Macao cheered for its newly grasped world heritage status, as the city's entry into the United Nations World Heritage List donned the headlines of Saturday's newspapers.

The Macao Daily, the top Chinese newspaper, in its headline article hailed the success as "the pride of Macao people" and reviewed every step which the city has followed since it formally launched the heritage bid in 2002.

The article also urged the residents to further enhance the effort to protect the cultural heritage.

The Macao Post, the sole English newspaper in the town, released a special edition on the day to promote the city's world heritage status.

The Macao Cultural Affairs Bureau launched a two-day free postcard mailing campaign to mark the city's new status as a world-heritage site.

The free postcards will be available till Sunday at special booths in the Taipa area, where residents and visitors can collect them and mail to any destination in the world.

The Macao Post Office also launched a special four-stamp collection commemorating the city's entry into the World Heritage List.

Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of the Macao special administrative region (SAR), delivered a message to the public on Friday to "share the honor with everyone in Macao."

Ho said it has great and profound significance for the Historic Center of Macao to be listed as World Cultural Heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

"Ever since the beginning of the application, the central government has fully stood by the Macao SAR government by putting the Historic Center of Macao as the sole item in this year's list," Ho recalled.

He pledged that the SAR government will continue to protect and promote these precious heritages, which belong to Macao and the whole country.

The liaison office of the central government in Macao sent a congratulation letter to the SAR government on Friday.

The letter said the success of Macao's world heritage bid helps the Macao government gain world-wide recognition of its effort to protect the culture treasury.

"The Historic Center of Macao, being a unique gem of Macao, the country and the world, will surely have its shiny future," the letter said.

Macao's historic center project officially entered the World Heritage List Friday at the 29th session of the World Heritage Committee in Durban, South Africa.

Source: Xinhua