Childhood Memories of the Tap Seac Hockey Field

In loving memory of Fernando Aníbal Marques (1927-1995) José Luís de Sales Marques Friendly hands handed me a picture of the old Tap Seac hockey field with the Portuguese styled building that is known as “Caixa Escolar,” a kind of student welfare organization that was introduced to Macau during the Salazar regime. Hockey was the

Urban Narratives by Henrique de Senna Fernandes (Part II)

Nam Van, Contos de Macau (Nam Van – Macau Stories) José Luís de Sales Marques Henrique de Senna Fernandes first published Nam Van, Contos de Macau as an author’s edition in 1978. Featuring a collection of short stories, it was a humble edition that caught the attention of only a few close friends. With the

Two Macanese Brothers & the Murder of Choy Ling in 1930s Shanghai

Catherine S. Chan & José Luís de Sales Marques On 4 August 1933, twenty-three year-old Macanese Patrício José dos Remédios killed his common-law wife, Choy Ling (also known as Mary Chun). He smothered her with a pillow and struck her with an icebreaker at their Shanghai home in 15 Kashing Road, Hongkew district. The next

What I Learnt from my Macanese Relatives

Brian Edgar My family returned from Hong Kong in 1951 not long after I was born. I grew up in Windsor, a town in the south east of England famous for its castle and links with the British royal family. It was all very English, very 1950s. Life for a middle class boy was regimented

Stories from the Life of Vicente Agostinho Sales, A Macanese ‘Frenchman’ in China*

José Luís de Sales Marques Known in some accounts as a ‘Frenchman’ in the Chinese treaty ports, Vicente Agostinho Sales (26/11/1831-10/6/1895) was born in Macau to a Portuguese family. He had an illustrious career with the French in Shanghai, Amoy, Canton, Hong Kong, and Singapore, first as a young student interpreter in 1853 for the

‘People Make History’: The Macanese between the Wars Research Project (part 3)

Brian Edgar In the previous post in this series I considered Roy Xavier’s views on the intriguing case of Jesuína Xavier, who was arrested, tried and acquitted for shooting her lover in 1930-1931. I presented a different view of those events, and argued that they did not support the thesis that Hong Kong’s Macanese lost

Identity as a Creative Resource of the Macanese

Marisa C. Gaspar EN/PT Macanese Identity: What Future? This was an exercise of reflection, proposed to take place in a round table format, as part of the Fundação Oriente’s program of activities to mark the 20th anniversary of Macao’s handover and the establishment of the Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, the

A Identidade como Recurso Criativo dos Macaenses

Marisa C. Gaspar EN/PT A Identidade Macaense: Que Futuro? Este foi o exercício de reflexão, proposto fazer-se em formato de mesa redonda, inserido no programa de atividades da Fundação Oriente para assinalar os 20 anos da transferência de soberania do território de Macau e estabelecimento da Região Administrativa Especial da República Popular da China, a

The Victimisation of Jesuína Xavier: The Macanese between the Wars Research Project (part 2)

Brian Edgar Jesuína Xavier: The Agreed Facts In late 1924 or early 1925 Jesuína Xavier left her husband to live with Alfred Manton.[1] She was a Macanese woman who ran a boarding house, he was a Traffic Inspector with Hongkong Tramways.[2] In early December 1930 Manton told Jesuína that the relationship was over; he cited

The Macanese in Hong Kong Between the Wars: A Research Programme

Brian Edgar Until relatively recently the Macanese in Hong Kong – generally referred to as ‘Portuguese’ in the historical sources – have been regarded as a relatively homogenous community with a straightforward position in Hong Kong’s colonial order. The Macanese, so the story goes, were content to become more and more anglicised – to the