Much was made of the lack of the kind of rancor between the Portu-guese and Chinese governments that had dogged the relationship between China and Britain.
A lot of hot air was also expended on the importance of maintaining Macau's 450-year-old Portuguese heritage. All this cultural sensitivity only goes so far, how-ever.
Monday morning found all examples of the Portuguese coat of arms on government buildings covered in pink plastic. The new Chinese sovereigns apparently find the shields offensive and are sending gangs of construction workers around this week to chisel them into oblivion.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, LIBERTY TIMES
Since many of these buildings are 300-year-old architectural gems, and the coats of arms are rather large, this is a act of gross cultural vandalism. It has, however, gone largely unnoticed.
Of course, the Chinese view of the handover among themselves has always had a different cast to the public face they shared with the Portuguese. The title of the all-smiles handover on the mainland: "End of the humiliation."
Not that the Portuguese should be surprised by this. In 1987 the two sides signed an agreement under which China would respect Portuguese cultural monuments rather than obliterating them as examples of a shameful past. One of Macau's most prominent statues was that of Joao Maria Ferreira do Amaral, the man who in 1846 repudiated China's right to ground rent and customs duties from Macau, in effect establishing Portugal's sovereignty over Macau. Early in the 1990s the Portuguese found that China thought Amaral's statue was not "of enough cultural distinction" to be preserved under the 1987 agreement. It was removed to Lisbon before the handover.
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