Macao Citizens' Education Day was observed on the afternoon of December 12 in a park in Macao. The Day took as its theme "Making the Macao Citizens Acquainted with the Chinese Culture".

Activities arranged by the Macao Education and Youth Department include an exhibition on landscaping photos about the motherland, a martial art show and speeches on couplet and ceramics art.

At the Macao Culture Center, Wang Zengyang, director of the Macao Culture Department, gave a speech on the Macao culture which finds its roots in the Chinese culture and is tinted with an European flavor.

Taking Macao cuisine as an example, Wang Zengyang said that delicious Macao dishes are made in a blended Chinese-Portugal way. When a young couple get married in Macao, a Chinese-style wedding ceremony is followed by a ceremony in a church. When a building is completed or a shop starts business, a band is playing Western music while a dragon show is being displayed. In Macao, he said, Western-style buildings are standing alongside of Chinese-style ones. Myriads of temples, decorated archways, posters and God statues show the lingering charms of the Chinese culture. Macao is a city in a Chinese style with European shades nurtured in the past 400 years.

Macao has spared no efforts to protect, evolve and do research on culture. Wang Zengyang said that the Macao Culture Department has offered over 60 scholarships, published 200 categories of books in special disciplines, built 11 museums for maritime. housing and others, and maintained over 30 temples and 19 churches. Wang Zengyang pledged that after Macao returns to the motherland, the Macao people will continue to give play to the distinctive role of the unique cultural resources and add to the brilliant posture of the all-embracing and exquisite Chinese culture.

A leading member from the Center for Adult Education under the Macao Education and Youth Department explained that the Macao Citizens' Education Day is aimed at increasing the citizens' sense of identity with and belonging to the Chinese culture by way of accumulating knowledge bit by bit.

Observers share the view that Macao's culture finds its roots in the Chinese culture with a history of 5000 years and Macao's return to the motherland will make the Chinese culture continue to grow.