Macao - Topographics Author:Philippe Pons A former Portuguese-administered enclave on the Chinese coast, Macao became a meeting point of cultures drawn from many parts of the world. A flourishing trade turned it into a rich warehouse, where more goods were traded than anywhere else. But Macao has also been a place of debauchery, with gambling dives, opium dens, pleasure houses, and an a... more »stonishingly successful smuggling industry. In this evocative text, Pons describes both Macao_s colorful past and the dramatic changes the 20th-century has seen, revealing its charms yet lamenting the passing of an era.Philippe Pons is the Tokyo correspondent for Le Monde. He is the author of many books, including From Edo to Tokyo: Memory and Modernity.« less