In our booklet Os Macaenses, 1 after we mentioned an alluvium of contemporary testimonies, we came to a conclusion that:
"Ljungstedt is right when he affirms that Macanese are the offspring of intermarriage amongst Portuguese, Malay, Chinese, Japanese and others. [... And we affirmed too that...] The first generation of Macanese appeared after the cultural mixing of half-a-thousand Portuguese with that a half a thousand Indian and Malay women."2
But, as these were sent to Goa and Malacca, the Portuguese intermarried with Chinese and Japanese.
Graciete Nogueira Batalha, in her work Língua de Macau writes:
"The eminent historian Fr. Manuel Teixeira wrote, years after the first edition of this work, a very interesting booklet Os Macaenses, Macau 1965, in which he debates, precisely, this matter. Presenting documents and testimonies which he takes to be trustworthy, he asserts that only the first generation of Macanese was born of Indian and Malay women, but ever since the Portuguese of Macao began to marry Chinese women converted to Christianity, or half-blood Chinese women, concluding that Chinese women were, thereupon, the origins of successive generations of Macanese. However, the evidence of the language reveals a different sort of inference about the predominance of Chinese motherhood. Obviously there have been some, but why in the texts written in Creole language of the last century did the Malay names almost double those of Chinese origin? Why in the nineteenth century, were Chinese words not employed (as they are currently employed today) for household commodities such as passo · (bowl), estrica · (flat-iron), curum · (poultry-yard), sanco · (spittoon) and for cookery ingredients such as cancom · (a certain sort of vegetable), trate · (lotus seed), pulu · (sticky) rice and others? Why did the wifes of the Portuguese dress in Malay style with saraças made of sarom cloth and bajus － Malay words － and not like the Chinese, as they do today? And why did Macao descendents of the less recent generations have more evident Malay features than Chinese?"
§1. CRITICAL OPINION
We were very shocked by this phrase, related to Chinese mothers:
"[...] there must have been some!"
Some? There have been only "some"?
We insist on our argument, based on coeval and valid documents, the preponderance of Chinese motherhood over others.
After the publication of Os Macaenses, we found other documents that validate our point of view. There must have been, not only "some", but many more and probably the large majority. We will quote the documents that are not referred to in that booklet. Before that, let us see the testimony of an historian that we accept as the greatest authority on the Portuguese in the Orient－Charles Ralph Boxer, who writes:
"The first colonizers of Macao, most probably married with Malay, Indonesian and Japanese women: but with the increase of the Chinese population of Macao (as occurred in 1564), there must have been an increase in the number of mixed marriages, and, above all, of concubinages with Chinese women and girls, who became converted to Christianity."4
As we can see, Boxer holds the same opinion as we do. We must not be opposed to historical realities once they are attested to by eye-witnesses.
Boxer adds:
"Father Alonso Sanches S. J., who visited Macao twice, and for a very long period of time, in 1583-1585, wrote that the Portuguese preferred to marry Chinese women instead of others "due to the many virtues that embellish them". In his precise plan for the conquest of China by a Spanish expeditionary force, jointly with Portuguese, Japanese and Filipinos that he presented to King Philip Ⅱ [Felipe Ⅱ, of Spain], by 1588, he says that marriage of Iberian conquerors with Chinese women would be one of the great advantages of the overall plan. Chinese women, he wrote, were "exceedingly chaste, serious, modest and very loyal, humble and obedient to their husbands. They have as much beauty, elegance and discretion as the rich and noble ladies of Spain, or even more." Mixed marriages with these women, he wrote, should favour an offspring of equal or even better quality than any other else in the world and surely much better then the half-blood of the Spanish Americas. Unlike these, children of mixed marriages amongst Spanish and Chinese should create all the inner qualities for them to become priests, soldiers and administrative functionaries, even at the highest levels, and excellent craftsmen and artisans."5
J. B. Roman, who visited Macao in 1584, was very impressed by the fact that all the Portuguese had Chinese wives. 6
On the 21st December of 1625, a Jesuit priest said that:
"[...] Portuguese wives are almost all Chinese or of mixed blood."7
Fr. Henri Bérnard S. J., another great historian of Macao's origins, after consulting coeval documents, writes:
"Until 1565, Portuguese in Macao married women from India or somewhere else: Macaísta people was the consequence of the union with Chinese women, of whom it was praised the qualities of good wives and mothers."8
So, every serious historian asserts what documents prove.
Yet, the last ten pages of our booklet reproduce everything that Parish Archives of Macao reveal, i. e.: that Macaístas (Macanese) are the offspring of intermarriage of Portuguese men and Chinese women, not just a few, but eventually the large majority.
Contra facta non sunt argumenta.
§2. OPPOSING REASONING
Graciete Batalha asks: "[...] why should we find almost twice as many Malay words in Creole texts of the last century [?]."
We answer with two questions:
—"Why in the Creole of Malacca do the Portuguese words not only double but quadruplicate or even centuplicate those of Dutch origin, in spite of the fact that the Dutch dominated for almost two centuries and we for only one?"
—"Why, in the Malay Language do Portuguese words exceed by large Dutch ones?"
Precisely because we were the first to introduce those terms in Malacca. The same happened with Indian and Malay women who, prior to the Chinese, were intermarried with the Portuguese.
During the Portuguese period in Malacca (1511-1641) there was continuous exchange between that Colony and Macao, and many Portuguese who settled here came from Malacca and Goa.
Graciete Batalha asks:
—Why did the Portuguese women of Macao dress mostly in a Malay fashion, with saraças of sarom linen and bajus · (Port.: casaquinho, blusa; or: jacket, coat, outer garnment) － Malay words－than the Chinese way, as seen in the present days?
However, today one rarely sees a Macanese wife dressed in Chinese style.
The use of those garments that lasted for two centuries vanished because of the influence of Dom Alexandre da Silva Pedrosa Guimarães, Bp. of Macao (1772-1780). 9
—"Then, why did they use it for two centuries?"
Because they liked to. When the Bishop condemned it, women and their husbands made such a stinging attack that the Bishop soon had to leave.
In those days surely there were not Malay women in Macao except, maybe, one or two Indonesians.
The last question asked by Dr. Graciete Batalha:
－"Why do the children of Macao of the less recent generations present physical characteristics more similar to Malay than Chinese?"
We do not know the precise epoch stated by the authoress. In our case, we have lived fifteen years among Malays and we came to Macao in 1924 (more than two generations ago), and we have never seen Malay features in the Macanese people.
As to the photographs of people in Macao that illustrate the mentioned work of Graciete Batalha, those features are not Malay but Portuguese.
But, during the last two centuries, things have changed a lot. In 1841 the Colony of Hong Kong was founded and Great Britain compelled China to open the harbours through the Treaty. In 1854 the United States equally compelled Japan to open its doors to foreigners. The Macanese, not confined now to the Territory of Macao, spread through the harbours of China and Japan, marrying with other people. It was the great Diaspora. The Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War forced them to return, then showing different types.
Also, in the middle of the eighteenth century a dozen foreign Companies settled in Macao and more variegated types appeared.
In the middle of the last century, emigration of the Chinese coolies to South America attracted many foreigners to Macao who created their enterprises through the export of those poor people.
They, too, left abundant offspring.
So, we can see that Macanese people of the less recent generations is mingled with the blood of a wide range of people.
The photograph that Graciete Batalha reproduces on page 6 [of the original collection in her above-mentioned work in Portuguese and reproduced in this RC translation's reprint in page 133] "A Macanese family of the nineteenth century" portrays Pedro Nolasco da Silva, married to Edith Mary Angier, surrounded by their children and grandchildren. None of them has any feature of Malay type.
Mrs. Edith Angier Nolasco da Silva.
Wife of the distinguished Macanese Pedro José Nolasco da Silva.
Photograph taken in 1903.
Augusto Nolasco da Silva Collection, Lisbon.
Edith Angier was born in Hong Kong, on the 20th of December 850, being the natural daughter of Frederick John Angier, an Englishman, and of a Chinese woman called Helena. The name of Frederick Angier appears in the Residence List of Hong Kong after 1845. On the 20th of August 1856, being single, he married at St. John's Cathedral Sarah Chappel Gorton, the second daughter of James Gorton of the Seedley Company, Manchester. The couple departed for England in the year 1857. Frederick had a daughter by his wife Sarah, who was born on the 23rd of September 1857 in Carlton Terrace, Spring Gardens, Manchester.
Now, we can see that Edith Mary Angier, born in Hong Kong on the 20th of December 1850 was illegitimate. That being so, she was introduced by her father to a very charitable Macanese lady, Rosália Barreto, who had a boarding school for children of both sexes. Being the daughter of an Englishman and of a Chinese, she was very light-coloured and rosy and her children inherited her type.
Graciete Batalha says that the grandchildren of Pedro Nolasco informed her that their grandparents spoke patoá or patois, (the Creole Language of Macao) at home.
We should mention that Edith Angier learned English with her father, Chinese from her mother and Portuguese with Rosália Barreto. Her husband, Pedro Nolasco, who called himself Pedro José da Silva was the son of Pedro Nolasco da Silva and Severina Angélica Baptista, grandson of Joaquim José da Silva and Antónia Maria da Silva Aires and of Vicente Francisco Baptista and Antónia Aires da Silva.
Joaquim José da Silva, son of João da Silva and of Rita Xavier da Cruz, was married at the Sé (Cathedral) of Macao on the 23rd of January 1794 to Antónia Maria da Silva Aires, daughter of António da Silva Aires and Ana Pascoela de Noronha.
In this way, we arrive in the middle of the eighteenth century.
Pedro José da Silva changed his name to Pedro Nolasco da Silva because there was another person with the same name.
Pedro Nolasco did not speak patoá with his wife. However, as we have known all his children since 1924, we can give assurances they all spoke correct Portuguese without a Macanese accent.
About this we sent a letter in 1974 to the only living daughter of Pedro Nolasco da Silva, eighty years old, Dona Angelina Nolasco, who replied in this way:
"Lisboa, 4 – 9 - 1974
My Dear Friend P. Teixeira
It was with pleasure that I received your brief letter; it was not possible for me to answer immediately because I have got a great cerebral weakness due to arteriosclerosis and only on some days do I feel able to write some lines. I rejoice at your interest over the good name of my family and I have to say that we did not speak patoá at home and that my father wrote correct Portuguese and English and was a columnist for ECO MACAENSE, a local newspaper. My mother was English but had spoken Portuguese since she was a little child and we used to speak Portuguese, although we had a little Macanese accent.
All my brothers and nephews, who came to Portugal, studied in the university and speak like metropolitans.
Your ex-parishioner and friend
[Signed] Angelina Nolasco"
Having said this, we would like to cite a remark. About the words Macaísta and Macaense the authoress [Graciete Batalha] writes:
As far as Macaísta is concerned, it can be found in Creole texts of the last century, not in the sense of 'native of the land', but as an adjective, meaning something peculiar of Macao, especially the Language. Macaísta Language was the old Dialect, in opposition to educated Portuguese.
[...]
From 'particular or characteristic to Macao' the expression must have changed its meaning to 'native of Macao', with the perfect blending of both words Macaísta and Macaense in the Metropolitan Vocabulary, but rather distinct in Macanese Vocabulary, in which the expression Macaísta is considered depreciative, or at least unpleasant.
As to the first statement, we must say that in the last century the Macaístas used the word not in Creole Language but in Portuguese, not only as an adjective but also as a substantive. Macaísta or Macaense was a 'child of Macao', i. e.: a 'native of Macao'.
There was, for instance, a newspaper, "O Macaísta Imparcial" ("The Imparcial Macanese"), written in 'good' Portuguese, which started on the 4th of June 1836 and ended on the 4th of July 1838.
Its title was "O Macaísta Imparcial" and not "O Macaense Imparcial", and was published by Félix Feliciano da Cruz, a Macaísta himself.
There was, also," O Procurador dos Macaístas" ("The Procurator of the Macanese"), published by Manuel Maria Dias Pegado between the 6th of March 1844 and the 2nd of September 1845, also in 'good' Portuguese.
This title does not indicate anything peculiar about Macao, but the people of the Colony, of whom the newspaper was the defender.
Graciete Batalha says that the word Macaísta, used only in the Creole Language, became mingled with Macaense, but Macaísta is considered to be depreciative.
On the contrary!
Macaísta and Macaense were identical, meaning both a 'native of Macao', without resentment. We, ourselves are Freixenista and proud, as all the natives of Freixo de Espada à Cinta.
How did the terminology Macaísta become depreciated?
It was due to a man who we knew very well and whose education was at a basic level. His name was Constâncio José da Silva, who was the editor of several newspapers in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and in the first quarter of this century.
By the end of the last century he classified the word Macaísta as offensive for the natives of the Colony, who should be called as Macaenses. Macaístas, he asserted, meant things and not persons.
This pedant had followers that considered offensive what their ancestors were proud of. But, really, Macaísta and Macaense mean the same thing, i. e.: 'native sons and daughters of Macao'.
One day, at the International Airport of New York, filled with a cosmopolitan multitude, we paid attention to a family, whom we soon discovered to be Portuguese. In fact, they were Azorean living in Canada and going to visit Azores. We were talking when a young lady passed by. We said to the Azorean:
－"This young lady surely is Macaísta."
We asked her:
－"Are you from Macao?"
－"No, but I am a Macaense born in Hong Kong."
The same has happened to us in different parts of the world. We recognise the Macaístas not by Malay features, that they do not have, but by Chinese.
In 1946, when we arrived at Lorenzo Marques, there was a crowd waiting, at the quay, for the Colonial. A fellow-traveller, Fr. Serafim Brum do Amaral, said to us:
－"Look that Chinese woman down there."
When she embarked on the Colonial, he asked her:
－"Nei hai Chong Kuo Yan, hai m'hai?" ("Aren't you Chinese?")
－"No I am Portuguese!"－she answered, offended.
She was a Macaísta doctor, but her features were obviously Chinese.
There are any number of such situations.
We always distinguish between a Macaísta and a Malay.
We insist, therefore, on our thesis－the preponderance of Chinese blood in the Macanese people.
Translated from the Portuguese by: Ana Pinto de Almeida
NOTES
1 TEIXEIRA, Manuel, Os Macaenses, Macau, Imprensa Nacional, 1965.
2 Ibidem., p. 24.
BATALHA, Graciete Nogueira, Língua de Macau, Macau, Imprensa Nacional, 1979, p. 28 [2nd reprint].
4 BOXER, Charles Ralph, Macao as Religious and Commercial Entrepôt in the 16th and 17th Centuries, in "Acta Asiatica", Tokyo, Institute for Eastern Culture, (26) 1974, pp. 64-90, p. 66.
5 Ibidem, p. 121.
6 KAMMERER, Albert, La Découverte de la Chine par les Portugais au XVIème Siècle et la Cartographie des Portugais, in "T'ong Pao", J. L. Brill, Leiden, (39) Supplement 1944, p. 121.
7 SOARES, José Caetano, Macau e a Assistência, Lisboa, Agência Geral do Ultramar, 1990, p. 30.
8 BÉRNARDMAÎTRE, Henri, Le Père Mathieu Ricci et la societé chinoise de son temps, 1552-1610, 3 vols., Tientsin, Hautes - Études, 1937, vol. 1, p. 74, n. 53.
9 TEIXEIRA, Manuel, O Traje Feminino em Macau do Séc. XVI ao Séc. XVIII, Macau, Imprensa Nacional, 1969.
* Historian and researcher of the Portuguese Expansion and the Christian Church, in the Orient. Author of numerous articles and publications on related topics. Member of the Portuguese Academy of History, the International Association of Historians on Asia, and other Institutions.
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