One of the least-spoken official languages in the world is no doubt Macau's Portuguese, with less than 0.7 per cent of residents using it in daily conversation. Only one Portuguese language school has survived Macau's handover to China, and now the former enclave is having difficulty keeping that alive.
Set up in 1998, the Macau Portuguese School was intended to 'uphold Portuguese language and culture' in post-handover Macau, according to the decree on its foundation.
The private school, which is funded by the Portuguese Ministry of Education and a trust fund, the Oriental Foundation, offers Primary One to Form Six courses in Portuguese.
Now, seven years after the handover, uncertainty hangs over the school's future. But it is not all about apathy towards the language.
The school sits on a plot of land where tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM) plans to build its Grand Lisboa casino development. In 2004, SJM convinced the school to move to Taipa Island, but the plan failed after it drew opposition from nearby residents: they argued that the new location was meant to become a park.
Last month, the government proposed to relocate the school to the waterfront. But, on the site they suggested, it would block the view of the harbour from the A-Ma Temple. That prompted historians and legislators to slam the proposal, saying it would damage the surroundings of the landmark temple, which honours the goddess of seafarers.