(ECNS) -- Dec. 20 marks the 25th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland. Twenty-five years on, the city has undergone a remarkable transformation under the “one country, two systems“ policy.

　　Macao entrepreneur Elwin Ho, a witness to this evolution, attributes the city’s progress to the nation’s robust development. “I feel that Macao will develop even better in the future,” he said in a recent interview with China News Network.

　　A more beautiful Macao

　　Born in the 1970s, Ho was obsessed with technology since he was a kid. To pursue his sci-tech dream, he left Macao for the Chinese mainland, earning a degree in a computer science from Peking University. He later continued his studies in the United States after graduating in 1996.

The young Elwin Ho (File photo: courtesy of the interviewee)

　　“When Macao returned to China in 1999, I was working in Silicon Valley. I believed that the people of Macao would enjoy greater opportunities,” he recalled.

　　When asked about the biggest changes in Macao, his immediate response was that the city has truly become more beautiful. “My family lived right across from a vegetable patch, however, Macao has transformed so much after its return to the motherland. I couldn’t even recognize some places when I first came back,” he said.

　　In 2009, Ho founded Pachira, an artificial intelligence enterprise in Silicon Valley. Seeing the potential of the domestic market, he decided to come back to establish a Beijing office in 2010.

　　Over the past 25 years, Macao has experienced its fastest economic growth in history. Data shows that the region’s GDP has skyrocketed more than sevenfold, from $6.5 billion in 1999 to $47.4 billion last year.