A Macao Narrative


Book Description

Macao, 40 miles west of Hong Kong, became a place of Portuguese residence between 1555–57. In this short, lively and affectionate book, Austin Coates explains how and why the Portuguese came to the Far East, and how they peacefully settled in Macao with tacit Chinese goodwill. Macao's golden age, from 1557 to the disastrous collapse of 1641, is vividly reconstructed. There follows the cuckoo-in-the-nest situation of the late eighteenth century when the British in Macao were a law unto themselves, until the foundation of Hong Kong and the opening of Shanghai gave wider scope for their energies. Portugal’s subsequent struggle to obtain full sovereignty in Macao, and the extraordinary outcome in 1975, brings this account to a close. Special tribute is paid to the risks Macao gallantly undertook in harbouring Hong Kong's starving and destitute during World War II.




City of Broken Promises


Book Description

The city is Macao, the Portuguese settlement on the China Coast, as it was more than 200 years ago. The promises are those made by Englishmen to marry their Macao mistresses, only to leave them abandoned and their children bastards. Martha Merop and her English lover are unique in this period. He, son of the founder of Lloyd's and cousin of the philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, was one of the first merchants to oppose the trade in opium. She, Chinese, abandoned at birth and sold into prostitution at the age of thirteen, became an international trader in her own right, the richest woman on the China Coast and Macao's greatest public benefactress. This moving novel that captures the time and place so convincingly is a historical reconstruction of the years 1780 to 1795 when the two were together. It is based on oral tradition handed down through generations in Macao, and on documents that survive about them in Macao, Lisbon and London. Austin Coates identified Martha Merop’s lover, about whom little was known. The documents about him confirmed the traditional Macao story, and the outcome was this book.




Macao - Cultural Interaction and Literary Representations


Book Description

Macao, the former Portuguese colony in southeast China from the 1550s until its return to China in 1999, has a long and very interesting history of cultural interaction between China and the West. As an entity with independent political power and a unique social setting and cultural development, the identity of Macao’s people is not only indicative of the legacy and influence of the region’s socio-historical factors and forces, but it has also been altered, transformed and maintained because of the input, action, interaction and stimulation of creative arts and literatures. Held together by racial accommodation and tolerance and active cultural interactions, Macao’s phenomenon can be characterized as hybridization. This book is a presentation of the ongoing hybridization of Macao and is in itself a hybrid, covering a wide range of issues. Putting forward substantial new research findings, the book explores the nature of cultural interaction in Macao, and how the city has been constructed and perceived through literature and other art forms. It is a companion volume to Macao – The Formation of a Global City .




The A to Z of the Hong Kong SAR and the Macao SAR


Book Description

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is located on the southeastern coast of China, and the Macao SAR can be found off of China's southern coast. Both regions have recently been released from European colonial rule: Hong Kong from British control in 1997 and Macao from Portugal in 1999. As SARs, Hong Kong and Macao retain a high degree of autonomy, and they control all issues except those of state (e.g. diplomatic relations and national defense). The A to Z of the Hong Kong SAR and the Macao SAR includes maps, photographs, a list of acronyms, a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, places, and events as well as political, economic and social background. However, unlike the rest of the series, all these sections are presented in duplicate: one for Hong Kong and one for Macao. The authoritative analysis and informative data presented clearly elucidate the unique situation of these two territories.




Macau History and Society


Book Description

Macau History and Society illuminates the early Portuguese maritime exploration along China's south coast, political and economic development in Macau, and current social problems. The book makes significant contributions to a political sociology of Macau, emphasizing how different civilizations and cultures interacted with one another, and explores how a new Macau identity can be constructed. Democratization has been a never-ending process in Macau since the 1500's. Macau's experience indicates that sovereignty has been shared rather than exclusive. Although civilizations and cultures do clash, they also cooperate. But the Macau model is deeply flawed - Hao contends that Macau needs to build a new multicultural identity, and a cosmopolitan political and economic identity.




Hong Kong & Macau


Book Description

This resource includes full details of Hong Kong harbour, its shopping and nightlife districts, traditional sites and off-the-beaten track areas of the New Territories and outlying islands. A history and a cultural guide is included, as well as places to eat, drink and sleep on every budget. Background information on post-handover politics and features on festivals, feng shui and Chinese astrology are also included.




The Rough Guide to Hong Kong & Macau


Book Description

The Rough Guide to Hong Kong & Macau is the comprehensive guide to this region, taking into account the vast rate of change and giving a clear focus from both a Western and Chinese perspective. Packed with information and clear maps of old buildings and local historical sites, it also has detailed accounts of outdoor activities and revised restaurant listings, from world cuisine to local Chinese dim sum lunch. The guide caters to all visitors whatever their budget. For shopping, there are comprehensive listings on where to find clothing, jewellery, electronics, art or simply souvenirs, plus advice on how to avoid getting ripped off. For those on a budget, the guide is packed with tips on how to stay, travel, eat and enjoy yourself cheaply (including a list of all the free things to do in town). Anyone in Hong Kong with more time to explore will find coverage of everything from taking the Star Ferry Ride to shopping at Temple Street market, with in-depth coverage of downtown bars, remote villages, stunning mountains and the best beaches. Make the most of your holiday with The Rough Guide to Hong Kong & Macau.




The Boundless Sea


Book Description

From the beginning of history to the present, a sweep of the world's oceans and seas and how they have shaped the course of civilization. From the author of the acclaimed The Great Sea, ("Magnificent . . . radiates scholarship and a sense of wonder and fun," Simon Sebag Montefiore; Book of the Year, The Economist), David Abulafia's new book guides readers along the world's greatest bodies of water to reveal their primary role in human history. The main protagonists are the three major oceans--the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian--which together comprise the majority of the earth's water and cover over half of its surface. Over time, as passage through them gradually extended and expanded, linking first islands and then continents, maritime networks developed, evolving from local exploration to lines of regional communication and commerce and eventually to major arteries. These waterways carried goods, plants, livestock, and of course people--free and enslaved--across vast expanses, transforming and ultimately linking irrevocably the economies and cultures of Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Far more than merely another history of exploration, The Boundless Sea shows how maritime networks gradually formed a continuum of interaction and interconnection. Working chronologically, Abulafia moves from the earliest forays of peoples taking hand-hewn canoes into uncharted waters, to the routes taken daily by supertankers in the thousands. History on the grandest scale and scope, written with passion and precision, this is a project few could have undertaken. Abulafia, whom The Atlantic calls "superb writer with a gift for lucid compression and an eye for the telling detail," proves again why he ranks as one of the world's greatest storytellers.




The Voices of Macao Stones


Book Description

The stones, statues and memorials found all over Macao trace the story from the days of the first Portuguese navigators to reach China in the sixteenth century to the events of more recent times. Hidden away in odd corners or standing incongruously surrounded by modern buildings and thronged with traffic, unnoticed by almost all who pass, are the treasure-vaults of Macao's rich and colourful history. In the cool shadows of old churches, set into the walls of long-disused fortresses, and in tranquil and leafy gardens, lie the silent stone keys that unlock the secrets of Macao and its opulent and varied past. Lindsay and May Ride spent many years researching and documenting the oft-hidden stones of Macao. The result of their work is an opportunity for the stones of Macao themselves to tell of the rich and varied history of this tiny, unlikely place. Work on this book began in 1954, but was diverted for a long period so that restoration and research on the Old Protestant Cemetery could be completed. In an early stage of its development it was finally halted - or so it seemed at the time - by the death of Sir Lindsay Ride in October 1977. Now published in the year the four-century-old Portuguese adventure in Macao is finally to conclude, the stories recounted in The Voices of Macao Stones vividly bring to life the individuals, events and circumstances that have made Macao the unique place it is.




The Bewitching Braid


Book Description

The Bewitching Braid, set in Macau in the 1930s, is a tale of forbidden love between a Macanese boy from a privileged family in the 'Christian' city and a beautiful water-seller from the 'Chinese' quarter of Cheok Chai Un. Against a background of small-town prejudice, the story traces the trials and tribulations of the couple in their attempts to be accepted in their respective communities and to understand each other across their cultural divides. The novel is a look into the inner world of the Eurasian inhabitants of the city, and their relationship with their Chinese and Portuguese legacies. Here, Senna Fernandes depicts the emergence of a new, more liberal Macao, in which its Portuguese and Chinese traditions are harmonized by true love. The original Portuguese version, A Tranca Feiticeira, was made into a successful film in 1997.




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