A Bit of East meets West, With a Venice on Top
As I write this, the Venetian is opening its second “branch,” making Macau the home to the world’s largest casino. This opening is apt for several reasons. Most obvious, Macau is the most lucrative gaming town in the world, last year surpassing Vegas and earning USD 6.95 billion in profits from gambling. But while Macau may seem to be heading in the direction of Vegas—i.e. embracing the all in one entertainment-gaming-dining-vacation-convention center business model—my recent weekend in the former Portuguese colony made clear that there are still many gems off the game floor and indicated another reason why a touch of Venice seemed apt for this town.
With elements of the East, Venice historically has been described by many travelers (of course it is easier to find notes from the more famous of these) as “an Oriental dream” (Théophile Gautier) and as possessing “the charm of color in common with the greater part of the architecture, as well as of the manufactures, of the East” (John Ruskin). Or as Henry James said when in Venice “I was in the East.” Well, I won’t go as far as to mirror James and say that when in Macau, I was in the West. I did, however, marvel not only at the many vestiges of Portugal (including the 1970s style airport arrival hall somehow reminiscent of Guarulhos), but also at the modern day blend cultures in this city of 500,000 people. As a Brazilian living in Beijing, my eyes are more used to Chinese-English (whatever the accuracy of the translation) signs and are jarred by the Chinese-Portuguese signs for stores, sites, and streets. That said, these are purely symbolic as no mention of the Portuguese street name will get you to your destination. Like visitors strolling in the Venice of days past, those walking through Macau cannot help but at one moment feel like they’re in the East (think bustling downtown Hong Kong with fragrant street food and any and every item for sale) and in the next they’re in the West (think European piazza with a community church and mosaic side walks). Now whether the Venetian Macau itself will be a nexus of East meets West is to be seen and scrutinized (do side by side Gucci and Shiatzy Chen boutiques count?). But one thing is for sure, with upcoming star sports tournaments, global conventions, entertainment galore, alongside the extravaganza on the casino floor, the Venetian will likely hark back to its roots and be in Macau “The pleasant place of all festivity,/The revel of the earth.”



