By Celine Chen

A photo exhibition is being held on the 16th floor of the newly-built Macao Center in Wangfujing Street to celebrate the 9th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

Visitors to the Exhibition looking at photos.

A total of 71 photographs have been selected from hundreds shot by the members of the Photographic Society of Macao.

The photo exhibition was opened to the public on December 12 and will continue until January 25 2009. After the exhibition all 71 photographs will be kept in the Macao Center, the location of the Office of the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region in Beijing.

The theme of the exhibition is "The New Faces of Macao". It has been organized jointly by the photographic society of Macao and the Office of the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region in Beijing, and it is sponsored by the Macao Foundation.

Huang Bixi, the Vice-president of the Photographic Society of Macao, said: "As our theme is 'The New Faces of Macao', we have judged the photos against two criteria - one was that they must portray typical Macao scenes, and the other is they must be embody some new aspect of Macao."

Guo Jingwen, the President of the Photographic Society of Macao, said: "Beautiful night scenes, new buildings and Macao people welcoming the Olympics… all these topics have been selected, because they're the new faces of Macao."

"The Photographic Society of Macao follows the dual principles of promoting photographic art and serving the Macaoan society. This photo exhibition is intended to provide a better understanding of Macao to people from all over the world, and to further the cultural exchange between Macao and the international community," Guo added.

The Photographic Society of Macao, a non-profit organization, was founded in 1958. It is the earliest photographic organization in Macao.