Viver em Macau New Neighborhood in Hengqin

NYt dez24


Laurence Dang, 35, recently bought a home in Hengqin’s Macau New Neighborhood, an area that the Chinese government designated for Macanese citizens to encourage them to move.

“People call it the backyard of Macau,” he said.

When Mr. Dang and his wife decided to buy an apartment in the compound in April, the line of buyers was so long they had to wait four hours just to pick the units they wanted.

“I’ve never seen so many people in Hengqin,” Mr. Dang said. Like many other buyers, Mr. Dang and his wife were looking for more space than they could find in Macau. At around $4,100 per square meter, the apartments were much cheaper than in Macau, where the average apartment costs $13,800 per square meter.

There were other goodies like a $275 voucher for food. The authorities have agreed to subsidize management fees for the complex as well as internet, electricity and water bills, according to Chinese state controlled media.

In Macau New Neighborhood in Hengqin, the invisible boundaries between Macau and the rest of China are being renegotiated. Residents can watch television channels from overseas and use the internet beyond China’s Great Firewall. They can use Macau’s currency and its public bus or light rail services to cross the river back into Macau.

For many younger Macanese citizens like Teng Teng, 31, there are benefits from a deeper connection with the rest of China. Mr. Teng, who sells egg waffles from a small stall near a famous Macau landmark, the Ruins of St. Paul’s, likes to take trips to neighboring Zhuhai to eat cheap food and relax.

While the changes in Hengqin mean small businesses in Macau have growing competition for tourism, gambling revenue at Macau’s casinos in October jumped to their highest levels since the pandemic. In October, the number of visitors to the territory during China’s Golden Week holiday hit a record.