Macau, like many other post-colonial territories in Asia, has been challenged to develop a language policy that will respond to the linguistic ecology of the region and position the city for future growth and development. This introductory chapter advocates an ecological approach to language policy and the advantages of ecological planning are discussed. Such an approach requires detailed scholarship about the various languages and varieties that have entered into Macau’s linguistic ecology over the past 500 years since the territory was established by Portuguese traders. In addition to Portuguese and English (and contact varieties that developed from both of these European languages), a number of the other languages from East Asia (and especially China), South Asia and South East Asia have shaped the contemporary linguistic ecology. Complicating the development of a language policy in Macau is the effect of the standard language ideology (SLI) and attitudes toward standard languages and standardising or non-standard varieties.