Briefs | Zhuhai offers cash rewards to SAR tour guides

Zhuhai will give RMB3,000 to Macau tour guides in addition to offering them free training. Recently, the Guangdong cultural and tourism authority published a plan related to Macau and Hong Kong tour guides who work in Hengqin. According to the plan, tour guides from the SARs can apply to participate in a free tour guide training program in Hengqin. After the training, they can get accreditation as well as receive a tour guide license for working in Hengqin. Once a SAR tour guide is given this Hengqin license, he or she is eligible for a RMB3,000 cash reward. The plan further suggests giving RMB20,000 and RMB30,000 to SAR tour guides who recorded no violations in a year and who reached the mark of 30 and 45 tours, respectively.

Cantonese opera cries for help

The local government has been called on to work with associations in order to train professional Cantonese opera performers, according to Chinese reports. The president of the Long Teng Cantonese Opera Club said that the development of Macau’s Cantonese opera has been stalled for a long period, and that there are no young performers following in the steps of senior performers. According to the association, Macau currently does not have professional Cantonese opera performers, only amateurs. In order for Macau to inherit the Cantonese opera culture, the public’s stereotype that “Cantonese opera is for senior people” should be eliminated.

Macau not suitable for Trap-Neuter-Return program

The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) said that Macau does not have conditions for the trap-neuter-return program for stray animals, according to IAM’s reply to lawmaker Sulu Sou’s interpellation. “Trap-Neuter-Return programs for stray animals are suitable for closed areas with a small population, aiming to control the number of stray animals in the long term,” IAM explained, adding that “because Macau is densely populated and has busy traffic, implementing such a program would pose a negative impact to public safety, public hygiene, and ecological environment.” “Thus, IAM thinks that, at the current stage, Macau does not have the conditions for the […] program, and as a result, stray animals can’t be effectively protected [if the program is implemented in Macau],” IAM said.