HONG KONG — While anti-government protests have raged in Hong Kong for five months, a mere hour's ferry ride away in the neighboring city of Macau – another semi-autonomous region in China – the picture couldn't be more different. There are no violent clashes between protesters and police, no clouds of tear gas permeating the air. In fact, there are no protests at all.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, and Macau, a former colony of Portugal, are neighboring cities and sister special administrative regions of China. Both returned to Chinese rule some 20 years ago under a "one country, two systems" arrangement that allows freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, but that's where the similarities largely end.

Macau continues to strengthen ties with the mainland and is politically relatively calm, whereas Hong Kong is waging an ongoing campaign for democratic reforms and greater autonomy. In the eyes of many Macau residents, the chance of Hong Kong's unrest inspiring a similar uprising in Macau is next to none.

"It's very unlikely," says Ieong Meng U, assistant professor of government and public administration at the University of Macau. "Democratization is not the main theme in Macau's political development as like in the case of Hong Kong."

In general, residents of Macau – Europe's last colony in Asia – are less willing to rock the boat than their neighbors in Hong Kong. At only 12 square miles and with a population of around 670,000, less than 10% of Hong Kong's, Macau is smaller and more economically reliant on mainland China. Often dubbed the "Las Vegas of China" for its booming casino industry, casino taxes account for 80% of Macau's economy. Of the 35 million tourists that visited the city's casinos in 2018, more than 70% were from mainland China.

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"Macau's economy is too dependent on China," says Jason Chao, one of a handful of outspoken democracy and human rights activists from Macau. "Most Macau people are overly reliant on the established economic order."

Chao believes that protesting would be too risky for residents, especially casino workers, who have managed to make a living in Macau but who don't have the skills to find employment elsewhere.

"Too few would have the skills to have the same level of income in neighboring cities," he says. "Going against China means going against their livelihood."

In addition to being economically tied to China, the special administrative region also has cultural ties to the mainland. Nearly half of all Macau residents were born in mainland China. This is one of the reasons, experts say, why Macau has stronger patriotic sentiments than Hong Kong.

"With more mainland immigrants than Hong Kong, emotional and identity attachment to mainland China in Macau is strong, much stronger than Hong Kong," says political commentator Sonny Lo Shiu Hing. "It's also the reason why, unlike Hong Kong, Macau society doesn't have a strong local identity and lacks the mechanism to mobilize large-scale protest."

History also plays its part. After protests in 1966, Portugal decided to relinquish administrative control of Macau, and local Chinese elites exerted de facto power in Macau until the 1999 handover back to Chinese sovereignty. As part of the handover deal, like Hong Kong, Macau was promised a 50-year grace period where it would retain its capitalist economic system and people's rights and freedoms under a special "one country, two systems" arrangement, set to expire in 2049. (Things played out differently in Hong Kong, where the British were effectively in charge until the handover in 1997.)

"After the riots in 1966, the Portuguese, in general, loosened their grip over the city and Macau became increasingly more like China as communist organizations emerged one after the other," says Catherine Chan, an assistant professor of history at the University of Macau. "Britain, however, tried to prevent communism from spreading in Hong Kong and certainly did not want to give up Hong Kong."

Macau's quiet assimilation hasn't gone unnoticed by the mainland. This September, at a meeting with Ho Iat Seng, Macau's chief executive-elect, who was chosen by a 400-member pro-Beijing committee, China's president Xi Jinping praised Macau for successfully implementing the "one country, two systems" principle, saying the city has proved that it is "feasible and workable." No such praise has been afforded to Hong Kong.

However, despite China's assertion of its success in Macau, there are increasing concerns that the "one country, two systems" principle, and the freedoms and autonomy promised to Macau under that arrangement, are wearing away .

Freedom of assembly has been crucially limited in political matters; protests are often forbidden. There is a free press in English and Portuguese language media, but Chinese press is nearly all pro-Beijing. Freedom of expression is increasingly under attack: Requests this September by activists in Macau to hold protests against police brutality in Hong Kong were swiftly rejected by police. A further appeal by activists against the protest ban was rejected by Macau's highest court . In October, two Macau students were arrested for putting up posters and placards in support of Hong Kong.

"Macau's freedoms are being eroded in a less noticeable, but more severe manner than in Hong Kong and it goes uncontested," says Macau-based lawyer Jorge Menezes. "Freedom of expression has become more limited. Academics seem only free to speak in support of the government. The Bar Association is behaving like a pro-government agency. Businesspeople have no civic participation at all; they bend servilely to the authorities."

There is some evidence that minds are changing. Some youth have crossed the border to join the protests in Hong Kong, and others have staged small protests in Macau calling for free and fair elections of the city's leader and all members of the legislative assembly. But in general, the lack of significant engagement in everyday politics shows that democratization isn't a high priority, experts say.