Witnessing blend of culture at Historic Center of Macao

Few places in the world are as multifaceted as Macao, where diverse cultural and ethnic groups co-exist harmoniously in concentrated communities on a land area of slightly over 30 square kilometers.

The Historic Center of Macao, a world heritage site designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), offers a convincing testimony -- it bears witness to one of the earliest and longest-lasting encounters between China and the West.

"With its historic street, residential, religious and public Portuguese and Chinese buildings, the Historic Center of Macao provides a unique testimony to the meeting of aesthetic, cultural, architectural and technological influences from East and West. The site also contains a fortress and a lighthouse, the oldest in China," said the UNESCO.

The narrow and elongated area is dotted with historic buildings, from the A-Ma Temple dedicated to the sea-goddess Mazu, to the Mandarin's House -- the former residence of a prominent Chinese historical figure, and the landmark Ruins of St. Paul's, once among the largest Catholic churches in the Far East.

From Mazu and Jesus to the Buddha, their followers may live next door to each other, and their sacred worshiping spaces may be visible within sight.

Macao has become a world-renowned tourism destination, where Eastern and Western cultures have co-existed for over 400 years.

Today, Macao, as a Special Administrative Region of China, has taken on a new look with various street decorations in the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the region's return to China on December 20, 1999.

Witnessing blend of culture at Historic Center of Macao

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight