Briefs | Cultural Affairs Bureau recovers valuable items

Cooperating with other public departments, the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) has recovered several valuable items from the Lai Chi Vun shipyards area. The items include old adverts of the shipyards and tools used to build the boats. Two lots of the shipyards were already demolished due to safety concerns. As recently as the 1950s, the coastal villages were thriving in Macau. Historical accounts indicate that at that time there were around 10,000 fishermen and over 30 shipyards in Macau, many of them in Lai Chi Vun.

Health Bureau inspects Beijing Imperial Palace

The Health Bureau (SSM) said in a statement that it had issued requests to the management of the Beijing Imperial Palace site in Taipa, which was shut down in July 2016, following an inspection. According to the same statement, the inspection revealed garbage bags and areas with stagnant water were found on the outskirts of the hotel. Further investigation revealed that the refuse had been left by building security. The SSM requested that the security company properly dispose of garbage bags, as well as take action to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes. The topic was raised in a spoken enquiry by lawmaker Chan Hong at the Legislative Assembly last week.

‘Musical Yoga’ concert to be held in April

The Macau Orchestra (OM) will present the concert “Weekend Music Party – Musical Yoga” on April 22 at 4 p.m. at the Dom Pedro V Theatre. The Cultural Affairs Bureau, which is supporting the event, said in a statement that the concert will fuse classical music with yoga. The concert will feature relaxing classical pieces such as the lively and simple “Canon in D Major” by Pachelbel, the graceful and tranquil “The Swan” by Saint-Saëns and Grieg’s fluid “Morning Mood”, which is reminiscent of an early morning in Morocco. The OM’s next concert in this series will be “Weekend Music Party – Memory of Youth”, which will be held on June 24 at the Dom Pedro V Theatre.

15 arrested in identity theft scam

A group of 15 people were arrested in an identity theft scam, the Judiciary Police (PJ) reported, accused of forging applications in order to obtain more than MOP8 million in illicit loans. Among the arrested persons is a bank manager, who allegedly falsified the loan applications and signed the paper work. For this, he reportedly received tens of thousands of patacas. Meanwhile, some of the others arrested were casino workers, who assumed the identity of business owners to apply for the loans. The scheme was put to an end when the bank became suspicious and investigated the missing funds, which totaled around MOP8.8 million. The PJ said that the investigation is ongoing and that other members of the group may still be apprehended.

‘Green Exchange’ to launch this Friday

The “Green Exchange,” an online environmental project matching platform, officially launches on March 31. The platform was jointly set up by the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), the Guangdong Association of Environmental Protection Industry  and several other associations in an effort to boost the development of the region’s green economy. A statement released by IPIM noted that the “Green Exchange” would create more business opportunities and drive the technology transfer among Macau, the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region and other countries and regions. In particular, the platform would enable exchanges of advanced environmental technology with the EU. The launch will take place at 5:45 p.m. at the Macau International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition 2017.

Creative Macau to hold photo exhibition

A photography exhibition by freelance photographer Ieong Man Pan, titled “99999”, is slated to launch this Thursday at Creative Macau. Ieong stated that the exhibition – which includes gambling chips, among its subjects – would reveal the strong culture of materialism in Macau. “It is about Macau, as the idea came from my observation after gambling [was] legalized. The series reflects the current state of Macau in my eyes,” said the photographer, as cited in a press release issued by Creative Macau. Ieong is currently building an online photo database of Macau, which will allow individuals and organizations to obtain high-quality photographs of the region, as well as learn more about local photographers. The exhibition will run until April 29.