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Nossa Senhora do Carmo (Taipa) 嘉模堂區（氹仔） Our Lady of Carmel
Freguesia
Macau International Airport
Freguesia de Nossa Senhora do Carmo in Macau
Coordinates: 22°9′35″N 113°33′34″E / 22.15972°N 113.55944°E / 22.15972; 113.55944Coordinates: 22°9′35″N 113°33′34″E / 22.15972°N 113.55944°E / 22.15972; 113.55944
Country	Macau
Region	Municipality of das Ilhas
Area
• Total	7.6 km2 (2.9 sq mi)
Population (2013)
• Total	92,200
• Density	12,000/km2 (31,000/sq mi)
Time zone	Macau Standard (UTC+8)
Area code(s)	0

Ponte de Amizade (Friendship Bridge) from the Macau Peninsula (left) to the Taipa Island (right), Macau

Taipa (Chinese: 氹仔, Cantonese: [tʰɐ̌m.t͡sɐ̌i̯]; Portuguese: Taipa, pronounced [ˈtajpɐ]) is an island in Macau, presently united by an artificial landfill to the island of Coloane. Administratively, Taipa constitutes a freguesia (civil parish) named Freguesia de Nossa Senhora do Carmo.

Geography

Taipa is 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) from Macau Peninsula and east of the Lesser Hengqin Island of Zhuhai, Guangdong Province. Macau International Airport, University of Macau, Macau Jockey Club and Macau Stadium are situated in Taipa.

• 
  Area: 6.33 square kilometres (2.44 sq mi) (1.5 by 3.5 kilometres (0.93 by 2.17 miles))


• 
  Population: 70,000

Most Chinese settlement of Taipa occurred during the Southern Song Dynasty, while the Portuguese occupied the island in 1851. Prior to land reclamation, Taipa consisted of two islands: Greater Taipa and Lesser Taipa.

The 159.1-metre (522.0-foot) Taipa Grande Hill (大潭山) is to the east, and Taipa Pequena Hill (小潭山) to the west. Central Taipa is a plain as a result of siltation and land reclamation. Initially Taipa was connected to Coloane Island only by the Estrada do Istmo (路氹連貫公路); but the area called Cotai, built on reclaimed land from 2004 and which is home to mega-resorts, casinos, and convention and exhibition centres, has now connected the two islands into one piece of land. Taipa is connected to peninsular Macau by Governador Nobre de Carvalho Bridge, Friendship Bridge and the Sai Van Bridge.

Taipa is predominantly a growing residential area with many new apartment complexes, mostly up-scale, under construction as of 2006^[update]. As a new town of Macau, Taipa has better city planning than Macau Peninsula; however, many people choose to live in Macau Peninsula since most of the famous schools are located there.^{[citation needed]}

The names of Taipa

In Cantonese, Taipa has been known by many names over time, including 龍環 (Lung Waan, meaning "Dragon Ring"), 雞頸 (Gai Geng, "Chicken's neck"), 潭仔 (Taam Jai, "Pool"), and 龍頭環 (Lung Tau Waan, "Dragon's-Head Ring").

The Portuguese and English name "Taipa" comes from the Chinese pronunciation of 氹仔 in Min Nan /tiap-á/ (similar to "tiamp-a") then became "Taipa"^{[citation needed]}. The putonghua pinyin for 氹仔 is dàngzǎi, and this is how the island is referred to in Mandarin. Both the character 氹 and the alternative form 凼 mean cesspit, but are obsolete in modern Chinese, and only used in relation to Taipa and the Macau-Taipa Bridge (澳氹大桥 àodàng dàqiáo). The character 氹, or 凼 (often used in Mainland Chinese texts), is often missing from mobile phone and computer input systems.

Another version according to legend, comes from an exchange between early Portuguese settlers on Taipa and local Chinese settlers. The Portuguese asked the Chinese the name (nome in Portuguese) of the place. The Chinese settlers were local grocery shopkeepers and spoke no Portuguese, but took the Portuguese nome for the Chinese 糯米, "sticky rice", which is pronounced similar to nome in Cantonese. Thinking the Portuguese settlers were asking if they sold sticky rice, the Chinese responded with "大把," pronounced "daai ba" in Cantonese, meaning "a lot." The Portuguese, hearing the response, took this to be the name of the place. There is, however, no historical evidence to support this story. "Taipa" is also what the Portuguese call the clay-mud, rammed into moulds, used to build mud houses in Portugal in times gone by, in recent times referred to as Rammed Earth.

It is also worth noting that, as the great majority of the population in Taipa and Macau is Chinese, however there is a growing community of expatriates living in Taipa who work at the Casinos on the Cotai Strip. Most people refer to this island by its Cantonese name, "Tamzai", and most taxi drivers and bus drivers will not understand if asked how to go to "Taipa."

Education

Escola Luso-Chinesa da Taipa (氹仔中葡學校)

Primary and secondary schools

Public preschool and primary school:

• Escola Luso-Chinesa da Taipa (氹仔中葡學校) - Preschool and primary school^[1]

Private tuition-free primary and secondary schools:

• 
  Macau Anglican College - Preschool through secondary^[2]


• Escola Cáritas de Macau (明愛學校) - Special education^[3]


• 
  Escola Dom João Paulino - Preschool and primary school^[4]


• 
  Fong Chong School of Taipa^[5] (Escola Fong Chong da Taipa; 氹仔坊眾學校) - Preschool through senior secondary school^[6]


• 
  Hou Kong Middle School Macau Affiliated English School (濠江中學附屬英才學校)^[7]


• 
  Macau Pooi To Middle School (zh) Taipa Elementary School Branch (澳培道中學氹仔小學分校)^[8]


• 
  Pui Va Middle School (zh)^[9] (Escola Secundária Pui Va; 培華中學) - Preschool through secondary school^[10]


• 
  Macau Sam Yuk Middle School - Primary and secondary school^[11]


• 
  Affiliated School of the University of Macau (zh) (Escola de Aplicação Anexa à Universidade de Macau; 澳門大學附屬應用學校) - Preschool through secondary^[12]

Private non-free primary and secondary schools:

• 
  The International School of Macao - Located in Block K and Q of the Macau University of Science and Technology - Preschool through secondary^[13]


• 
  School of the Nations - Preschool through secondary and special education^[14]

Colleges and universities

Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), Institute for Tourism Studies, and City University of Macau are located in Taipa.^[15][16]University of Macau (UM), on Hengqin Island, which is part of Taipa (Nossa Senhora do Carmo), but geographically separate from Taipa.

Public libraries

The parish has two public libraries operated by the Macao Public Library system. Taipa Library (Biblioteca da Taipa; 氹仔圖書館), which began trial operations on 15 April 2015 and opened officially on 1 September of that year, occupies 2,200 square feet (200 m²) of space in the basement of Taipa Central Park (Parque Central da Taipa; 氹仔中央公園). Wong Ieng Kuan Library in Taipa (Biblioteca de Wong Ieng Kuan da Taipa; 氹仔黃營均圖書館) occupies 1,080 square metres (11,600 sq ft) of space on the second and third floors of Hei Loi Tang Plaza (喜來登廣場). The library, which had its construction funded with donations from the Wong Ieng Kuan Foundation (Fundação Wong Ieng Kuan; 黃營均基金會), opened on January 2005.^[17]

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  Wong Ieng Kuan Library in Taipa
  

  
  

  
  


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  Taipa Library
  

  
  

  
  

Infrastructures

• Macau Refuse Incineration Plant

Transport

• Macau International Airport


• Taipa Ferry Terminal


• 
  Macau Light Rail Transit (opening in 2019)

Healthcare

Health centres operated by the Macau government in Taipa include Centro de Saúde dos Jardins do Oceano (海洋花園衛生中心), Centro de Saúde Nossa Senhora do Carmo-Lago (湖畔嘉模衛生中心), and Posto de Saúde para os Idosos Taipa (氹仔老人保健站).^[18]

Tourism

Night view of the Old bridge

Ponte de Amizade and the HK-Macau Ferry Terminal

• Altira Macau


• Cunha Street


• Macau Olympic Aquatic Centre


• Macau Stadium


• Museum of Taipa and Coloane History


• Taipa Houses–Museum


• Macau Jockey Club


• 
  Taipa Fort (砲台)

Religious

• Pou Tai Un Temple (菩提園 or 菩提襌院): named after bodhi tree
  


• 
  Kun Yam Temple (觀音岩)


• 
  Tin Hau Temple (天后宮)


• 
  Sam Po Temple (三婆廟): dedicated to the elder sister of Tin Hau


• 
  Pak Tai Temple (北帝廟): dedicated to the Taoist God of the North


• Four-faced Buddha (四面佛): purchased from Thailand in 1985


• 
  Church of Our Lady of Carmel (嘉模聖母教堂): Catholic church

Other healthcare services include:

• Macau University of Science and Technology Hospital


• 
  Posto de Urgência das Ilhas^[19]


• 
  Kiang Wu Hospital Taipa Medical Centre

See also

• Taipa Ferry Terminal


• List of islands and peninsulas of Macau

References

External links

Media related to Taipa at Wikimedia Commons
Taipa travel guide from Wikivoyage

• Heritage on Taipa


• Satellite image of Taipa by Google Maps