Home is where the heart is for Macao's Portuguese

MACAO: Leonel Alberto Alves, legislator and member of the Executive Council of Macao special administrative region, is sure he made the right decisions when he stayed on after the handover on Dec 20, 1999, and when he followed that up by becoming a Chinese citizen in 2004.

As a so-called Macaense - a person born in Macao of Portuguese ancestry - he was part of a community of 20,000 that wrestled with what to do 10 years ago when the Portuguese enclave returned to the embrace of China.

"It was not uncommon for family members to argue over the dinner table as to whether to stay or go back to Portugal," Alves said. "The issue is all about cultural identity. We were not culturally prepared (to be part of China)."