evidence: No. Macau is a Special Administrative Region (MSAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). On December 20, 1999, Macau ended its history of some four and a half centuries of Portuguese colonial rule. It then began a new era following in the footsteps of its sister city Hong Kong (HKSAR), whose sovereignty was returned to China in mid-1997 two years prior. [...] Technically, no. Macau began as a tiny peninsula with two adjoining islands on the southern coast of China. Macau and China share a border to the north, where the territory crosses over to the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai. During the turn of the 21st Century, the little territory of 450,000 people expanded in size through land reclamation. It grew in area from 10.28 sq km (3.97 sq miles) to 32.9 sq km (12.7 sq mi). [...] It’s "Macau" in colloquial English and Portuguese, official Macau languages. However, its official name uses the old Portuguese spelling "Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China".