Taipa

This article is about the area in Macau. For other uses, seeTaipa (disambiguation).

Taipa (Nossa Senhora do Carmo) 氹 tử ( gia mô đường khu )
Area
Aerial view of Taipa
Taipa (Nossa Senhora do Carmo) Location in Macau
Coordinates:22°9′35″N113°33′34″E
Country	China
SAR	Macau
Freguesia	Freguesia de Nossa Senhora do Carmo
Area
• Total	7.9 km2(3.1 sq mi)
Population (2021)
• Total	112,051
• Density	14,000/km2(37,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+8(Macau Standard)

Taipa
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	氹 tử
Simplified Chinese	氹 tử
Jyutping	Tam5zai2
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dàngzǎi IPA [tâŋtsàɪ] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Táhmjái Jyutping Tam5zai2 IPA [tɐ̬mtsɐ̌i] Southern Min HokkienPOJ tiap á tó
Portuguese name
Portuguese	Taipa

Ponte de Amizade(Friendship Bridge) from theMacau Peninsula(left) to the Taipa Island (right),Macau

Taipa(Chinese:氹 tử,Cantonese:[tʰɐ̌m.t͡sɐ̌i̯];Portuguese:Taipa,pronounced[ˈtajpɐ]) is an area inMacau,connected toColoanethrough the area known asCotai,which is largely built from reclaimed land. Located on the northern half of the island, Taipa’s population is mostly suburban. Administratively, the boundaries of the traditionalcivil parishFreguesia de Nossa Senhora do Carmoare mostly coterminous with that of the former Taipa Island, except for a portion of the parish that lies on the island ofHengqin(Montanha), housing the campus of theUniversity of Macau.

Geography

Taipa is 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) south of theMacau Peninsulaand east of the island ofHengqin,which forms a part of the adjacent Chinese city ofZhuhai.TheMacau International Airport,University of Macau,Macau Jockey ClubandMacau Stadiumare all located in Taipa.

• Area:7.9 square kilometres (3.1 sq mi)
• Population:112,051+ (2021)

Map of Macau and its vicinity in 1912. Taipa was two islands.

Map of Macau and its vicinity in 1936

Taipa’s geography is dominated by the presence of two hills to the east and west that tower over central Taipa. The 159.1-metre (522.0-foot)Taipa Grande Hill(Đại đàm sơn,Colina da Taipa Grande) lies to the east, andTaipa Pequena Hill(Tiểu đàm sơn,Colina da Taipa Pequena) the west. This is because originally Taipa consisted of two islands with a hilly terrain - Greater Taipa and Lesser Taipa. As a result ofsiltationandland reclamation,by the mid-20th century central Taipa had formed, which is largely made up of flat terrain, turning Taipa into one island.

Initially, Taipa was connected toColoaneonly by theEstrada do Istmo(Lộ 氹 liên quán công lộ) causeway, opened in 1969, but starting in the 1990s, land reclamation efforts created a new area,Cotai,and which is home to mega-resorts, casinos, and convention and exhibition centres, and has turned Taipa, Cotai and Coloane all into one island. Taipa is connected to the Macau Peninsula by theGovernador Nobre de Carvalho Bridge,Friendship Bridgeand theSai Van Bridge.

Taipa is an urbanised, suburban area primarily home to housing, with several housing complexes, which are mostly upscale. As anew townof Macau, Taipa has better city planning than theMacau Peninsula,with wide streets set around a grid system, however Macau has historically centred around the peninsula and some choose to live on the Macau Peninsula because most famous schools are there.

In 2015 the body of the Director General of Macao Customs Service,Lai Minhua,was found in the district.

History

Originally an island pair on the southern end of thePraia Grande,Taipa was first settled byHokkien-speaking fishermen around 800 years ago.Most Chinese settlement of Taipa occurred during theSouthern Song Dynasty.In 1847, encouraged by theGovernorshipofJoão Maria Ferreira do Amaral,who sought to expandPortugal’sinfluence overMacauand affirm its sovereignty, Lesser Taipa was annexed by the Portuguese, constructing Taipa Fortress upon the command of Pedro Jose da Silva Loureiro to combat marine outlaws and protect Macau against the attack of pirates. By 1851, Portugal had also annexed Greater Taipa. These annexations formed part of a wider project by Portugal to turn Macau into a fully-fledgedcolonyand expanding the colony’s area to include Taipa,Ilha Verde,Coloane and portions ofHengqin(Montanha). The annexation also aimed to resolve the problem of the divided harbour on the Peninsula and provide land, water supply and protection for the port.

Taipa’s main industry historically was fishing, with a prominent harbour where fishermen congregated. In 1923, Taipa saw its first firecracker factory open, which encouraged a boom in the firecracker industry in Taipa, especially as colonial officials limited firecracker factories on the Peninsula because of safety concerns following an accident in 1925 that killed 100 people.Many firecracker factories opened, which encouraged people to flock to the island. By 1969, as the Portuguese colonial government sought to improve Macau’s infrastructure, a causeway (Estrada do Istmo) opened connecting Taipa to Coloane, and in 1974 Taipa got its first connection to the Macau Peninsula, the Governador Nobre de Carvalho Bridge, named after the city’s governor between 1966 and 1974. Taipa’s population, like Coloane, began to expand significantly as better infrastructure was built, increasing from originally 3,000 residents. By the mid-1980s, the firecracker industry in Taipa had declined and the last factory closed in 1984. Starting in the 1990s, Taipa’s old village developed as a tourist destination as its Portuguese architecture attracted tourists and further infrastructure was constructed on the island, including the opening of the Macau International Airport in 1995.

The names of Taipa

InCantonese,Taipa has been known by many names over time, includingLong hoàn(Lung Waan,meaning "DragonRing "),Kê cảnh(Gai Geng,"Chicken's neck" ),Đàm tử(Taam Jai,"Pool" ), andLong đầu hoàn(Lung Tau Waan,"Dragon's-Head Ring" ).

The Portuguese name "Taipa" comes from the Chinese pronunciation of氹 tửinMin Nan/tiap-á/ (similar to "tiamp-a" ) then became "Taipa". ThePutonghuapinyinfor氹 tửisdàngzǎi,and this is how the island is referred to in Mandarin. Both the character氹and the alternative form đãng mean cesspit, but are obsolete in modern Chinese, and only used in relation to Taipa and the Macau-Taipa Bridge (Úc 氹 đại kiềuàodàng dàqiáo). The character氹,orĐãng(often used in Mainland Chinese texts), is often missing from mobile phone and computer input systems.

Another origin of the name, according to local legend, comes from an exchange between early Portuguese settlers on Taipa and the local Chinese. The Portuguese asked the Chinese the name (nomein Portuguese) of the place. The Chinese settlers were local grocery shopkeepers and spoke no Portuguese, but took the Portuguesenomefor the ChineseNhu mễ,"sticky rice", which is pronounced similar tonomein Cantonese. Thinking the Portuguese settlers were asking if they sold sticky rice, the Chinese responded with "Đại bả",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.

Education

Escola Luso-Chinesa da Taipa (氹 tử trung bồ học giáo)

Primary and secondary schools

Public preschool and primary school include:

• Escola Luso-Chinesa da Taipa (氹 tử trung bồ học giáo) – Preschool and primary school

Private tuition-free primary and secondary schools:

• Macau Anglican College– Preschool through secondary
• Escola Cáritas de Macau (Minh ái học giáo) – Special education
• Escola Dom João Paulino– Preschool and primary school
• Fong Chong School of Taipa(Escola Fong Chong da Taipa;氹 tử phường chúng học giáo) – Preschool through senior secondary school
• Hou Kong Middle School MacauAffiliated English School (Hào giang trung học phụ chúc anh tài học giáo)
• Macau Pooi To Middle SchoolTaipa Elementary School Branch (Úc bồi đạo trung học 氹 tử tiểu học phân giáo)
• Pui Va Middle School(Escola Secundária Pui Va;Bồi hoa trung học) – Preschool through secondary school
• Affiliated School of the University of Macau(Escola de Aplicação Anexa à Universidade de Macau;Úc môn đại học phụ chúc ứng dụng học giáo) – Preschool through secondary

Private non-free primary and secondary schools:

• The International School of Macao– Located in Block K inside theMacau University of Science and Technology– Preschool through secondary
• School of the Nations( liên quốc học giáo; Escola das Nações) – Preschool through secondary with special education

Colleges and universities

TheMacau University of Science and Technology(MUST),Macao University of Tourism,andCity University of Macauare located in Taipa.University of Macau(UM), onHengqin Island,which is part of Taipa (Nossa Senhora do Carmo), but geographically separate from Taipa.

Public library

Taipa has one public library operated by theMacao Public Librarysystem. Taipa Library (Biblioteca da Taipa;氹 tử đồ thư quán), which began trial operations on 15 April 2015 and opened officially on 1 September of that year, occupies 2,200 square feet (200 m²) of space in the basement of Taipa Central Park (Parque Central da Taipa;氹 tử trung ương công viên). Previously, the area was also served by another public library: the Wong Ieng Kuan Library in Taipa (Biblioteca de Wong Ieng Kuan da Taipa;氹 tử hoàng doanh quân đồ thư quán). The library, which opened in January 2005, occupied 1,080 square metres (11,600 sq ft) of space on the second and third floors of Hei Loi Tang Plaza (Hỉ lai đăng quảng tràng). Its construction was funded with donations from the Wong Ieng Kuan Foundation (Fundação Wong Ieng Kuan;Hoàng doanh quân cơ kim hội).The Wong Ieng Kuan Library in Taipa closed on 1 January 2022.

• 
  Wong Ieng Kuan Library in Taipa (2005–2022)
• 
  Taipa Library

Infrastructures

• Macau Refuse Incineration Plant

Transport

• Macau International Airport
• Taipa Ferry Terminal
• Macau Light Rail Transit

Healthcare

Health centres operated by the Macau government in Taipa include Centro de Saúde dos Jardins do Oceano (Hải dương hoa viên vệ sinh trung tâm), Centro de Saúde Nossa Senhora do Carmo-Lago (Hồ bạn gia mô vệ sinh trung tâm), and Posto de Saúde para os Idosos Taipa (氹 tử lão nhân bảo kiện trạm).

Other healthcare services include:

• Macau University of Science and Technology Hospital
• Posto de Urgência das Ilhas
• Kiang Wu HospitalTaipa Medical Centre

Tourism

View of the Old bridge at night

Taipa Central Park

• Altira Macau
• Cunha Street
• Macau Olympic Aquatic Centre
• Macau Stadium
• Museum of Taipa and Coloane History
• Taipa Houses–Museum
• Macau Jockey Club
• Taipa Fortress(Pháo đài)

Religious

• Pou Tai Un Temple (Bồ đề viênorBồ đề đan viện): named afterbodhi tree
• Kun YamTemple (Quan âm nham)
• Tin HauTemple (Thiên hậu cung)
• Sam PoTemple (Tam bà miếu): dedicated to the elder sister of Tin Hau
• Pak TaiTemple (Bắc đế miếu): dedicated to the Taoist God of the North
• Four-facedBuddha(Tứ diện phật): invited fromThailandin 1985
• Church of Our Lady of Carmel(Gia mô thánh mẫu giáo đường):Catholicchurch

See also

• Taipa Ferry Terminal
• List of islands and peninsulas of Macau

External links

Media related toTaipaat Wikimedia Commons Taipatravel guide from Wikivoyage

• Heritage on Taipa
• Satellite image of Taipa by Google Maps