The Ruins of St. Paul's Source: Macau Cultural Institute

The official magazine of the Macau Government confirmed that Macau's candidate sites for inclusion to the Unesco's World Heritage list will increase from 12 to 20. In an interview with the Chinese version of Revista de Macau, Stephen Chan, Chief of the Cultural Heritage Department of the Cultural Institute, and Wong Man Fai, Senior Officer of the Department, said that experts from the World Heritage Centre proposed to the Government to submit extended applications that will include sites surrounding those originally applied for. The new sites included St. Lawrence's Church, Sir Robert Ho Tung Library, St. Augustine's Church, Kwan Tai Temple opposite the S. Domingo Market, the Lou House, St. Anthony's Church, the office of Fundação Oriente and the Protestant Cemetery. The 12 original sites included A-Ma Temple, the Moorish Barracks, Mandarin House, St. Joseph Monastery, Pedro V Theatre, the Senate Building, the Holy House of Mercy, Ruins of St. Paul's, Na Cha Temple, the remains of the old city wall, Fortress Hill and Guia Fortress (including the Lighthouse and Guia Chapel). Meanwhile, an Icomos (International Council on Monuments and Sites) meeting held in Paris in February had passed the assessment report of the Historic Monuments of Macau, and will propose to Unesco's World Heritage Centre for bidding. The World Heritage Conference will be held in Durban, South Africa, sources suggest that chances for Macau to win the contest is quite high. Update: The Historic Centre of Macau was inscribed to UNESCO's World Heritage List at the 29th World Heritage Conference in South Africa. The Historic Centre of Macau becomes the 31st World Heritage in China.