The transformation of Macau that began when Las Vegas money started pouring into the city after the gaming monopoly ended in 2002, was greeted with mixed feelings by many who loved the town for its peaceful atmosphere and remarkable historic heritage.
Suddenly the oldest European settlement on the China coast wasn't 'sleepy' any more and the crumbling old shophouses of its charming time-capsule backstreets were overshadowed by Hong Kong-style futuristic high rises - just the kind of thing people used to go to Macau to get away from.
The identity of the city has undoubtedly changed forever, but much of the old fabric remains in resolute, if uneasy, co-existence with the new glass and steel structures, and get-rich-quick ethos.
Macau is blessed with an abundance of temples and churches; restful Chinese gardens and elegant old Portuguese plazas. There are many places where it is still possible to get a vivid sense of its long and colourful history.
The city takes its name from the A-Ma Temple in the Porto Interior, or Inner Harbour, and there has been a temple on this site dedicated to A-Ma, or Tin Hau, a Taoist deity thought to protect seafarers, since the 15th century.
When the Portuguese landed and asked the name of the place they were told it was the Bay of A-Ma - in Cantonese A-Ma Gao - and the phrase was abbreviated and written down as Macao, a spelling largely replaced for many years by Macau but now once again in common use.