Choi Hio Lam was born in Macau near the turn of the millennium.
Like most millennials the world over, Choi grew up in an increasingly affluent society. But she and her Macau cohorts stand out from the international pack as 1999 marked a shift of fortune for the former Portuguese colony.
Choi was only eight days old when the sovereignty over Macau was transferred to China on December 20, 1999, and it became a special administrative region under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle.
Today, Choi studies traditional Chinese music in Beijing and says she is as excited about the upcoming 20th anniversary of Macau’s return as her 20th birthday.
In just two decades, Macau has been transformed into a prosperous cosmopolis with a rapidly developing economy, modern infrastructures and an promising social welfare system.
As the first generation born in Macau after the city’s return, Choi and her peers benefit from the boom and are empowered to dream big. “It has been a good and happy life for our generation in Macao,” said Choi.
Into the new millennium, more investment has been poured into the Macau Special Administrative Region to improve its infrastructure, education and public security.
Its gross domestic product has increased from 51.9 billion patacas at its return to 444.7 billion patacas (about $55 billion) in 2018. The GDP per capita of the region reached about $83,000 in 2018.
Fuller coffers have enabled the government to invest in better education. According to a recently released report from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2018, conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, among the 79 participating countries and regions, Macau’s 15-year-olds ranked third in reading, math and science.
Macau students not only score better in tests but also have better chances to pursue their extracurriculum passions.
Choi began learning music at the age of three, starting with the piano. But influenced by her grandfather, Choi soon found her true passion was for gu zheng, a classical Chinese zither. And Choi was not alone, as Macau saw the popularity of traditional Chinese instruments grow markedly in the first decade of the century.
Cultural exchanges expanded and more attention was paid to the education of traditional Chinese culture. After graduating from high school, Choi set her sights on studying traditional Chinese music at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
Her parents tried to dissuade her from going and argued that finance or business might be better choices, but Choi insisted.
New to Beijing, Choi practiced hard, seven to eight hours a day, and managed to master her skills. In October, Choi was invited to play at the 33rd Macao International Music Festival. She now plans to go overseas to bring knowledge of traditional Chinese instruments to the world.
Choi is one of a growing number of Macau youth coming to study in or visit the mainland every year. This is made possible by both the public and private sectors through projects like exchanges between middle schools in the mainland and Macau and themed activities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.
Alex Mok, the head of the Macao Youth Federation, said such exchange activities would help pass on the fine tradition of patriotism in Macau.
“We want to let young people in Macau know that without our motherland, we wouldn’t have what we have,” Mok said.
Macau’s young generation also shines on the international stage.
The Labour Affairs Bureau of the Macau SAR trained a total of 104 young representatives to participate in the WorldSkills Competitions from 2001 to 2019. Fong Hok Kin, now 23, won the highest award for Macau competitors in 2017 when he bagged the gold medal for web design and development at the 44th WorldSkills Competition in Abu Dhabi.
Yet the gold medal was just the beginning. Apart from working at a start-up company, Fong is developing an online system for grocery stores and aims to promote it in the Greater Bay Area.
“The competitiveness of Macau’s youth is reflected in their integrative qualities,” said Sou Chio Fai, director of the Higher Education Bureau in Macau.
Bakery lover Choi Ka Kei, 21, won a medal for excellence in a WorldSkills Competition bakery contest by blending traditional Macao snacks. Choi said she would continue improving her bakery skills as Macau is striving to become a world center of tourism and leisure.
Tourism is a pillar of the local economy. In 2018, Macau received some 35.8 million visitors. Macau officials give credit to the central government’s policy support and the mainland’s rapid development for Macau’s tourism boom over the past two decades.
Fanny Vong, president of the Macau Institute for Tourism Studies, said the school’s enrollment is expanding every year to meet the tourism industry’s huge demand for talent.
“Many students have secured job offers when they are on internships,” she said.
In recent years, Macau has also been consolidating its position as a platform for commercial and trade cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, offering Portuguese-speaking Macau young people more opportunities in the Belt and Road Initiative projects.
Government statistics show that the proportion of Macau’s students entering college after high school has grown to over 95 percent, and about 82 percent of Macau students are capable of getting a full-time job within half a year after graduating from universities in and outside Macau.
“They are a happy generation,” said Sou.
The first 20 years after Macau’s return has brought a huge number of opportunities for the younger generation, and the trend is expected to continue in the next 20 years. “Young people of Macau need to take the chances presented to them, and actively create opportunities for themselves,” Mok said. Xu Lingui, Ren Yaoti, Xinhua
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