Areia Preta e Iao Hon 黑沙環及祐漢區

History

Areia Preta was a bay until reclamation began in the 1930s. From the 1960s it was planned as an industrial district centred on the Macau power station (澳門發電廠). The place has two officially recognised Chinese names, "黑沙灣" ("black sand bay") and "黑沙環" ("black sand ring"), whose final characters differ only in tone in Cantonese. When the land east of Mong Ha Hill (望廈山) was still a bay, its northern part was called "黑沙灣" and had a pier of that name, while the whole stretch of water was called "黑沙環". In planning for Macau's New Urban Zone (澳門新城區), the reclaimed part is designated the Areia Preta reclamation zone, separate from traditional Areia Preta, the land between Toi San (台山), Mong Ha (望廈) and Iao Hon.

Iao Hon was also reclaimed in the 1930s. The land first served as a racecourse and later as farmland. The district takes its name from Iao Hon New Village (祐漢新邨), a housing estate named after its developer, Youxing Construction (祐興建築), and the developer's investment partner, Li Zhaohan (李昭漢). Many of its blocks are old, some more than fifty years, and in 2020 Macau Urban Renewal Limited (澳門都市更新股份有限公司) began a study of seven of them, with about 2,428 flats, known as the Iao Hon seven-building group (祐漢七棟樓群).

What to see

The largest complex in the district is the Iao Hon Municipal Complex (祐漢市政綜合體), known locally as Iao Hon Market (祐漢街市). Opened in 1994, it holds a fresh market, a cooked-food centre, a community centre and fixed hawker stalls, with basketball and badminton courts on the roof. The square beside it, known as Iao Hon Park, was rebuilt in 2005. In 2024 the Macao Government Tourism Office (旅遊局) used Iao Hon Market Park (祐漢街市公園) as one of the check-in points of its "Staychill Playcool Macao" (酷玩澳門) campaign, which set out to draw visitors into northern neighbourhoods. The Iao Hon Ruyi Square rest area (如意廣場休憩區) was reorganised with a larger children's play area; the work was finished by January 2018.

Highlights

• Iao Hon Market 祐漢街市: A 1994 municipal complex with a fresh market, cooked-food centre and rooftop courts.
• Iao Hon Market Park 祐漢街市公園: Used by the Macao Government Tourism Office as a check-in point in its 2024 community campaign.