Indelible Footprints in Macau, de Christina Miu Bing Cheng

Autora: Christina Miu Bing Cheng

Editora: Centro de História da Universidade de Lisboa

Ano: 2021

ISBN: 978-989-8068-35-4

Disponível em acesso aberto no repositório da Universidade de Lisboa

SINOPSE

The former Portuguese-ruled Macau has been a multi-ethnic/national rendezvous attracting people from different origins and serving as a stage for them to perform manifold roles. Through time, countless Chinese and foreign people have left indelible footprints along with the rendition of its disparate “visages”. This speck of land was once a religious bastion for the propagation of Christianity, a springboard for adventurers, and a haven for pirates and fugitives. It was also an opium depot, a slave trade centre, a gambling hotbed, and not least, an arena for the Sino-Portuguese power struggle. Yet, at times it was a sanctuary for the destitute, and a permanent shelter for the displaced. This book throws light on remarkable midway sojourners, whose significant presence was imprinted in history even though they appeared in Macau briefly for various purposes in the midst of cataclysmic vicissitudes in China. Central to the discussion are an invincible pirate king, an ardent anti-opium statesman, a reformist gentry-merchant, an impoverished musician, and a diasporized educationalist. Likewise, two controversial historians, a high-handed colonial governor, and a revengeful colonel stamped their abiding marks at a specific time in the colony’s history. Inextricably entwined with Macau’s socio-political evolution, some of these personages have contributed to the rich culture of this bewitching city.

AUTORA

Christina Miu Bing Cheng 鄭妙冰, a native of Xingyang 滎陽, Henan Province, was born in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province. With her parents, she arrived at Macau during her childhood. The family soon settled in Hong Kong where she started schooling. A graduate of the University of Hong Kong, she received a B.A. (Hons) in English Literature and Fine Arts, an M.A. in Literary Studies, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (1996). She was an Honorary Research Fellow (1997-2011) in the Centre of Asian Studies at the University of Hong Kong. She is the author of Macau: A Cultural Janus (1999), In Search of Folk Humour: The Rebellious Cult of Nezha (2009) and Tracing Macau through Chinese Writers and Buddhist/Daoist Temples (2013). Macau: A Cultural Janus has been translated into Chinese, as 澳門-殖民滄桑中的文化雙面神, in both simplified (2003) and traditional (2004) character editions. She has written extensively on Macau and Hong Kong, with more than twenty articles appearing in various publications. Some of her articles were translated into Chinese, French, and Portuguese. She has been invited to present almost thirty research papers in international conferences in Macau, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Beijing, Leiden, and Lisbon.

ÍNDICE

Preface and acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Maritime Prowess: Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Chenggong. Shaping the Political Landscape in the Ming-Qing Cataclysm

2. The Tragic Hero Lin Zexu. Immortalized in Macau’s Lian Feng Miao

3. On the Border Gate: João Maria Ferreira do Amaral and Vicente Nicolau de Mesquita

4. The Son of Macau and the Mandarin’s House

5. The River and the Sea. The People’s Musician in a Time of Chaos

6. The Land of the Lotus Flower: A Haven for the Diasporized

Conclusion

Bibliography