Taipa
Encyclopedia
Taipa is the smaller of the two islands in the Chinese special administrative region of Macao
(formerly a Portuguese colony
).
and east of the Lesser Hengqin
Island of Zhuhai
, Guangdong
Province. Macau International Airport
, University of Macau
, Macau Jockey Club and Macau Stadium are situated in Taipa, and three bridges connect the island to Macau Peninsula.
Most Chinese settlement of Taipa occurred during the Southern Song Dynasty, while the Portuguese
occupied the island in 1851. Prior to land reclamation, Taipa consisted of two islands: Greater Taipa and Lesser Taipa.
The 159.1-metre Big Taipa Hill (大氹山) is to the east, and Small Taipa Hill (小氹山) to the west. Central Taipa is a plain as a result of siltation
and land reclamation
. Initially Taipa was connected to Coloane
Island only by the Estrada do Istmo (路氹連貫公路); but the area called Cotai
, built on reclaimed land from 2004 and which is home to mega-resorts, casinos, and convention and exhibition centers, has now essentially connected the two islands into one piece of land. Taipa is connected to peninsular Macau by Governador Nobre de Carvalho Bridge
, Friendship Bridge
and the Sai Van Bridge
.
Taipa is predominantly a growing residential area with many new apartment complexes, mostly up-scale, under construction as of 2006. As a new town of Macau, Taipa has better city planning than Macau Peninsula; however, many people choose to live in Macau Peninsula since most of the famous schools are located there.
, Taipa has been known by many names over time, including 龍環 (Lung Waan, meaning "Dragon
Ring"), 雞頸 (Gai Geng, "Chicken's neck"), 潭仔 (Tam Tsai, "Pool"), and 龍頭環 (Lung Tau Waan, "Dragon's-Head Ring").
The Portuguese and English name "Taipa" comes from the Chinese pronunciation of 氹仔 in Min Nan
// (similar to "tiamp-a") then became "Taipa".
Another version according to legend, comes from an exchange between early Portuguese settlers on Taipa and local Chinese settlers. The Portuguese asked the Chinese the name (nome in Portuguese) of the place. The Chinese settlers were local grocery shopkeepers and spoke no Portuguese, but took the Portuguese nome for the Chinese 糯米, "sticky rice", which is pronounced similar to nome in Cantonese. Thinking the Portuguese settlers were asking if they sold sticky rice, the Chinese responded with "大把," pronounced "daai ba" in Cantonese, meaning "a lot." The Portuguese, hearing the response, took this to be the name of the place. There is, however, no historical evidence to support this story. "Taipa" is also what the Portuguese call the clay-mud, rammed into moulds, used to build mud houses in Portugal in times gone by, in recent times referred to as Rammed Earth.
It is also worth noting that, as the great majority of the population in Taipa and Macau
is Chinese, most people refer to this island by its Cantonese name, "Tamzai", and most taxi drivers and bus drivers will not understand if asked how to go to "Taipa."
Religious:
Other:
Mação
Mação is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 400.0 km² and a total population of 7,763 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of eight parishes, and is located in the Santarém District....
(formerly a Portuguese colony
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
).
Geography
It is 2.5 kilometres from Macau PeninsulaMacau Peninsula
Macau Peninsula is the oldest and most populous part of Macau. It has an area of 8.5 km² and is geographically connected to Guandong province, at the northeast, through an isthmus 200-metre wide. The peninsula, together with the city centre of Zhuhai, sits on an island separated from the...
and east of the Lesser Hengqin
Hengqin
Hengqin Dao is an island in Zhuhai, a prefecture-level city and Special Economic Zone in the Guangdong province of the People's Republic of China...
Island of Zhuhai
Zhuhai
Zhuhai is a prefecture-level city on the southern coast of Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in the Pearl River Delta, Zhuhai borders Jiangmen to the northwest, Zhongshan to the north, and Macau to the south. Zhuhai was one of the original Special Economic Zones...
, Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
Province. Macau International Airport
Macau International Airport
- Cargo airlines :The following cargo airlines serve Macau International Airport :*Air Macau*EVA Air Cargo*Shanghai Airlines Cargo*Singapore Airlines Cargo- Other Tenants :* Macau Customs Service...
, University of Macau
University of Macau
The University of Macau, ;, established in 1981, was the first and currently the largest university in Macau, a former Portuguese colony. It was formerly known as University of East Asia , and was renamed the University of Macau in 1991. The university offers about 100 Doctoral, Master's and...
, Macau Jockey Club and Macau Stadium are situated in Taipa, and three bridges connect the island to Macau Peninsula.
- AreaAreaArea is a quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional surface or shape in the plane. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat...
: 6.33 km²1 E6 m²To aid in the comparison of sizes of different geographic regions, areas between 1 km2 and 10 km2 are listed below. See also areas of other orders of magnitude.* Areas smaller than 1 km2...
(1.5 x 3.5 km) - PopulationPopulationA population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
: 7,000
Most Chinese settlement of Taipa occurred during the Southern Song Dynasty, while the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
occupied the island in 1851. Prior to land reclamation, Taipa consisted of two islands: Greater Taipa and Lesser Taipa.
The 159.1-metre Big Taipa Hill (大氹山) is to the east, and Small Taipa Hill (小氹山) to the west. Central Taipa is a plain as a result of siltation
Siltation
Siltation is the pollution of water by fine particulate terrestrial clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments, and to the increased accumulation of fine sediments on bottoms where they are undesirable...
and land reclamation
Land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...
. Initially Taipa was connected to Coloane
Coloane
Coloane is one of the two main islands of the Macau Special Administrative Region, located directly south of Macau's other main island, Taipa , and east of Hengqin Island of Zhuhai in Guangdong province....
Island only by the Estrada do Istmo (路氹連貫公路); but the area called Cotai
Cotai
Cotai is a 5.2 km2 piece of newly reclaimed land between Taipa and Coloane islands in Macau, that has not yet been assigned to any of the freguesias. The Chinese and Portuguese names are a portmanteau of the two islands, Coloane and Taipa....
, built on reclaimed land from 2004 and which is home to mega-resorts, casinos, and convention and exhibition centers, has now essentially connected the two islands into one piece of land. Taipa is connected to peninsular Macau by Governador Nobre de Carvalho Bridge
Ponte Governador Nobre de Carvalho
Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge , also known as the Macau-Taipa Bridge , is a dual-lane two-way bridge connecting Macau Peninsula near Casino Lisboa and the island of Taipa at the northern slope of Taipa Pequena . It is the first bridge in Macau, to connect the peninsula and Taipa...
, Friendship Bridge
Ponte de Amizade
The Ponte de Amizade is a four-lane, two-way bridge in Macau that connects Macau Peninsula near the Reservatório and Taipa Island at Pac On....
and the Sai Van Bridge
Ponte de Sai Van
Ponte de Sai Van is a cable-stayed bridge in Macau inaugurated on December 19, 2004. The bridge measures long and is the third one that connects Taipa Island and Macau Peninsula...
.
Taipa is predominantly a growing residential area with many new apartment complexes, mostly up-scale, under construction as of 2006. As a new town of Macau, Taipa has better city planning than Macau Peninsula; however, many people choose to live in Macau Peninsula since most of the famous schools are located there.
The names of Taipa
In CantoneseCantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
, Taipa has been known by many names over time, including 龍環 (Lung Waan, meaning "Dragon
Chinese dragon
Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Bhutanese, Western and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs...
Ring"), 雞頸 (Gai Geng, "Chicken's neck"), 潭仔 (Tam Tsai, "Pool"), and 龍頭環 (Lung Tau Waan, "Dragon's-Head Ring").
The Portuguese and English name "Taipa" comes from the Chinese pronunciation of 氹仔 in Min Nan
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
// (similar to "tiamp-a") then became "Taipa".
Another version according to legend, comes from an exchange between early Portuguese settlers on Taipa and local Chinese settlers. The Portuguese asked the Chinese the name (nome in Portuguese) of the place. The Chinese settlers were local grocery shopkeepers and spoke no Portuguese, but took the Portuguese nome for the Chinese 糯米, "sticky rice", which is pronounced similar to nome in Cantonese. Thinking the Portuguese settlers were asking if they sold sticky rice, the Chinese responded with "大把," pronounced "daai ba" in Cantonese, meaning "a lot." The Portuguese, hearing the response, took this to be the name of the place. There is, however, no historical evidence to support this story. "Taipa" is also what the Portuguese call the clay-mud, rammed into moulds, used to build mud houses in Portugal in times gone by, in recent times referred to as Rammed Earth.
It is also worth noting that, as the great majority of the population in Taipa and Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
is Chinese, most people refer to this island by its Cantonese name, "Tamzai", and most taxi drivers and bus drivers will not understand if asked how to go to "Taipa."
Tourism
- Pou Tai Un Temple (菩提園 or 菩提襌院): named after bodhi treeBodhi treeThe Bodhi Tree, also known as Bo , was a large and very old Sacred Fig tree located in Bodh Gaya , under which Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism later known as Gautama Buddha, is said to have achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi...
- Small Kun Yam Temple (觀音岩)
- Tin HauMatsu (goddess)Mazu , also spelt Matsu, is the indigenous goddess of the sea who is said to protect fishermen and sailors, and is invoked as the patron deity of all Southern Chinese and East Asian persons...
Temple (天后宮) - Sam Po Temple (三婆廟): dedicated to the elder sister of Tin Hau
- Pak TaiPak TaiPak Tai is a Taoist god of the North. Many Chinese celebrate his birthday on April 21.-Background:Pak Tai, also named Yuen Tin Sheung Tai , was a prince of the Shang Dynasty. During the fall of the Shang Dynasty, the Demon King ravaged the world...
Temple (北帝廟): dedicated to the Taoist God of the North - Four-faced BuddhaBuddharupaBuddharūpa is the Sanskrit and Pali term used in Buddhism for statues or models of the Buddha.-Commonalities:...
(四面佛): purchased from ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
in 1985 - Church of Our Lady of Carmel (嘉模聖母教堂): CatholicCatholicThe word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
, Taipa belongs to the Nossa Senhora do Carmo ParishParishA parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
(聖嘉模堂區).
Other:
- Rua do CunhaRua do CunhaRua do Cunha is a narrow pedestrian street in Vila da Taipa, the town centre of Taipa island, in the former Portuguese colony of Macau, in the People's Republic of China....
, Taipa Village - Macau Jockey ClubMacau Jockey ClubThe Macau Jockey Club is an organisation providing horse racing and betting entertainment in the former Portuguese colony of Macau, in the People's Republic of China....
- Macau Stadium
- Taipa Houses-MuseumTaipa Houses-MuseumThe Taipa Houses-Museum is housed in a set of old houses on the south side of Taipa, one of the islands that forms part of Macau....
(龍環葡韻住宅式博物館) — Portuguese-styled houses - Taipa Fort (砲台)
- Macau International AirportMacau International Airport- Cargo airlines :The following cargo airlines serve Macau International Airport :*Air Macau*EVA Air Cargo*Shanghai Airlines Cargo*Singapore Airlines Cargo- Other Tenants :* Macau Customs Service...
- University of MacauUniversity of MacauThe University of Macau, ;, established in 1981, was the first and currently the largest university in Macau, a former Portuguese colony. It was formerly known as University of East Asia , and was renamed the University of Macau in 1991. The university offers about 100 Doctoral, Master's and...
- Macau University of Science and TechnologyMacau University of Science and TechnologyThe Macau University of Science and Technology （Portuguese： Universidade de Ciência e Tecnologia de Macau； Traditional Chinese： 澳門科技大學; Simplified Chinese： 澳门科技大学） is located in the Macau S.A.R. on the Cotai Strip opposite the Venetian Macau on Taipa Island, next to the Macau International Airport...
See also
- Taipa Temporary Ferry TerminalTaipa Temporary Ferry TerminalThe Taipa Temporary Ferry Terminal is located in Taipa, Macao SAR. It is currently solely served by Cotai Jet for services from the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Pier, Hong Kong in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong SAR and the Hong Kong China Ferry Terminalin Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.The ferry terminal has two berths...
— served by Cotai JetCotai JetCotai Jet is a company that operates high-speed ferry services between the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. It is one of the three companies operating high-speed ferry services between the two territories - the others being TurboJET, and New World First Ferry...
— operates hydrofoilHydrofoilA hydrofoil is a foil which operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to airfoils.Hydrofoils can be artificial, such as the rudder or keel on a boat, the diving planes on a submarine, a surfboard fin, or occur naturally, as with fish fins, the flippers of aquatic mammals, the...
services to Sheung WanSheung WanSheung Wan is an area in Hong Kong, located in the north-west of Hong Kong Island, between Central and Sai Ying Pun. Administratively, it is part of the Central and Western District...
, Hong Kong SAR