Books on topics relating to Macao and its return to China are now best sellers in Macao as the day of the region's handover, December 20, is close at hand.

In Seng Kwong Book Store, one of the largest in Macao, fast-selling books include a biography of Edmund Ho Hau Wah, the first chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR), a guidebook of the MSAR, a collection of scholars' views on the homecoming of Macao, and an album of photos reflecting Macao in different periods.

A shop assistant said that books on the history of Macao and its homecoming are hot sellers in particular and that most buyers are local residents.

Macao's upcoming return to its motherland also represents a good opportunity for local publishing houses which have come out with a great number of titles, including "Macao Literary Series," "Macao: Its Past and Present" and "Comments on Macao's Contemporary Art and Contemporary Poems."

All handover-related activities, including the formal handover ceremony, establishment of the MSAR, the swearing in of principal officials of the MSAR and a grand rally celebrating the establishment of the MSAR, will be recorded in a tome entitled " Macao's Historic Moment." The book is expected to come off the press in March, 2000. (Xinhua)