The Macao Encyclopedia, published by the Macao Foundation, will be available in the middle of the month, according to sources with the Foundation.

The book contains 1.7 million Chinese characters in 780 pages, and nearly 1,000 color and white-and-black pictures. Total entries add up to 2,989.

Organized by the foundation, scholars began compiling the book in early 1996. Some 70 specialists took part in writing the book over the past years.

The encyclopedia, the first of its kind about Macao, expounds every aspects of Macao, such as its politics, legal system, economy, history, geography, cultural affairs, education, religion, folk customs, and celebrities.