As Macao's return to the motherland on December 20 approaches, a new wave of activities to welcome the event is surging in many parts of China.

In Shanghai, the country's leading industrial and commercial city, some 550,000 middle school students participated in a contest testing their knowledge of Macao on November 20.

As a major part of the city's activities to welcome Macao's return, the contest attracted participants from 27 schools.

In the municipality of Chongqing in southwest China, the municipal government has sent a stone sculpture titled "A Century Of Tender Regards" to Macao as a gift to the government of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

And about 100,000 college students in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, are now signing their names to a 1,000- meter-long scroll to express their joy over Macao's return, and a picture exhibit featuring Macao has also opened in the city.