The Church in Macau

Ray Bakke on the Church in Macau from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

Ray Bakke, Chancellor of Bakke Graduate University, gave this overview of the Church in Macau, China, during China Overture on location in Macau.

Smaller than Hong Kong, Macau has nevertheless become the Las Vegas of China. The government benefits from a healthy 70% tax on the casinos. The port of Macau aspires to be the Monte Carlo of Asia, complete with a Le Man’s look-a-like race control tower. It comes close. The bridges that seem to span the horizon link Macau to Taipa.

There are also 12 universities here, including a tourism college, funded from gambling profits. Nobody complains. Chinese students are allowed to study here (unlike Hong Kong which is still kept at arms length for fear (rightly) of corrupting the youth). Macau is becoming a training centre for Chinese leaders. Campus Crusade for Christ has a strong presence here. Lunch is in the University of Macau student union and it brings back vivid (bad) memories of my own long forgotten student days.  We soon regret it.

In presentations later that afternoon, we learn a lot about life in China and the contrast between rural and urban life. China is now a mix of socialist constitutionalism and relatively free market capitalism. There are, for example, 50 different airlines in China competing with each other. With a population of over 1 billion, there are only 78 million Communist party members and most are government workers (who have to be members). There are a further 35 million members of the Communist Youth League. There are, however, estimated to be over 100 million religious believers which includes Buddhists and Islam, so China is hardly a secular state.

In the early evening we visit a casino – we are told - in order to observe and make notes on how business is conducted, who are the clientele and staff. The casino is one of several Disney castle-like structures that fight with each other for height, luminosity, gravity defying design and general gaudiness. The Venetian, the one we are dropped off at, is actually a giant multi-story shopping mall with various casinos thrown in. A map is essential. GPS would be nice. Apparently extra oxygen is pumped in to minimise tiredness to shoppers and gamblers. The whole place is bathed in artificial light to simulate daylight so that gamblers will lose any sense of the time. Even the ceilings are painted blue to look like the sky. I withstand the temptation to have a flutter but lose all track of time and nearly miss the bus home. I get some amazingly surreal  photos of mock Venetian canals and real gondoliers. This is the ultimate in virtual reality.