News

The new round of the “Temporary Rehearsal Venue Booking Programme of Tap Seac Square Commercial Centre” of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) is open for applications from 1 February 2016 (Monday) until 30 June 2016. Local theatre and dance groups are welcome to apply. The R2 and R3 spaces of the Tap Seac Square Commercial Centre (also known as Glass House) remain available as rehearsal spaces for local theatre and dance groups. In response to the needs of rehearsal space of local theatre and dance groups, IC launched the “Temporary Rehearsal Venue Booking Programme of the Tap Seac Square Commercial Centre” from August 2013 to January 2016, providing rehearsal venue to local theatre and dance groups on the ground floor of the Glass House. The Programme attracted approximately 40 local groups since it was launched. The Glass House has also been open for various government departments, schools and civic groups to hold activities and events. The “Venue Booking Programme” will last until 30 June 2016. The Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) will start the renovation project afterwards. Currently, DSSOPT is carrying out the tender of the “Renovation Project of the Tap Seac Square Commercial Centre”. The deadline of submission of the tender is 25 February 2016 and the renovation will start in the second half of the year. Aiming to turn the Glass House into a multi-functional, cultural and creative space as originally planned, IC will invite cultural and creative entities to participate in the boosting of the Glass House in order to promote the growth of Macao’s cultural and creative industries. All interested parties may submit the completed application form as well as the required documents to the Department for the Promotion of Cultural and Creative Industries (No. 567, Av. da Praia Grande, Edif. BNU, 12th floor A-D, Macao) from 1 February, during office hours. The application form and details are available on the Macao Cultural and Creative Industries Website (www.macaucci.com). For any enquiries, please contact Ms. Leong or Mr. Chong through tel. (853) 2892 4040 during office hours.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for October-December 2015 held stable at 1.9% as in the previous period (September-November 2015); the underemployment rate was 0.5%, down by 0.1 percentage point. Total labour force was 400,600 and the labour force participation rate stood at 73.2%. Total employment decreased by 300 from September-November 2015, at 393,100. Analysed by industry, employment in Construction registered decrease. Number of the unemployed was 7,500, up slightly by 100 from September-November 2015; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 10.8% of the total unemployed, down by 0.9 percentage points. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the general unemployment rate (1.9%) remained unchanged as the previous quarter, while the unemployment rate of local residents (2.6%) dropped slightly by 0.1 percentage point. Total employment decreased by 1,800 quarter-to-quarter. Analysed by industry, employment in Gaming & Junket Activities (81,300) and Construction (51,100) decreased by 2,900 and 1,800 respectively, while that in Hotels, Restaurants & Similar Activities (57,300) increased by 2,500. Median monthly employment earnings of both the employed (MOP15,000) and the employed residents (MOP18,000) remained unchanged as the previous quarter. For the whole year of 2015, the general unemployment rate stood at 1.8% and the unemployment rate of local residents was 2.5%, up by 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points respectively year-on-year. Median monthly employment earnings of the employed (MOP15,000) and the employed residents (MOP18,000) rose by 12.8% and 20.0% respectively year-on-year. As regards household employment, average number of employed persons per household was 1.8 in 2015, same as that in 2014; the median monthly employment earnings per household increased by 3.7% year-on-year to MOP28,000.
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The Macao Orchestra (OM, from the Portuguese acronym) of the Cultural Affairs Bureau will present the concert Russia Wonderland on 21 February, Sunday, at 8pm, at the Macao Tower Auditorium, featuring the best Chinese conductor in interpretation of Russian music, Zhang Guoyong, who will lead OM in a fantastic interpretation of Russian melodies. The programme of the concert Russia Wonderland includes Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13 “Winter Daydreams” and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10. Zhang Guoyong, one of the great Chinese conductors, is the head of Shanghai Opera House and is a professor of Composition and Conducting Department at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music . He studied in the former USSR for four years, earning the highest marks in his doctorate at Conducting Division of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. With his academic life in Russia at a later age as well as his work and cultural practical experiences, it helped him to contribute in conducting Russian composers’ works, thereby allowing him to comprehend Russian music history and culture in a better way. Zhang Guoyong’s conducting style is simple and natural, spiritually rich and highly artistic. He is universally recognized as the best Chinese conductor in interpretation of Russian music, especially of the symphonies by Dmitri Shostakovich. Tickets for this concert are priced at MOP200, MOP250 and MOP100, with various discounts available. Ticketing hotline: 2855 5555. For more details and programme enquiries, please contact OM through tel. 2853 0782 or access the Orchestra webpage at www.icm.gov.mo/om.
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Consumer Council conducted its last time ‘Supermarket price survey’ in January on 26 January for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included 12 supermarkets in Sé Parish. The latest ‘Supermarket Price Survey’ is now available on Consumer Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo), ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ iPhone and Android apps, and on the Council’s WeChat account page. The survey is also available free of charge at the offices of Consumer Council, IACM’s Iao Hon and S. Domingos Markets, bookstores and libraries. Consumers may also access the resources through WAP channels on their mobile phones. With reference to the local six parishes and the number of supermarkets in each parish, the Council has divided around 100 supermarkets into 8 areas for price collection. The Council collects prices from these supermarkets for the provision of a more comprehensive database for consumers to check price discrepancies and make price comparisons according to their desired locations. For inquiry, please call 8988 9315.
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As a result of a programme change, the Festive Series – “Valentine's Day Concert” by the Macao Chinese Orchestra, under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, originally scheduled to be held on Sunday, 14 February, at 3pm at St. Anthony’s Church, has been changed to Saturday, 13 February, at 2pm in the same venue. This concert aims at sharing a broad spectrum of classic love songs with the public, in order to promote the culture of Chinese music. The Valentine's Day Concert features a number of love songs such as Saint Mary, Praise the Lord, Amazing Grace, Your Sweet Smile, Because of Love and Mice Love Rice, performed by the Macao Chinese Orchestra. The tickets will be available at the venue one hour before the performance. Distribution is on a first come, first served basis. Tickets for other programmes of the Macao Chinese Orchestra are available through the Macau Ticketing Network. Any ticket purchase of 8 or more tickets for the same performance or by holders of valid full-time Student Cards or Macao Senior Citizen Cards (each card holder is allowed to purchase one discounted ticket per performance) can enjoy a 50% discount. Holders of the Macao Chinese Orchestra membership card may also enjoy a 40% discount. Besides, a 20% discount will be offered in any ticket purchase for Macao Chinese Orchestra concerts for holders of Teacher Card, BOC Credit Card and BOC Tri-currency Debit Card, as well as to OCBC Wing Hang Bank, Tai Fung Bank or BNU credit card holders of. Ticketing hotline: 2855 5555. For programme details, please visit the Macao Orchestra website: www.icm.gov.mo/om. For enquiries, please call 8399 6699 during office hours.
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Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) will present “Valentine's Day Fantasia 2016 – The Fairytale of Lights” at the Taipa Houses-Museum area and numerous attractions nearby in Taipa from 7 – 29 February. Through the event, MGTO encourages visitors to spend a long vacation in Macao during Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day and Chinese Lantern Festival, while offering another fascinating choice of leisure and entertainment for local residents during the festive month. The Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau and Cultural Affairs Bureau are the event co-organizers. Ready to dazzle the heart of Taipa from Chinese New Year’s Eve, “Valentine's Day Fantasia 2016 – The Fairytale of Lights” will present light installations at over ten locations, an interactive game and a 3D mapping show. Bringing beautiful fairytales to life through an extravaganza of lights, the event not only will let lovers enjoy a romantic Valentine’s Day and Chinese Lantern Festival, but also will create a dazzling dreamland for fairytale fans, young and old, in this festive season. The featured 3D mapping show will be unveiled with an opening ceremony on 12 February. Promising a heart-warming and memorable February, the event will go on during a range of festivities, including Chinese New Year’s Eve, Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day (14 February and the 7th day of Lunar New Year known as “Human’s Birthday”) as well as Chinese Lantern Festival, a traditional occasion for lovers to celebrate in Chinese culture. Light installations include 9,999 rose illuminations, sprawling across the Taipa Houses-Museum area and Carmel Parish. Glittery light installations adds festive ambience 14 groups of light installations will add splendid color to the Taipa Houses-Museum area and adjacent attractions from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. during 7 – 29 February. Light installations are located at the stairway along Rua do Cunha, Calçada do Quartel, Avenida de Carlos da Maia, Rua da Restauração, Calçada do Carmo, Carmel Garden, Entrance of Carmel Garden, stairway from Largo do Carmo to the Taipa Houses-Museum area as well as the Taipa Houses-Museum area. Weave a fairytale with 3D mapping and interactive game Themed as “Cinderella’s Glass Slipper”, the 5-minute 3D mapping show will be staged at the Taipa Houses-Museum area every 30 minutes from 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. during 12 – 22 February. The last show will take place at 9:55 p.m. each night. The story of Cinderella will come to life in a brand-new way through the light and 3D effects. The story is about a prince who travels through time to meet his girl again in Macao on Valentine’s Day. The prince helps the girl to put on her glass slipper, and they live happily ever after, with sweet blessings showered upon every resident and visitor. A 15-minute interactive game will be available at half-hour intervals from 7:10 p.m. after each round of 3D mapping show every night as well, with the last game at 9:40 p.m. The game combines bicycle generators and 3D projection mapping techniques, allowing participants to weave a romantic fairytale. MGTO has taken gradual measures to promote the event on social network and its website, monthly publication “What’s On”, poster, promotional leaflet and TV commercial, etc. By organizing a great diversity of events, MGTO is dedicated to forging the city into a “City of Events” and supporting the SAR Government to expedite Macao’s development into a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure. The Office presented Macao Light Festival 2015 - Journey of Lights, a brand-new local festive event that went widely popular last December. This time, by staging another lighting extravaganza, MGTO will fill the Taipa Houses-Museum area and numerous attractions nearby with a romantic aroma, hoping to create beautiful memories in the hearts of visitors and residents in this warm festive season.
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To enable SMEs to understand more about branding and management practices of overseas enterprises, Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) has organised SME training and study trip programmes for SMEs since 2011 and has visited various cities in Mainland China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. These programmes received positive response from the SME community as well as business starters. Based on such good experiences, IPIM is going to organise a training seminar on the "Best Practices of Marketing, Branding and Promotion of Singapore Enterprises” with the Association of Small & Medium Enterprises, Singapore (hereinafter referred to as ASME Singapore) and Young Entrepreneur Incubation Centre. The seminar will be held from 10:00 - 12:00 and 14:15-18:00 in the Multi-function Conference Hall of Macao Business Support Centre (263, Alameda Dr. Carlos d’Assumpção, Edif. China Civil Plaza, 19 andar, Macau). This seminar is part of the SME training programme, which will be followed by a study trip to Singapore, to benefit Macao SMEs by leveraging their business capacity, thus encouraging them to build their own brand and actively explore market opportunities. Invited experts share their experiences on branding strategies, business venture and creative tactics in promotion Singapore has a long history in enterprise and brand development and there are various schemes to support SMEs in these aspects. ASME Singapore is one of the partner associations of SPRING Singapore (the government agency designated to assist SMEs on how to increase competitiveness, foster creativity and innovation). Through such collaboration, ASME Singapore has launched the SME Centre and SME Talent Programme, as well as organised the Singapore Prestige Brand Award to encourage more local brands to grow and prosper. To enable Macao SMEs to learn from these successful models, the organisers have invited Mr. Kurt Wee, President of ASME Singapore, Ms. Dora Hoan, CEO of Best World International Ltd. and Mr Ang Yuit, Managing Director of The Adventus Consultants Pte Ltd to be the speakers at the training seminar. A wide array of topics will be covered during the seminar, including Singapore’s business overview and SME development, branding strategies and the importance of branding, how Singapore enterprises employ technology and innovation in running their businesses, as well as insights on adopting successful practices from the Singapore experience. Study trip to visit Singapore enterprises held in second quarter to learn from successful brands The training seminar is conducted in Mandarin only. Participants completing the full training seminar will be given priority to take part in the study trip to Singapore organised by IPIM. The trip will include site visits to enterprises in various industries; hence enabling participants to learn more about the successful business practices of overseas enterprises. Enrolment for the visit will be processed on a first come first served basis. For event details, please contact Ms. Leong or Mr. Ho of SME Service Centre on: 8798-9711/8798-9602; Email: smec@ipim.gov.mo or visit the IPIM website www.ipim.gov.mo for further information.
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Consumer Council conducted its latest ‘Supermarket price survey’ in January on 25 January for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included supermarkets in São Lázaro and São Lourenço Parishes. The latest ‘Supermarket Price Survey’ is now available on Consumer Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo), ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ iPhone and Android apps, and on the Council’s WeChat account page. The survey is also available free of charge at the offices of Consumer Council, IACM’s Iao Hon and S. Domingos Markets, bookstores and libraries. Consumers may also access the resources through WAP channels on their mobile phones. With reference to the local six parishes and the number of supermarkets in each parish, the Council has divided around 100 supermarkets into 8 areas for price collection. The Council collects prices from these supermarkets for the provision of a more comprehensive database for consumers to check price discrepancies and make price comparisons according to their desired locations. For inquiry, please call 8988 9315.
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Two student teams from the University of Macau (UM) received two second prizes at the Contemporary Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling of China (CUMCM). This is the second consecutive year that UM has received prizes at this contest. This year’s contest attracted more than 28,000 teams from around the country, including 14 teams from Macao, and only about 6 per cent of them received first or second prizes. The two UM teams were comprised of six students, namely Lo Ka In, Lei Sin Ian, Cheang Ngai Fong, Huang Zewei, and Li Xuqi from the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Techology, and Zhang Ruopiao from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The teams were led by Dr Liu Zhi from the Department of Mathematics. Organised by the China Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the CUMCM is a national contest in the field of mathematical modelling. It is also the largest mathematical modelling contest in the world. The first contest, held in 2015, attracted more than 85,000 students in 28,574 teams from 33 provinces, cities, and autonomous regions in China, as well as from Singapore and the United States. Only about 5 per cent of the teams received first or second prizes. This year’s contest consisted of two problems: Problem A and Problem B. Problem A only provided a dataset of the shadow length of a fixed pole, which had been recorded within a period of a day. Participants were required to locate the position of the pole in terms of longitude and latitude and the date of recording according to the dataset. The UM team formed by Cheang Ngai Fong, Lo Ka In, and Lei Sin Ian, chose this problem. The students used their knowledge of geography and astronomy to identify the functional relationship among the shadow length, the longitude and latitude of the object, and the date and time of the recording. Using the appropriate formula and the polynomial fitting method, they correctly located the position of the pole and deduced the recording data. Problem B, which was chosen by the other three UM students, has more real-world relevance. But it did not provide any dataset or formula. Participants were required to collect the dataset by themselves and to conduct analysis based on the collected dataset to evaluate the effectiveness of a local government’s policy designed to make it less difficult for residents to obtain a taxi. Participants were also required to propose solutions to the problem. The three UM students used the queuing theory to establish a model which nicely quantifies the taxies according to times and positions. With the proposed model, the students estimated the average wait time for a taxi during peak hours, and proposed suggestions for solving the problem. In addition to the CUMCM, students from the Department of Mathematics have also won prizes at the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) in the United States and the Mathematical Modeling in China held earlier.
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The first grand western art exhibition at the Macao Museum of Art (MAM) in 2016, titled “One Century of Austrian Art 1860-1960”, will be inaugurated on Friday, 29 January, at 6:30pm, at the Gallery of Special Exhibitions of MAM, on the 2nd floor; while the Curator’s talk will be hosted on Saturday, 30 January, at 3pm. Interested parties are welcome to enrol in the talk. The exhibition complies 89 masterpieces by iconic Austrian artists of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as prominent figures like Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, depicting a hundred year of the most stunning progress of Austrian painting. Since April 2015 the exhibition has been shown at the Beijing World Art Museum, the Dalian Modern Art Museum and the Hubei Provincial Museum, and will close at MAM. Free collateral event of this exhibition “Curator’s talk: Austrian Art (1860-1960) from the perspective of artistic economy” by the curator Josef Schütz, in German (with Mandarin interpretation) will be held on Saturday, 30 January, at 3:00 pm at the Gallery of Special Exhibitions of the MAM, on the 2nd floor. For online registration, please visit the Cultural Affairs Bureau webpage www.icm.gov.mo/eform/event or Macao Museum of Art webpage www.MAM.gov.mo, or call 8791 9814 during office hours for registration and details. The exhibition is co-organised by MAM, under the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Beijing World Art Museum and the Chinese-Austrian Academy of Fine Arts. The exhibition is open until 3 April 2016. The Macao Museum of Art is located at Avenida Xian Xing Hai, and is open from 10am to 7pm (no admittance after 6:30pm; closed on Mondays). The admission fee is MOP5.00, and admission is free on Sundays and Macao public holidays.
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