In December, the Macao government awarded honours to 26 different organisations and individuals for their outstanding contributions to society.
The highest Decoration of Honour awarded in 2022, the Gold Lotus, went to local charitable society Tung Sin Tong. Established in 1892, Tung Sin Tong supports the underprivileged, provides free education and healthcare, and cares for the city’s elderly and disabled citizens. The NGO has 20 buildings across the city from schools to kindergartens, activity centres and medical clinics. In 2002, Tung Sin Tong was awarded the Medal of Merit in Altruism.
Three organisations and one individual were each awarded Silver Lotus Decorations. These were Portugal’s Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU), which opened its first branch in Macao in 1902; local Tai Fung Bank, founded in 1942; the Macau Red Cross, which dates back to 1920; and former judge Lai Kin Hong, who recently retired as the president of the Court of Second Instance.
The Grand Lotus Decoration – the highest distinction on offer – was not awarded in 2022, and hasn’t been awarded since 2020.
Medals of Merit and Distinguished Service
There are several types of merit and distinguished service medals awarded annually in Macao. In 2022, the winners and their categories were:
- Professions (Medal of Merit) – Macau Water Supply Company, Companhia de Electricidade de Macau (CEM), and Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor Mo Hui.
- Industry and Commerce (Medal of Merit) – Chinese insurance company Taiping, which has been operating in Macao since 2019; bus company Transmac, which launched in 1952; and Macanese businessman Humberto Carlos Leitão Rodrigues, CEO of F. Rodrigues.
- Tourism (Medal of Merit) – the Macau Hoteliers & Innkeepers Association.
- Education (Medal of Merit) – Hou Kong Middle School; director of the Affiliated School of the University of Macau, Lou Lan Heng Monica; and director of Macau Baptist College and vice-director of the Chinese Educators Association of Macau, Lei Cheok Kin.
- Culture (Medal of Merit) – the Confraternity of Macanese Gastronomy; artists Lok Hei and Kuok Keng Man; and film director Chan Nga Lei.
- Philanthropy (Medal of Merit) – Caritas Macau Secretary-General Paul Pun Chi Meng.
- Sports (Medal of Merit) – Green-Wave Swimming Club, one of the oldest swimming clubs in Macao.
- Dedication (Distinguished Service Medal) – the Information Department of the Government Information Bureau (GCS); and the Financial Infrastructure and Information Technology Department of the Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM).
- Community service (Distinguished Service Medal) – the Macau Construction Machinery Engineering Association.
- Honorific Title (Merit) – First-year doctoral student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Macau, Chan Pak Ian, who was one of 89 recipients of the 2022 China’s Young People’s Science and Technology Innovation Award (the only Macao university student to receive this award); and high school student studying at Keang Peng School, Choi Ka Wai, gold medalist in art at New York’s GENIUS Olympiad in 2021 and 2022 (also the first representative from Macao to win this award).
