Within a Sky Full of Earth

[...] Macau is awash with cash and tourists. Every year, billions of dollars of investment are pouring in from overseas just as billions of Chinese yuan in gambling revenues flow in from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. In the past decade, visitor numbers have more than tripled to pass the 20 million mark. This in a cosy island community of just 500,000 people.

Such is the surge of construction that even mainland China looks laggardly by comparison. The skyline is never still as cranes, scaffolding and tens of thousands of labourers reshape this traditional and culturally rich territory. It is not always a pretty sight.

To emphasise the wealth of the island, many new casino resorts are not just illuminated by neon but built with garish materials. The Sands is made of burnished gold; the MGM Macau, which opens in November, is a cigarette-lighter shaped complex layered in gold, silver and bronze, while towering above them both is the half-completed lotus of the Grand Lisboa. By day, it looks like a giant piece of cheap jewellery, but at night the illuminations are stunning. [...]
by Jonathan Watts | GUARDIAN UNLIMITED
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