Today, the 19th century buildings on each side of the street are consistent in style and the best preserved brothel architectural complex in China. It was originally a low-key area, with a bay full of clear water that local residents used to do their laundry. When the Macau Portuguese government began to plan reclamation in , local Chinese businessman Wang Lu and his son Wang Di acquired the old site of a large tea shop once run by the local Jewish people.
Fulong New Street formed the heart of the red light district over a hundred years ago. Unfortunately, their grand plan was slow to catch on and with shops left empty, the other shareholders in the company cut their losses β leaving Wang Lu and his son as sole owners of most of the block. Governor Sousa felt this was a shame, so he granted a piece of land near the Fulong New Street area to Wang Lu and his son upon the condition that they construct a large theatre.
As a result, in the earliest Chinese-style theatre in the Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau area was born. Sensual pleasures gather in the streets The new theatre hosted performances all through the night, which energized the Fulong New Street area and saw brothels, gambling houses, opium parlors and restaurants arrive one after another. Fulong New Street was divided into two sections.
The south section was filled with a large number of brothels, while the north section housed the restaurants, gambling houses and opium parlors. Prostitution emerged as a legitimate business in Macau at the time and was an important source of revenue for Macau Portuguese business. In , the government issued new regulations for the prostitution business in Macau, covering brothels, unlicensed prostitutes and brothel boats.
They were all required to be licensed and any prostitute carrying a sexually transmitted disease was required to be treated in a hospital. There are a number of well-known restaurants and souvenir shops in the area. At that time there were more than brothels and thousands of prostitutes calling the area home. Smoking opium in the tea house There were also a large number of tea houses in the neighborhood, although the name may be slightly misleading. These were actually opium houses and although they did serve tea, the main job of the waitresses was to serve male customers smoking opium and provide an escort service if required.
