Macau sees future in Portuguese past
(Artdaily.org)

Sitting in his university office in Macau, professor Lei Heong Iok opens what he calls his `treasure` -- a dog-eared Portuguese dictionary, its velvet cover worn and frayed. Lei`s decades-long love for the language has turned him into a campaigner for its survival in the southern Chinese enclave, a former Portuguese colony now best-known for casino resorts. Learning Portuguese fell out of fashion in Macau after it was handed back to China in 1999, becoming a semi-autonomous territory loyal to Beijing and growing into the world`s biggest gambling destination. Although Portuguese remained an official language and street signage is still bilingual, many in the predominantly Cantonese-speaking territory switched their study focus to Mandarin, spoken in mainland China. But Portuguese is back in vogue as China forges business ties with lusophone nations such as Brazil,