139
same pattern, nothing has disturbed it in three hundred years. Reclamation can be observed. The harbour front has been increased, a natural act of a trading station investing in improved trans-shipment facilities. Quays have replaced shallow waterfront. This also opens up the northern edge of the city to fulfil a function similar to the Praia Grande, the place to stroll and be seen, the place to meet and conduct business and exchanges. Waterfront edges such as the Praia in Macau or Shanghai's Bund are important in coastal trading towns throughout the world and common in colonial developments in Asia.
Figure 2: 1898
Although we are examining patterns of urban development, we should note that the houses along the Praia Grande are an ingenious and significant assimilation of two cultures, echoing the underlying dual nature of Macau. The facades are purely European reconstituted renaissance style using columns of the grand orders. These facades, however, hide buildings of purely Chinese plan internally, consisting of central courtyards flanked by buildings axially and symmetrically. The central position is occupied by the main hall, the parent's quarters and the elder son's quarters. As you penetrate further back, you reach lesser members of the family. To the sides lie the service spaces. The public face, however, reflects the European order - the organic walled city, not the highly ordered Chinese walled city.
Twentieth Century
It is in this century that significant and substantial changes begin to be made to Macau. By 1912 (Brito 1962), we see further expansion of the harbour. By this time, Hong Kong had been established and was a serious rival for the coastal trade in southern China. The harbour facilities in Hong Kong were better - a deeper draught, a more sheltered harbour. Major trading houses had started to establish their headquarters in Hong Kong and Macau was in need of better facilities to compete. Macau's first venture into heavy industry can be seen on Ilha Verde (Green Island) which was connected to the shore by a causeway and on which a cement production plant was established in 1889.