Macau in the XIXth Century

This edition of RC deals mainly with Macau as it was in the last century: governors of the city and their achievements; the city and its development; society and social customs; the economy and high and low points in the commercial life of the city; the trade in coolies and opium; the Christian city and the Chinese city. It is the life and history of the city during the nineteenth century as it was seen and recorded by some of its most illustrious artists and visitors - Commodore Perry, Eça de Queirós, Andrade Corvo, Georges Bousquet, Karl von Scherzer, the Conde de Arnoso, George Chinnery, Robert Elliot, Hildebrandt, Thomas Watson, Auguste Borget. These eye-witness reports are complemented by commentaries written by modem historians and researchers such as Father Manuel Teixeira, Benjamim Videira Pires, Jorge Dias and João Guedes. Our intention has been to present the modem reader with a visual and textual image of what the territory was really like in those times: a drama taking place in an urban setting with its own characters, customs and manners, typical scenes, the subtlety of differing atmospheres, the alternately pulsating and somnolent rhythms, light and shadow, the latent soul of this tiny, unique world. Against the backfall of majestic panoramas caught from the city's vantage points, we run our eyes over the labyrinthine city, stopping here and there to fill in the simple workaday details. These are reflected in George Chinnery's strip drawings which trip along the edges of the pages. We have touched up the images, isolating them in order to arrive at this cinematographic effect. We are especially grateful to the President of the Leal Senado and to Dr. António Pedro Pires (interim Curator of the Luís de Camões Museum) for allowing us access to all the illustrations, many of which are extremely rare, of XIXth century Macau published in this issue.

The Church of S. Domingos - George Chinnery

Ink and sepia on paaper, 20cm x 20cm (Luís de Camões Museum)