the evaluation of the trip itself and the long-term life goals of students participating in STSA programs.

This purpose of this paper is to explain Macau’s successful pandemic response through an analysis of its social, political and economic landscapes. In particular, it focusses on the economic relief brought by casino capitalism in this era of COVID-19.

As mobility is highly restricted during the coronavirus pandemic, digital technologies have become central to ongoing social science research. Thanks to videoconferencing programmes such as Zoom, Facetime and WhatsApp, the author was able to carry out virtual interviews with 13 local people from different sectors of Macau in July 2020. In addition to in-depth interviews, the author also undertook an extensive review of the Macau government’s pandemic policies.

This paper argues that the Macau government’s swift and effective coronavirus policies are deeply intertwined with the urban fabric and political economy of the city’s casino capitalism, which endowed the government with surplus funds and an infrastructure that enabled the implementation of an array of strict measures that few other countries could afford to subsidise. Factors that have led to Macau’s extraordinarily low rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths include: competent leadership and the public’s high compliance with mandatory health measures; the generous benefits and financial support for citizens and businesses; and the compulsory quarantine required of all incoming travellers, who are lodged in hotel rooms left empty when casino tourists stopped coming. All of these measures have been made possible by a political economy backed by the peculiarities of casino capitalism and its resultant tax revenues.

Future research could compare the case of Macau with other small but affluent economies (ideally economies that do not depend on the gambling industry) to ascertain the role of casino capitalism in building up economic resilience.

Although previous studies tend to emphasise the negative impacts of casino capitalism, this paper shows how tax revenues and infrastructure from the gambling industry can make a contribution to the host society in times of crisis.

The viewpoints from industry briefly review the success in last decade, analyze what challenges and difficulties came across currently and forecast opportunities/development in next decade of Macau gambling industry. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Practitioners from banking and gambling industries offered their cutting-edged analysis and viewpoints with scholars’ observation.

Macroeconomic and political factors in China are the principal direct cause of Macau’s gambling revenue decline in 2014, implicating the vulnerability and unsustainability associated with the VIP business model of gambling industry. Although Macau continues to face challenges since late 2014, the prospect of Macau gambling industry is still optimistic in the long term, as there are emerging positive catalysts which will boost demand. From casino operators’ perspective, they should continue to try to increase revenue from mass market and non-gambling business by relocating the resource and adding more non-gambling amenities.

This paper provides a fresh perspective, and a new line of thinking with regard to how gambling industry in Macau will develop in next decade since 2015. It therefore potentially directs a new path of research in the area.

This paper aims at comparing and contrasting the Ao Man-long scandal with the Ho Chio-meng case in Macau, drawing lessons from the two events and casting lights on the literature on corruption scandals.

The study used documentary research and interpretative and analytical approaches.

The two cases show considerable administrative discretion on the part of the principal officials involved, and remedial measures along the line of having more rigorous and frequent internal auditing may be necessary.

Original analyses were conducted together with literature review and documentary research. This paper would be of interest to scholars and practitioners concerned with how Macau combats corruption.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which price competitiveness accounts for the observed precipitated decline in the number of meetings taking place in Macau from 2009 to 2012, in spite of the rapid growth in overall tourism, diversification in its tourism offering, and the sizable expansion of its capacity and facilities for hosting business tourism over the same period.

Analyzing historical as well as comparative data in a cross-section analytic design, the study suggests an implied competitive price range (using comparative accommodation prices as a proxy) beyond which financial incentives may be ineffectual in attracting meetings

Examination of price levels as a proxy of competitiveness in attracting meeting events in the single case of Macau proved inconclusive. Other factors beyond mere price competitiveness likely account for the declining number of meetings in Macau from 2009 to the end of 2012.

Overall, the above findings pose a challenge for the continued general development of MICE industry in Macau and its meetings industry in particular. Despite the noble and generous efforts of its government agencies to arrest the decline in the number of meetings and maintain Macau’s position as a meetings industry hub through monetary incentives and subvention packages for organizers, it would benefit them and the private sector to explore channeling more resources toward addressing the fundamental and structural factors that can improve long-term competitiveness in attracting more meeting events.