MACAU (AP) -- Jubilant Chinese lighted fireworks and partied in the streets as Portugal handed this tiny gambling enclave back to China at midnight Sunday, bringing Western colonialism in Asia to a close.
Many Portuguese were weeping early Monday as Chinese President Jiang Zemin extended "our cordial greetings and good wishes to the Macau compatriots who are returning to the embrace of the motherland."Portugal has long been finished as a world power and now plays a minor role even within Europe, but Jiang made it clear an ascendent China is not through regaining old territory.
Jiang's next target is Taiwan, which for 50 years has been governed separately, although Beijing still claims sovereignty over the island.
A translucent building constructed just for the handover lighted the skies with shades of green as Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio bid farewell to Macau after 442 years under Lisbon's control. It then turned bright red as China took over. Within two hours, a new government was in control, led by Macau banker Edmund Ho, who was favored by Beijing.
Chinese, who make up the vast majority of Macau's 430,000 people, gathered by the thousands in the streets and Mediterranean-style squares left behind by Portugal, cheering and waving red Chinese flags and the new green and white Macau flag.
"We're happy that at last we don't have to be ruled by foreigners," said Wong Sio-cho, a taxi driver who turned out with his 3-year-old son, Ka Fung, in tow.
In the historic Leal Senado Square, a crowd roared approval as the Chinese anthem played over a sound system broadcasting the handover ceremony. Minutes later, workers in the square hoisted a piece of plastic bearing a Macau emblem to cover up an old Portuguese insignia.
"This is the beginning of a new era," proclaimed Andy Ma, a 29-year-old bank clerk. "This means hope, and I hope things will turn out better."
In Beijing, 30,000 carefully selected officials and citizens packed Tiananmen Square in subfreezing temperatures for a midnight gala of dancing, singing, cymbal-clashing and drum-bashing. Counting in time with a giant clock overlooking the square, the crowd yelled out the seconds to the handover and erupted with applause and screams when it hit zero.
"With Macau back, our country is stronger and our position in the world is becoming more prominent," said Zhang Weiwei, a medical student.
In Macau, speaking on soil that had been Chinese for just minutes, Jiang said early Monday that China has "successfully resolved the issues of Hong Kong and Macau" and now seeks "an early settlement of the Taiwan question and the complete national reunification."
Sampaio appeared misty-eyed after vowing solidarity with Macau, the first established meeting point for peoples from the Far East and the West.
The Portuguese say they've left a proud legacy, although many Chinese just wanted them to leave. Local Chinese blame years of mismanagement for letting Macau deteriorate into a haven for mobsters who have shot up the streets as they fight a vicious turf war over their take of the case from the casinos that are Macau's main industry.
On Monday, China brings in troops, which many citizens hope will serve as a deterrent to the triad gangs blamed for assassinating at least 37 people this year.
Sampaio said he understands the local sentiment but insisted his generation of Portuguese leaders did a credible job of dismantling the remnants of an empire they inherited but did not want.
ASSOCIATED PRESS