By LIANG Yilian

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland. Over the past 25 years, Macao has transformed into one of Asia's wealthiest cities, demonstrating remarkable socioeconomic progress under the "one country, two systems" policy.

▲ An aerial drone photo taken in Hengqin of Zhuhai city, south China's Guangdong province, shows a view of south China's Macao. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

With strong support from the central government and mainland China, the Macao Special Administrative Region has achieved sustained economic growth. In 1999, Macao's GDP was 51.9 billion Macao pataca (MOP), rising to nearly 379.5 billion MOP by 2023. By the end of last year, total savings of Macao residents exceeded 700 billion MOP — an eightfold increase since 1999. Forbes recently ranked Macao as the second richest place globally, behind Luxembourg.

The Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, launched in 2021, has accelerated regional integration. A key milestone was the December opening of the Hengqin line of the Macao Light Rapid Transit, linking Lotus Station in Macao with Hengqin Station via a 2.2-kilometer route. This connection integrates Macao into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’s one-hour living circle, expanding economic and social development opportunities.

Macao has also made significant strides in science and technology innovation over the past quarter century. In 2023, the Macao Science-1 satellites were successfully launched — the first space science satellite program jointly developed by the mainland and Macao. Recently, the Macao Science-1 team released China's first WM^3 4D Earth magnetic field model, utilizing high-precision geomagnetic data collected by the satellites.

Collaborative innovation between Macao and Hengqin is gaining momentum. The University of Macao and the Macao University of Science and Technology have established industry-education-research demonstration bases in Hengqin, advancing the "R&D in Macao + transformation in Hengqin" model to promote tech commercialization.

As of November, Hengqin had incubated 898 youth entrepreneurship projects from Hong Kong and Macao, including 815 led by Macao innovators, highlighting the region’s growing role as a hub for innovation and cross-border collaboration.

Editor | SONG Ziyan
Supervisor | FANG Linlin