Macao is an old city with a unique and very rich history of intercultural exchange between the East and the West that took place over more than 400 years. The historical buildings and monuments scattered through the city have been relatively well preserved through these years. After Macao became successfully inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005，concerns about how to better protect，preserve and utilize the Macao World Cultural Heritage—the Historic Center of Macao—have resulted in new and important issues for the city. Educational and promotional campaigns for the Historic Center of Macao have accordingly been given a higher priority. To cope with the expansion and modern development of the city，the Macao government has enacted new laws to protect its cultural heritage. Yet，the overall development of Macao proceeds at a higher speed than the introduction of new laws concerned with heritage preservation. Furthermore，some aspects of the original heritage management rules，such as the mixture of centralized governance and delegation of power to various organizations，have been critically challenged. Heritage preservation has become a hot issue and several controversies about heritage preservation have been raised by the local community. The exceptional value of the Historic Center of Macao is arguably not yet optimally presented to the public. For example，the system of streets connecting the various heritage sites of the Center as well as other facilities could benefit from some improvements；some sites within the Historic Center of Macao are overly crowded while some others，to the contrary，look rather desolate. Nevertheless，after several years of accumulated experience in how to better manage itself，Macao will eventually find a balance between preserving the fabric of its cultural heritage and implementing the modern developments of the city，and between the utilization of its cultural heritage and the economic imperatives of today.