Macao hopes that it will become irreplaceable in terms of its cultural importance after its return to the motherland, Chinese scholar Yang Kuanghan wrote in a recent article.

Yang said in the article, published in the Graduate School Transaction of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, that the future Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China will have close connections with both the world and the country's interior areas, and thus can help bridge the western and oriental cultures.

"Macao should be a growth pole for various new cultural and artistic ideas," he said.

In addition to social and economic prosperity, he said, Macao should also try to make cultural development one of its major goals.

In order to do so, the scholar suggested, Macao should significantly improve its cultural facilities, further enhance cultural exchanges with the interior of China and the world, and give more priority to the development of art and literature after the return to the motherland.

More researches should be done on the culture of native-born Portuguese who will continue to be Macao's citizens after Macao's return to the motherland, Yang said, adding that their traditions will become part of the culture of the entire Chinese nation.