The following are the excerpts of the first report written by Our Staff Reporters Zhou Qing, Zhao Jingan and Zheng Degang to greet Macao's return.

These few days, the image of swallow as a mascot symbolizing Macao's return can be seen everywhere in shops along Macao's streets.

The swallow is home-coming, and gala celebrations are imminent.

Macao had tasted bitterness and humiliation to the full but it is a splendid and charming land. Its return is the necessity of history. Our compatriots here are greeting a brand-new era.

The Gongbei Customs House of Zhuhai City is opened at 7:00 am till 24:00 at midnight, with the annual number of passengers coming and leaving exceeding 28 million, thus making it the country's second continental port.

Macao consists of two opposite hills-Nantai and Beitai (present-day Dongwangyang Hill and Xiwangyang Hill), which look like two gates of a seaport, hence its name Macao.

Macao has been Chinese territory since the ancient times. According to archaeological excavations in 1972-95, cultural relics of the Neolithic Age were found in Heishatan Beach and Zhuwan Bay of Colonane (Luhuan) Island affiliated to Macao. The reporters saw these cultural relics in Macao Museum, which, together with Zhuhai's cultural relics in the museum, belongs to the same cultural system of the Pearl River Delta.

Macao has always been the Chinese territory, it was under Panyu County, Nanhai Prefecture during the Qin Dynasty and later, in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was under Xiangshan County.

On November 14, these reporters made a special trip to the Sijiao (rectangular) Stone Pavilion of Lianfeng Temple on the peninsula, it is the final evidence of the Qing government who exercised effective administration over Macao. In the pavilion, Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu of the Qing government once summoned the Portuguese official in Macao, demanding that they must behave themselves and abide by Chinese law, and must not hoard opium and shield wicked foreigners. The Portuguese official expressed his willingness to abide by Chinese laws and decrees. When Lin Zexu arrived on an inspection tour of Macao, local Chinese lined the street to give him a cheerful welcome, and the Macao Fort sounded 19 gun salute.

However, the Opium War broken out in 1840 changed China's fate as well as the destiny of Macao. The Portuguese who lived in Macao on a lease took advantage of the opportunity to forcibly occupy Macao. In November 1845, Portugal declared Macao as a free port without authorization, and ceased to pay land rent. Portugal forcibly occupied Taipa (Dangzi) and Colonane (Luhuan) islands south of Macao respectively in 1851 and 1864.

As a result of Portuguese occupation of this part of Chinese territory by setting up a gate or pass, local people who were originally members of the same family inside and outside the gate were separated into two worlds.

The Portuguese presence in Macao can be divided into four stages: residing there by borrowing, on a lease, by force, and trusteeship after 1974. The sovereignty over Macao, however, has always belonged to China. No matter where the Portuguese built the gate, the areas inside and outside the gate are both sacred Chinese territory.

The home-coming of Macao is the expectation of the Macao compatriots, but this can be turned into reality only after the motherland becomes prosperous and powerful.

The foot fall of Macao's return is rapid and forceful, and the final color of colonial rule will soon disappear.

"Taking a look at Macao's history, we find that the governors of Macao, from their appointment to exercise of colonial rule, they simply gave no heed to the Macao people, and of course there was no democracy to speak of. This situation is categorically different from the election of the executive," said Wu Jianfan, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the election of the First Chief Executive of Macao itself is a democratic process. Edmund Ho Hou Wah has lived up to the expectations of the public. Under his auspices, the organization of the administrative, legislative and judicial departments of the Macao Special Administration Region has been completed smoothly.

Thanks to the friendly cooperation between the Chinese and Portuguese governments and to the intense work of the Sino-Portuguese Joint Liaison Group, the three major issues-the localization of public servants and of law and the official status of the Chinese language during the transition period have basically been solved.

When the reporters visited the Peninsula of Macao, the Dangzi and Luhuan islands, everywhere they went, they saw magnificent marine reclamation land projects, many earth and stones from the hinterland have been fused with the land here. Near the side of the sea of the island's new port area, the great hall where the power hand-over ceremony will be held is built on the marine reclamation land. It is a symbol-the entire new port is a piece of reclamation land. Over the past 20 years, there have been one upsurge of marine reclamation land after another, as a result, the area of land has grown more than double, rising from 10.94 square km in 1910 to 23.5 square km, the high-rise buildings were constructed with stones and sand from the motherland. Today, more than 1,200 tons of sand, stone, mud and bricks enter Macao everyday via Zhuhai's Gongbei port, the figure has reached 1.39 million tons since 1997, and it was 217,000 tons in the first half of this year. At present, the Macao International Airport has been built on the new land, the Nanhuwan Project, the Bank of China Building and other huge projects have combined to generate a modernized international metropolis.

On December 10, the Lianhua (Lotus) Bridge that links Zhuhai's Hengqin Island with Macao's Luhuan and Dangzi New Marine Reclamation Land Area has opened to traffic, thereby connecting the land area of Luhuan and Dangzi island with the inland of the motherland.

The Haojiang River water which flows under the Lotus Bridge slowly into the sea was once the source of fresh water for Macao, but later due to pollution, the pumping station for potable water had been closed in 1980, so drinking water for Macao people has relied solely on supply from the inland of the motherland. In Wanzi within Zhuhai City, the reporters saw Macao's water supply system, which supplies Macao with 160,000 tons of fresh water through two pipelines. Over the past decades, Zhuhai has put in 500 million yuan to channel 800 million tons continuously into Haojiang, which thus becomes the source of life for Macao.

The hinterland is the strong backing of Macao, the industrial and commercial people of Macao have a strong feeling about this.

Macao businessmen have been enthusiastically investing in the hinterland and have thus played an active role in China's opening to the outside world. According to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, by the end of August this year, the hinterland had attracted 6,311 projects set up with direct Macao investment, with contracted value standing at US$9.149 billion, and the actually invested amount at US$3.515 billion. At the same time, the hinterland currently is also Macao's first import source and fourth export market. Over the past 20 years, by displaying its own superiority and benefiting from the hinterland's reform and opening drive, Macao has scored enormous achievements in its economic development. In 1998, per-capita GDP of Macao people came to US$16,408, ranking at the middle level in the world's 54 mini economic entities.

Since the beginning of the transition period, educational and cultural exchanges between Macao and the hinterland has been developing increasingly in-depth. Zhuhai's Gongbei Primary School has set up two Macao classes, inland universities' enrollment of students from Macao has been increasing year by year, in the past two years, the number of students enrolled from Macao has both exceeded 1,000 people. There have been unceasing performances staged by cultural and artistic troupes from the hinterland.

The reporters' interviews with people in the political, economic, journalist and educational circles have left a profound impression on them: Macao compatriots hope that the sooner Macao returns to the motherland, the better, after its return it will rely on the motherland to develop its economy and ensure good social order. Reunification is a great, lasting cause. The Chinese government led by the Communist Party of China has worked hard for the return of Hong Kong, and the home-coming of Macao. This effort may comfort our ancestors, inspire our contemporaries and make it clear to our descendants: No one can hold up the steps of the reunification of the motherland.