Qin City

Photos of a Macau transformed.

JANUARY 28, 2013

Residents of Macau greet the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) on Dec. 20, 1999, the day Portugal handed the colony over to China. In the years preceding the handover to China, Carlson writes, triad violence surged as gangs competed for "a bigger share of the pie that would be left after Portuguese power receded."

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images