Dona Aida de Jesus is 96 years old and is one of the last custodians of a dying language on Macau, a small island off the coast of Hong Kong.

Chinese workers are industrious, committed to saving and willing to gamble enormous sums in the peninsula’s sprawling casinos.

The world economy may be slumping, but don’t tell that to Macau — the former Portugese colony which is set to trump Las Vegas.

There are no signs of life behind the bay windows of the cream-coloured seaside villas on a secluded side of Macau, reportedly home these days to the eldest son of North Korean…