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The “13^th China Expo Forum for International Cooperation” (hereinafter ‘CEFCO 2017’), as the annual distinguished event of the international convention and exhibition industry, which was hosted in a region other than mainland China for the first time, was hosted successfully in Macao in mid-January. The Forum was co-organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade & the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI), International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), and the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO), and was undertaken by the China Chamber of International Commerce and the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute. In total, it attracted more than 800 elites and high-rank individuals in the convention and exhibition industry to attend. The elites and leaders in the convention and exhibition industry from all around the world exchanged the newest information about the industry, and shared business opportunities in exchange activities such as, plenary meetings and group meetings which were held in those two days, achieving fruitful results. The “helmsmen” of the three international convention and exhibition organizations, UFI, IAEE and SISO, were also invited to the Forum in Macao, so as to share their experience in hosting conventions and exhibitions with others, and as a result there was a positive influence on the development in Macao’s convention and exhibition industry.“Facing Challenges and Endeavoring to Change” was the theme of the CEFCO 2017, which composed of three planetary meetings, four group meetings and other activities such as theme lectures, conferences, project promotion sessions. The representatives of the reputed exhibition enterprises, organizations related to the industry, professional media, and research institutions from China and overseas, as well as the representatives of the mainland competent authorities in the convention and exhibition industry, were invited to conduct discussions regarding the “Contribution of the Convention and Exhibition Industry to the Recovery of the Global Economy”, “Transformation of the Government’s Role in Advancing the Development of the Convention and Exhibition Industry”, “Channels for the Internationalization of the Convention and Exhibition Enterprises” and “Cooperation for the Innovation of the Convention and Exhibition Industry and Internet Platforms”, and so on.The international convention and exhibition organizations are optimistic about the future of Macao’s convention and exhibition industryAndreas Gruchow, the President of the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) who came to Macao for the first time, stated that in the two-day expo held this year he attended the opening ceremony, delivered a speech and participated in a series of meetings and exchange activities, during which he made lots of new friends and obtained much valuable information. In relevance to the development of Macao’s convention and exhibition industry, he was optimistic and considered Macao’s environment and facilities suitable for hosting meetings, and thus he agreed that Macao should promote with the ultimate goal of elevating Macao into a City of Events as the developmental direction for the convention and exhibition industry. He also indicated that the most important assets of a city for conventions and exhibitions are its hotels, venues, surrounding recreational facilities, and convenient transportation, all of which Macao is equipped with. Therefore, as long as the government and the related industry endeavor to promote them, polishing Macao’s descent “namecard” for conventions and exhibitions, the supply chain of Macao’s convention and exhibition industry will become well prepared.Similarly, David Dubois, the President and CEO of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) who came to Macao for the first time, stated that Macao has perfect facilities in support to conventions and exhibitions, and that Macau is capable of hosting large-scale meetings and enterprise meetings. In addition, its venues and hotels have been equipped with a full set of facilities, and are surrounded by readily available recreational and shopping sites, so that participants and their family members can enjoy their stay in their preferred ways. Thus, this is an advantage that Macao has. He is quite optimistic about Macao’s future convention and exhibition industry, believing that as CEFCO 2017 was hosted successfully, more and more international convention and exhibition organizers will recognize Macao and consequently attract more international large-scale meetings to be hosted.David Audrain, the Executive Director of the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) who had come to Macao seven years ago, came to Macao again for the forum and said he was amazed by the rapid pace of development in Macao’s infrastructure, software and hardware in support to conventions and exhibitions. Having once lived in Las Vegas, he thinks that Macao is similar to Las Vegas in many aspects such as, the magnificent hotels, venues, and the diverse and innumerous recreational activities. He suggested that Macao should learn from Las Vegas for its ways to success, and should develop strength to overcome its shortcomings. In this way, there will be a wider scope of development for Macao’s convention and exhibition industry.Large-scale convention and exhibition events to be hostedIn the next few months, more and more convention and exhibition events will be hosted in Macao consecutively. Apart from the annual event in the environmental field, “2017 Macao International Environment Co-operation Forum & Exhibition” (MIECF), there will also be “Igaming Asia Congress 2017” Convention and Exhibition, organized by the Asian entertainment and gaming industry, social platforms and mobile game companies under cross-border cooperation, “International Exposition of Intangible Cultural Heritage and Ancient Art Macao”, where reputed scholars and collectors from China and overseas cooperatively research on intangible cultural heritage, and “2017 Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Dental Association”, in which people from the medical profession from 30 countries and regions will be invited to participate. For details, please visit the Macao MICE Portal: http://www.mice.gov.mo/tc/.
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Having regard to the ATM cash withdrawal needs of citizens and visitors during the Chinese New Year holidays (i.e. from 28 to 31 January 2017), the Monetary Authority of Macao has urged all banks that are providing ATM services to put pertinent arrangements in place, including enhanced surveillance of the functioning of ATMs for timely replenishment of banknotes and clear display on ATMs of the 24-hour customer service hotlines. If necessary, citizens and visitors can contact the relevant banks via these hotlines.
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Having regard to the ATM cash withdrawal needs of citizens and visitors during the Chinese New Year holidays (i.e. from 28 to 31 January 2017), the Monetary Authority of Macao has urged all banks that are providing ATM services to put pertinent arrangements in place, including enhanced surveillance of the functioning of ATMs for timely replenishment of banknotes and clear display on ATMs of the 24-hour customer service hotlines. If necessary, citizens and visitors can contact the relevant banks via these hotlines.
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As consumption by citizens and the number of inbound tourists are expected to increase during Lunar New Year, the Consumer Council held a meeting before the festival with Economic Services Bureau (DSE), Macao Government Tourist Office (DST), Transport Bureau (DSAT), Judiciary Police (PJ), Public Security Police Force (PSP), Macao Custom Service, Civic and Municipal Affairs Council (IACM), Health Bureau (SS) and Bureau of Telecommunications Regulation (DSRT) to discuss on the protection of consumer rights for local citizens as well as inbound tourists.Consumer Council will provide special hotline service from 2.30PM to 6 PM on 27^thJanuary (normal office hours in the morning), and 9 PM to 6 PM daily from 28^th January to 1^st February. Consumer Council’s staff will be taking consumers’ calls regarding complaints or inquiry. Consumer Council hotline: 8988 9315.Consumer Council reminds consumers to inquire about details of the products or services they desire and communicate with the shops, invoices and contracts should also be kept to safeguard their own rights. If anyone finds his or her consumer rights being infringed, he or she should file a complaint at the Council or other departments and provide all necessary detailed information.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for October-December 2016 held stable as in the previous period (September-November 2016), at 1.9%; the underemployment rate was 0.6%, down by 0.1 percentage point.Total labour force was 392,600 and the labour force participation rate stood at 71.8%. Total employment decreased by 500 from the previous period, at 385,000. Number of the unemployed was 7,600, similar to that in September-November 2016; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 8.9% of the total unemployed, down by 5.8 percentage points.In the fourth quarter of 2016, the general unemployment rate (1.9%) remained unchanged from the previous quarter, while the unemployment rate of local residents (2.7%) increased slightly by 0.1 percentage point. Total employment decreased by 9,200 quarter-to-quarter. Analysed by industry, employment in Construction (37,200) dropped by 7,900, following the successive completion of large-scale entertainment facilities; meanwhile, employment in Health & Social Welfare (13,400) rose by 1,600. Median monthly employment earnings of both the employed (MOP15,000) and the employed residents (MOP18,000) remained unchanged from the third quarter of 2016.For the whole year of 2016, the general unemployment rate stood at 1.9% and the unemployment rate of local residents was 2.7%, up by 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points respectively year-on-year. Median monthly employment earnings of both the employed (MOP15,000) and the employed residents (MOP18,000) stayed flat from the previous year. As regards household employment, average number of employed persons per household was 1.7 in 2016, down by 0.1 year-on-year; the median monthly employment earnings per household remained unchanged from 2015, at MOP28,000.
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Published by the Cultural Affairs Bureau and produced by 100 Plus Cultural Creative Development Ltd., the nineteenth issue of the C² Magazine will be launched on Wednesday, 1 February. Some Macao’s creative practitioners have found a way out to promote their works by becoming online celebrities. In this issue, we invite them to talk about how they have become the centre of attention on the internet.In the section“Feature”, travel writer Sio Ng shares her experience in running a fans page on facebook which eventually brought her an opportunity to publish her travelogue. New comedian duo Shoot & Chop, full-time online celebrity Carl Ao Ieong (Hou Dee), and renowned Hong Kong-based illustrator Tse Sai Pei (Jasmine Tse) also talk about how they made a name for themselves as cyberstars and their opinions about internet marketing.Macao has many souvenir and accessory shops, but only a few of them boast cultural and creative elements. Emerging brand O-Moon targeted at the market needs and has thus launched products flavoured with Macao characteristics. In the column “Brand Story”, the co-founders of O-Moon share their insight on how to tap into the market of creative merchandise and the key to successful operation and marketing. In “Opinion”, Mann Lao, Creative and Managing Director of Chiii Design Ltd. advises young designers to carefully position themselves in order to stand out in a crowded market. Mann Lao used to work in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Portugal. He returned to Macao several years ago and now is actively engaged in grooming local design talents. In “Budding Talents”, new local director Hong Heng Fai is in the spotlight. His short film Crash was nominated for the Best Live Action Short Film of the 53^rdGolden Horse Awards, becoming the first work made in Macao to be nominated for that award. In this issue, he shares his views on how short films should be promoted and developed in Macao. The “Blogs” section seven columnists, Joe Tang, Ho Ka Cheng, Yi-Hsin Lin, Yap Seow Choong, Ron Lam, Lam Sio Man and Cheong Sio Pang continue to share their unique perspectives on the development of the cultural and creative industries.C² is a trilingual magazine (in Chinese, Portuguese and English). Readers are welcome to browse or download the magazine at www.c2magazine.mo. C² is a bimonthly magazine issued on the first Wednesday every two months. The next issue will be launched on 5 April 2017. The email subscription function is now available. Simply click the “subscribe” button on the right corner of the magazine’s webpage and enter your email address to subscribe C² magazine. For the latest updates, you may also visit the magazine’s page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/c2magazine.macau, or on WeChat, by clicking “add friend” and inputting “c2magazine” in the ID column. For enquiries, please contact us through the email c2magazine.macau@gmail.com.
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Published by the Cultural Affairs Bureau and produced by 100 Plus Cultural Creative Development Ltd., the nineteenth issue of the C² Magazine will be launched on Wednesday, 1 February. Some Macao’s creative practitioners have found a way out to promote their works by becoming online celebrities. In this issue, we invite them to talk about how they have become the centre of attention on the internet.
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A team of postgraduate students from the University of Macau (UM) Faculty of Science and Technology won a second prize at the 13th National Postgraduate Mathematic Contest in Modelling. The contest attracted nearly 9,000 teams from universities in China.The UM team was formed by PhD student Guo Li and master’s students Wu Yinwen and Kong Lingning. Led by Assistant Professor Chen Long from the Department of Computer and Information Science, the team chose the ‘genome-wide association study’ in the contest. By applying the sparse linear model, the team designed a mathematical method to find disease-related genes in the human DNA and achieved good results in the analysis of test data provided by the contest organiser.In the big data era, it has become more and more important to know how to build mathematical models that can explain data for future uses. UM places an emphasis on cultivating students’ skills in mathematical modelling. Previously, UM students won prizes in several other modelling contests, including the Contemporary Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling of China 2015, and the Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling 2016 held in the United States.
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Organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government and co-organized by the Department of Culture and Education of the Liaison Office of the Central Government in the Macao S.A.R., the Centre for Ethnic and Folk Literature and Art Development of the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, the Department of Culture of Guangdong Province and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of the Leisure and Cultural Service Department of the Government of the Hong Kong S.A.R., and supported by the Office for Cultural Affairs with the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Regions of the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, the exhibition “Spring Breeze to the Southern Greenly Land – Exhibition of the Lunar New Year Traditions of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong S.A.R. and Macao S.A.R.” was inaugurated on Wednesday, 25 January, at 6:30pm, at the Temporary Exhibitions Gallery of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau. The opening ceremony was officiated by the Director of the Department of Education and Culture of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao S.A.R, Xu Ting; the President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government, Ung Vai Meng; the Deputy Head of the Department of Culture of Guangdong Province, Zhang Yimin; the Deputy Director of the Center for Ethnic and Folk Leisure and Art Development of the Ministry for Culture of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Jing; the Deputy Director of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong S.A.R. Government, Ng Chi-Wa and the Head of the Macao and Hong Kong Division of the Office for Cultural Affairs with the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Regions of the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, Bai Bing.This exhibition will feature hundreds of exhibits related to the Spring Festival (Lunar New Year) traditions in Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao. The Guangdong Province section will feature various kinds of exhibits such as Nianhua wood engraving (New Year woodblock prints), lanterns featuring realistic images, exquisite paper cuts, carved olive pits, Yangjiang kites, hand-made glass bead embroidery, clay sculptures, regional opera costumes, as well as Yao ethnic costumes and accessories. Hong Kong, despite being a modern and cosmopolitan city where Eastern and Western cultures merge, has retained many ancient customs. This exhibition features, for instance, boat rowing ritual exhibits from the Tai Ping Hung Chiu ceremony held in the rural areas of Hong Kong’s New Territories, as well as Wong Tai Sin divination cylinders and sticks, newborn male baby lanterns used in ancestral halls, the Hakka unicorn (qilin), the pinwheel from Che Kung Temple in Sha Tin, posters and flyers of various Cantonese opera performances, among other unique items. With regard to Macao, where the exhibition will be held, various images of the times when the city was a small riverside village will also be featured, as well as some traditional Lunar New Year items, such as piggy banks, calendars, firecrackers, fireworks, red packets (Lai Si), candy boxes, among other items reminiscent of times past.In conjunction with the theme of the exhibition, the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) will also organize a lecture entitled “Guangdong Spring Festival Celebration”, conducted by Prof. Liu Xiaochun, a researcher at the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Research Centre and a professor at the Chinese Department of Sun Yat-sen University, who will analyze the five cultural regions of Guangdong Province and the various Lunar New Year traditions of each region that make up the culture of Lingnan. The lecture, conducted in Mandarin, will be held on 11 and 12 February (Saturday and Sunday), from 3:30pm to 4:30pm, at the Iong Sam Tong Pavilion in Lou Lim Ioc Garden. Admission is free. All interested parties are welcome to register online through IC’s Activity Registration System (www.icm.gov.mo/eform/event) from today. Seats are limited and are available on a first come, first served basis.The exhibition “Spring Breeze to the Southern Greenly Land – Exhibition of the Lunar New Year Traditions of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong S.A.R. and Macao S.A.R.” will be held from 26 January to 19 February at the Temporary Exhibitions Gallery of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, located at No. 163, Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, and at the Chun Chou Tong Pavilion of Lou Lim Ioc Garden, located at No. 10, Estrada Adolfo Loureiro. Admission is free. The exhibition is open daily from 9:00am to 7:00pm, including public holidays. For enquiries about the exhibition and lecture, please contact IC through tel. no. 8988 4000 during office hours.
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With the high demand from the outbound travels of Macao’s residents and the inbound travels of visitors during the Chinese New Year, the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM) has approved a total of 40 extra and charter flights to and from mainland China, Taiwan China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Vietnam, in accordance with the applications filed in by the airlines.The extra and charter flights which have been approved by AACM will start on 26 January to 5 February 2017. The applications for operating these flights were submitted by Air Macau, Juneyao Airlines and Vietjet with details as follows:

• Mainland China (25 flights): Shanghai, Tianjin, Ningbo and Hangzhou
• Taiwan China (6 flights): Taipei
• Japan (4 flights): Osaka and Fukuoka
• Republic of Korea (2 flights): Seoul
• Vietnam (3 flights): Danang

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