The last decade must be remembered as one of the most dramatic periods in Macau’s five centuries of history. During this short decade, Macau’s sovereignty was reverted from Portugal back to China in 1999. To alleviate the pain of re-absorption, socialist China promised to keep capitalist Macau’s economic and political system remain for 50 years. Macau’s casinodominated economy was allowed to stay. It was also permitted to have an autonomous government, which could rule with minimal interference from Beijing. A similar package has been offered to neighbouring Hong Kong, whose colonial rule ended two years prior to that of Macau. Hong Kong and Macau were given the status of Special Administrative Region within China’s unitary state structure. This is known as the ‘one-country, two-systems’ formula. This formula is touted by China to be the model for its future reunification of Taiwan.