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 is to the east, and 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 causeway; 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. 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.
The names of Taipa
In Cantonese, Taipa has been known by many names over time, including 龍環, 雞頸, 潭仔, and 龍頭環. The Portuguese and English name "Taipa" comes from the Chinese pronunciation of 氹仔 in Min Nan /tiap-á/ then became "Taipa". The putonghuapinyin 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. The character :wikt:氹|氹, or :wikt:凼|凼, 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 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 or at the schools and universities. 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
Primary and secondary schools
Public preschool and primary school:
Escola Luso-Chinesa da Taipa - Preschool and primary school
Private tuition-free primary and secondary schools:
The parish has two public libraries operated by the Macao Public Library system. Taipa Library, which began trial operations on 15 April 2015 and opened officially on 1 September of that year, occupies of space in the basement of Taipa Central Park. Wong Ieng Kuan Library in Taipa occupies of space on the second and third floors of Hei Loi Tang Plaza. The library, which had its construction funded with donations from the Wong Ieng Kuan Foundation, opened on January 2005.
Health centres operated by the Macau government in Taipa include Centro de Saúde dos Jardins do Oceano, Centro de Saúde Nossa Senhora do Carmo-Lago, and Posto de Saúde para os Idosos Taipa.
