MACAO SEEN FROM BRAZIL

What might a Portuguese living in Brazil for almost thirty years think of Macao?

The first 'vision', through journalism, seems insufficient, for the news and some of the articles which appear in the Brazilian press focus on only certain facts, following the main headlines but never the evolution of the events. Even tourism-oriented reporting is scarce and not always realistic, not to mention the cultural, historical, literary, political or economical aspects of Macao.

The cultural 'vision' we have of this small peninsula may be documented, of course, by the numerous books which, from several perspectives, reveal the Macanese past and present, but where to find them?

To talk about the Language of Macao [patoá, papiá cristang], as some suggest - is to rediscover Brazil, for there are connotations which only a few know of. And what about Christian religion, which is so widespread? Or architecture, in which Oriental style blends with Portuguese and identifies with the so-called 'colonial house' which the Lusitans built in the land of Brazil?

Another issue that should be stressed is the economic exchange which level remains below the potentialities and interest of both Brazilian and Macanese.

Many other interests and affinities might yet be related, from those established by Geography and those of strategic value, at several levels, starting from transport connections, with a special note on Economy, and not forgetting other similarities and approaches, for there is no lack of opportunities. The worst is that, frequently, we do not know how to take advantage of them.

What happens in the field of mere information is symptomatic and it confirms that distance is a bad adviser: what has been published in the Brazilian press about Macao is scanty and incomplete. The texts which are edited are sometimes more speculative than realistic. Daily news reaches Brazil through the international Agencies, whose interests are not those of Portugal or Macao or Brazil. Thus, Macanese reality floats according to political incidents, catastrophes or the occasional tourist report.

We remember that more or less a quarter of a century ago Brazilian newspapers referred to the protests of young Chinese, in Macao, against Salazar's regime. In 1974, to the consequences of the 25th of April, in Macao. And, more recently, to the negotiations which led to the Agreement between the Governments of Lisbon and Beijing on the future of Macao.

We give the example of Flávio Marques' chronicle published by the daily newspaper "O Estado de S. Paulo", on the 9th of February 1979: "Portugal and China finally established Diplomatic relations yesterday and will exchange Ambassadors within a maximum period of three months, thus putting an end to the controversies and disputes concerning the Territory of Macao, whose Administration will remain in the hands of the Government of Lisbon."

On the 26th of May 1982, the magazine "Isto é", also from São Paulo, published, an article by Albino Castro Filho, whose meaning may be defined by the title: Milagres económicos-a força da pataca - na velha Macau, o novo 'boom' económico do Oriente (Economic miracles - The strength of the Pataca-In the old Macao the new economic boom of the East).

On the 5th of December 1982, the "Folha de S. Paulo" published an article signed by Anton Ferreira, of Reuters Agency, with the title: Em Macau, as sombras da vida tranquila (In Macao, the Shadows of Peaceful Life), a work which the "Jornal de Macau" reproduced with the ironical headline: Macau à brasileira (Macao Brazilian style). According to the Reuters' journalist"[...] the Macanese discuss poetry during sumptuous meals with the finest Portuguese wines." And he added that the majority of tourists were from Hong Kong, their only interests being the casinos and race courses. We believe that the author is not Brazilian.

On the 22nd of June 1983, the daily "Jornal do Brazil", from Rio de Janeiro, republished from "The New York Times", the text Macau - a Ásia com sotaque português (Macao-Asia with Portuguese accent). The unidentified author stated that the Territory "[...] uses a European mask over its Asian face, [and underlined that] the memories of the past are one of the touristic attractions of Macao but it is gambling that is its major source of income."** He spoke a little about history, temples and places, recommending them and giving information of interest to the visitor.

On the 17th of August 1984, the "O Estado de S. Paulo" informed that: Chineses são eleitos deputados em Macau (Chinese are elected deputies in Macao).

The following year, on the 24th of May 1985, the "Folha de S. Paulo" stated: "Portugal will return Macao to China." It had a reference to tourism, as the main source of income, and a note mentioning that Macanese casinos attract around four-million people each year. The title of the headline is meaningful enough: O paraíso do jogo no Oriente (The gambling paradise in the East).

On the 17th of June 1985, the "O Estado de S. Paulo" opened a six columns' text with a comment by José Júdice entitled: Portugal começa já a perder Macau (Portugal is already starting to loose Macao) and subtitled: Mas China conservará sistema capitalismo (But China will keep a Capitalist system): "The appointment of a new Governor of Macao will enable at last the beginning, by the end of this month, of the negotiations between the Governments of Lisbon and Beijing concerning the future of that Territory administered by the Portuguese for five-hundred years."

On the 1st of July 1986, the same newspaper informed: Começa em Pequim a reunião sobre Macau (The meeting on Macao is beginning in Beijing). And on the 24th of March 1987: Macau será da China em Dezembro de 99 (Macao will be Chinese in December of [19]99). On the 6th of February 1987, the weekly "Voz de Portugal", from Rio de Janeiro, had an article entitled: Assembleia de Macau aprovou programa do Governador (Macao Assembly approved the governor's program). On the 24th of March 1987, the "Folha de S. Paulo" reported that: Portugal devolverá Macau para os chineses em 1999 (Portugal will return Macao to the Chinese in 1999). On the 27th of the same month the "O Estado de S. Paulo" confirmed: Capitalismo prevalecerá em Macau até 2050 (Capitalism will prevail in Macao until 2050).

An article about tourism in the weekly newspaper "City News/Shopping News/Jornal da Semana", which is published in São Paulo with a circulation exceeding half-a-million was entitled: Macau - mistérios chineses com sotaque português (Macao- Chinese mysteries with Portuguese accent). And on the 16th of January 1988, the "O Estado de S. Paulo", gave the information: Ratificado o acordo sobre Macau (Ratified the Agreement on Macao).

In 1986 and 1987, the President of the Federação das Associações Portuguesas e Luso-Brazileiras (Federation of Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian Associations), António Gomes da Costa,published a series of articles about the Macanese theme, the majority of which appeared in the presently extinct weekly newspaper "O Mundo Português" while a few others in the diary "O Globo", both from Rio de Janeiro. The author of the article mentioned in his works not only political and economical problems but also those of cultural interest.

Finally, we allow ourselves to enumerate the six articles which we have had published in the Brazilian press (and which were reproduced in Portugal and some even in Macao):

1. Macau: motivos da presença portuguesa (Macao: motives of the Portuguese presence), in the "O Estado de S. Paulo", of the 13th of October 1974 (an extract of the speech made on the 11th of the same month at the Elos Clube of São Paulo);

2. Subsídios para a história da imprensa de Macau (Contributions for the History of Press in Macao), in the magazine "Comunidades de Lingua Portuguesa", from São Paulo, of the first semestre of 1983;

3. Macau e Brasil, unidos nos mesmos mistérios do falar em português (Macao and Brazil, united by the same mysteries of speaking Portuguese), in the "O Estado de S. Paulo", of the 28th of June 1982;

4. Macau - a história e a lenda têm um encontro em Macau (Macao -History and legend meet in Macao), in the Suplemento de Turismo (Supplement of Tourism) of "O Estado de S. Paulo", of the 27th of March 1987;

5. Realidade e mito da casamento na China (Reality and myth of marriage in China), in the daily "Jornal da Tarde", from São Paulo, of the 25th of February 1989;

6. 0 poeta, agora finge em chinês (The poet, now, pretends in Chinese), in the "O Estado de S. Paulo", of the 6th of January 1987.

Although partial references are obviously incomplete, they can be taken as a touchstone to illustrate the existence of huge gaps in press information about Macao. And if this panoramic view of newspapers and magazines suggests the gaps, we may stress that these are even wider in the cases of radio and television stations, which immediately presume a regretable void in the chapters of history, economics and so many others.

We would like to evoke, although superficially, certain historical episodes which bring together Macao and Brazil, starting by mentioning the attempts which the Dutch made to take over Macao in 1604,1607,1622, and 1627. Relevant date, to the point of the victory over the invaders, on the 24th of June 1622, being today the Day of the City which has "0 Santo Nome de Deus" ("The Holy Name of God"), for "Não há outra mais leal" ("None More Loyal"), as it was called by the King Dom João VI. More than that, writes Fr. Manuel Teixeira, in Vultos Marcantes de Macau (Remarkable Figures of Macao), when it was known in that City that the Portuguese Royal Family had escaped to Brazil, "[...] the Senate appointed, on the 7th of March 1809, the alderman António Joaquim de Oliveira Matos, and as his second-in-command, the citizen Raimundo Nicolau Vieira, to congratulate His Majesty in Brazil; for that purpose was chosen the frigate Ulisses, under the command of Pereira Barreto. The Prince Regent Dom João VI promoted this [Pereira Barreto] Lieutenant to the rank of Captain-of-Frigate and to the Senate granted the title of "Leal" ("Loyal")."

The author of the same book still mentions that António de Albuquerque Coelho, "[...] the Captain-Major who the Macanese considered their dearest, [... was born in the village of Santa Cruz do Camutá...] around 1682, having departed to Portugal while a young boy." He was the son of António de Albuquerque Coelho de Carvalho, a noble of the Royal House."[...] he was Captain-General of Pará, Governor of Maranhão, of Beira-Baixa and Olivença, of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais and, finally, of Angola, where he died. The mother of Captain-General António de Albuquerque was Angela de Barros, born in Gurupá." The father, the future Captain-Major of Macao, arrived in Brazil in 1685 and, besides the positions we have already mentioned, had a relevant role in the establishing of the border with former French Guiana. As for his mother's birthplace, Gurupá, it is a City and Municipality of the State of Pará, in the right bank of the Amazon River. Of Santa Cruz do Camutá we have not found any register whatsoever in historical dictionaries, possibly this name having been eventually changed.

Among the "Remarkable Figures" studied by Fr. Manuel Teixeira, there is a reference to the journalist Carlos Augusto Montalto de Jesus (°1863 {Hong Kong} -†1972), the author of a thorough history of Macao, who directed the magazine "Margonigrama" published in London by The Wireleen Press and destined for Portugal and Brazil, where the author even made conferences (in Rio de Janeiro) to historical and economic subjects. He was such a knowledgeable man that - according to Fr. Teixeira- on the 15th of July 1913 he was appointed effective member of the Sociedade de Geografia do Rio de Janeiro (The Geographical Society of Rio de Janeiro).

In the book Macau no século XVIII (Macao in the XVIIIth century), Fr. Manuel Teixeira gives us other explanations about the connections between Macao and Brazil, making the following remark about the celebrations of 1719:"[...] a Royal Decree from Portugal grants the City of Macao the privilege of sending every year, for a period of five years, two ships to Portugal and Brazil through Goa, with the following conditions: prohibition of sending any ship to Angola, under pain of confiscation and withdrawal of the privileges; and prohibition of carrying silver or gold from Portugal to Brazil [...]."

It may well have been the last licence for direct or with stop-trips between the two territories, as we deduct from other information of Fr. Teixeira concerning two priests who arrived to Guangzhou on the 1st of February 1707,"[...] from Brazil and touched in Baia de Todos os Santos [Salvador, in Brazil]." From the same year another important document is mentioned in Macau no século XVIII; the:

Carta Regia sobre poderem os moradores de Macau mandar os seos navios a Goa comboiados p. hua Nao de guerra, e não a Brazil, e sobre outros assumptos q' na m. Carta se referem [sic] (Royal Letter about the Macanese residents' freedom to send their ships to Goa escorted by a man-of-war, and not to Brazil, and about other matters which are mentioned in the same Letter), in which it was written:

"[...] and in what concerns the licence you request for the free navigation from that port to those of the State of Brazil, I must tell you that by no means whatsoever should it be allowed, for it would bring ruin to the Customs of Goa, for they would be deprived of the rights over the silk which arrives there from China; from Brazil they would have nothing in return, and their business would be, in this manner, very scarce [...]."

We think that the Macanese insisted on their request, for in 1708 there was another:

Carta Régia sobre não deferir a representação do Senado a respeito de mandar navio a Brasil; e de não pagar a Côngrua do Sr. Bispo (Royal Letter about the rejection of the Senate's suit to be allowed to send ships to Brazil; and about the non payment of the tax to the Bishop), in which it was written:

"Officers of the Chamber of the City of Macao. I The King salute you. I have seen your letter of the 14th of December 1706, in which you request permission for the residents to practise commerce in Surat and Mecca, and to be allowed to send a ship to Brazil and to be exempt of paying the tax to the Bishop due to the miserable state of the commerce in that City, I tell you that your suit must not be accepted because of the great inconveniences involved in this particular case, all of which deserve a greater reflection. Written in Lisbon on the fourteenth of March of seventeen hundred and eight.－[signed] The King."

The people of Macao insisted once again and on 30th of December 1709 received another:

Carta Régia desobrigando os Emb. de Macau que passass pelos mares de Goa pagass direitos ad. Cap. (enq durasse a guerra com Castela) [sic] (Royal Letter relieving the Ambassadors of Macao who cross the seas of Goa from paying customary rights (during the War with Castille)), in which it was written:

"I have decided to tell you that, concerning the freedom to sail your ships to the ports of Brazil from this Kingdom and from Asia, you may consider it granted: havendo por bem que se forme uma companhia de homens de negócio (my advice is the constitution of a company of men of business) from this Kingdom and that City [...]."

We furthermore read in that book of Fr. Teixeira:

"On the 5th of December 1716 the Senate decided to send Fr. António dos Prazeres, as its (Procurator), to Lisbon to ask the King to relieve them from paying the tax to the Bishop and to grant them licence to send their ships to Brazil to do commerce."

In the end, there is the complete biography of António Albuquerque Coelho, "[...] born in Maranhão [...and...] the son of António Albuquerque Coelho de Carvalho [...and the confirmation that...] from Brazil he went to the Kingdom, while he was still very young, [...]" having departed to India on the 25th of March 1700, preceeding his service in Macao, where he arrived in May 1708.

Deeper than the historical ties are surely the linguistic ones, because if the past sometimes has parallels, the linguistic present demands, more than preservation, a joint action. The re-reading of Língua de Macau: o que foi e o que é (Language of Macao: what it was and what it is), one of the studies of the essayist Graciete Nogueira Batalha, leads to approaches which, beyond the philologist, grammatist or lexicographer skills which we lack, illustrates the evolution of the Brazilian Language, guiding through ways sometimes very different from those followed in Portugal:

－"Empresta este livro a mim." (Port.:－"Empresta-me este livro."; or:－"Lend this book for me."; meaning:－"Lend me this book."); exemplifies professor Graciete Batalha, reproducing the sentence of a young Macanese, influenced by Chinese and English. A Brazilian adolescent would repeat the sentence or would say:

--"Empresta este livro p'ra (para) mim."

The investigator of Macanese Language admits the existence of similarities with Afro-Portuguese Creole Dialects and makes the following observation: "It will even explain some coincidences with Brazil's popular talk, considering that this Country took a great number of African workers during its colonization." [see: "Review of Culture", No.20, p. 140] That is not all, the changes and survivals of the Language were only different. Words like mês (month), vez (occasion), talvez (perhaps), which are pronounced according to vernacular Portuguese as mâis, vâis, talvâis. How were they formed? The 'rustic' Language of the Brazilian caipira is not so different -- as it is the general opinion -- from the uneducated Portuguese folk. Even Gil Vicente used the "l" instead of "r"...

The same happens in other classic works as Graciete Batalha remarks when she mentions one classic of classics, Fernão Mendes Pinto (but what about Camões? or master Gil, or Fernão Lopes and others?), where peis is written instead of pés (feet). And the fall of the final "r" in falá (Port.: falar; or: speak), comê (Port.: comer; or: eat), calô (Port.: calor; or: heat), or the "tch" and the "j" which transform the pronounciation of pertchinho (Port.: pertinho; or lit: close, small, meaning: very close -- diminutive) and rodjinha (Port.: rodinha; or: small ring of a dance -- diminutive), leads the author to the conclusion: "However, aware of the fact that the areas farthest to a diffusion center are always the most conservative, the identity of phonetical characteristics between the Macaísta and the Brazilian makes us come to the conclusion that the majority of such characteristics is not due to native influences, but to the retention of pronounciations brought by our colonizers from Portugal. Some of them, under the pressure of cultivated Language, have vanished completely or almost so from Portugal, but others are still very active indeed."

Other similarities are detected by Graciete Batalha, but we will just mention the case of cacoeta or cacoete (Port. expl: "a physical tic, such as making a awry face, to repeat words unnecessarily, etc.") a word which in Brazil has the same meaning as in Macao. As for the reference to the papiá cristang of Malacca, which sometimes is mentioned in a reference to Macao, we remember that papiar or papiá is, for the Brazilian, a synonym of speech, of speaking, of Language. (And what about the possible parallel with the papiamento, the Portuguese based Dialect of the Dutch West Indies?)

The same Brazilian phenomena happens in the case of words like professóra (Port.: professora; or: a woman teacher), senhôra (Port.: senhora; or: lady), amô (Port.: amor; or: darling) and calorr (Port.: calor; or: heat), [see: "Review of Culture", No. 20, p. 150] just to mention the words pointed out by Graciete Batalha, who still stresses the confusion between tu and você (both forms are translated into English as you, though there is a significant difference in Portuguese) -- in Macao as well as in Brazil: "As it happens with Portuguese spoken in Brazil, the two expressions to address a person are used undistinctly between the same persons, absolutely contrary to what happens in Portugal." [see: "Review of Culture", No. 20, p. 152]. And we may add that the confusion made by Brazilians, when using one form or the other, is in everyway similar to the Macanese.

Among the few studies which we were able to examine about the language of Macao, we must also refer to the book Papiá Cristám di Macau, by José dos Santos Ferreira, which shows that a great number of terms have, in Brazil, the same deviations as in Portugal.

The arts and literature are another point of connection between Brazil and Macao which has not been analysed with sufficient care. The Baroque architecture of Macao stands on a parallel line with Brazilian architecture, stemming from the same Lusitanian root. We are not art critics, but from what we have observed of Macanese art we have no doubt that the line is only one -- and if in Macao there was an understandable influence of Oriental art, particularly Chinese, the Brazilian Baroque of Minas Gerais underwent an unavoidable identification with the environment and even with the aesthetic tendencies of the local architects, sculptors and painters. What else could one expect other than this trend to individualization - or regionalization?

Some time ago Prince Dom João Henrique de Orleans e Bragança, godson of the heir presumptive to the Imperial Brazilian Crown, came to the Territory of Macao with the purpose of making－as he revealed to the newspaper "Folha de S. Paulo"－"[...] a photographic work about the Chinese influence in Portuguese and, by consequence, in Brazilian Baroque."

Here we have another subject to study carefully if we want to remake the link－which is not at all lost, but rather omitted－between Portugal, Brazil and Macao. We believe that this field, as well as others, has not yet been thoroughly investigated.

On the 6th of December 1982, in an article published in the daily "Jornal de Macau", with the title Macau e o Brazil (Macao and Brazil), Francisco Videira Pires made a brief inventory of the Macanese presence in Brazil: "These are art works with a clear Chinese influence, dating at least from the eighteenth century. They appear in the famous 'historical cities' which dot the Brazilian map." The author of the article furthermore informs us that in the Church of Santa Ifigénia, in Ouro Preto, on both (St. Iphigenia) sides of the main altar, "[...] of opulent gold plated carving, next to the balusters, there are two panels which reproduce very pure Chinese motives."

In addition, in Sabará, near Belo Horizonte, in the Chapel of Senhora do Ó (Our Lady of O), there are also "[...] Chinese painted panels [...]" in the main altar, while in the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Our Lady of Conception), one can see a chinoiserie sacristy door of Macanese origin: "In fact, everything in it [door] is Chinese, the drawing, the distribution of the paints and gold, the very decorative motives."－observed Videira Pires, and we also confirmed it, for we also went to Ouro Preto and our attention was also drawn to that chinoiserie ('chinesise' as the guides say in Brazil).

We can also read in the article of Videira Pires: "I am not talking of works attributed to Macao, which most of the time are shown in museums, as for instance in the Museu Arquidiocesano de Mariana (Museum of the Archidiocese of Mariana), in Minas Gerais. Who could tell that the Church of Feira de Santana has its bell tower crowned with azulejos 'chineses' (Chinese-like tiles) In the Convent of Carmo, in Cachoeira, on the banks of the Paraguaçu, a true Museum of Macanese antiques is kept inside the sacristy. These are not just paintings, garments, or furniture. There we have, in half-abandoned closets a collection of natural size images, for the Holy Week procession, all of them with Chinese features, salient cheekbones, yellowish skin and razor cut eyes." (Much of this information was confirmed to me by the Macanese Frederico Martins, who lives in São Paulo).

The Vista Chinesa(Chinese View)

The Chinese pavilion, in Estrada Dona Castorina, Rio de Janeiro.

Colecção Imago (Imago Collection) -- Rio/Oriente 03-201.

The Route of Spices Project [RSP].

Centre of Museologic, Human and Environmental Studies [MOUSEION], Rio de Janeiro.

Videira Pires ends with the following 'explanations': "One thing is blatantly obvious. The borders of the Portuguese world, from Macao to Brazil, were opened to all kinds of exchanges, carried by the ships and people came and went. The religious congregations, namely the Jesuits, must have been the most important agents of this artistic interchange. Did they bring with them artists to work here? It seems more likely that those were commissioned works executed in Macao, or even here in Brazil, by local artists, with materials coming from there."

However, the contrary is also true, as we may deduct from the article published by the Brazilian journalist, writer and politician Carlos Lacerda, which appeared on the 7th of June 1966, in the "Jornal da Tarde", from São Paulo, in which he claims to have found in the headquarters of the Sociedade de Amigos da Comunidade Luso-Brasileira de Macau (Society of the Friends of the Luso-Brazilian Community of Macao)－"[...] the most touching and poor of Societies [...]"－a banner of the Madureira, a football club from São Paulo. The Society's statutes had been approved in 1958 and its President was Dr. Barnabé Lopes, Director of the Treasury Department of Macao. The famous politician also mentioned the names of other Directors of the Society, whose main purpose was to "[...] promote the cultural, artistic, sportive, commercial, economic exchange, etc., establishing the means of a greater approach between Portugal and its Ultramarine Provinces－one of which is Macao－and all the States of the Brazilian Federation, and to intensify the import and export of products from both Countries [...]"－a vast and ambitious program for such a small group of people, admitted the author of the article.

Carlos Lacerda commented that the testimonies he heard in Macao were touching: "That old man from Malacca, speaking in old Portuguese and pathetically asking for teachers of Portuguese to be sent to Malaysia so that the Language is not lost in those regions where many still use it. Or the mother stricken by grief at her son's burial, together with the female mourners, crying in Malaysian and English, but then in the last moment she hugs and rocks him, as if he was her baby again, in the purest Portuguese of old."

The Brazilian politician confessed that he would rather not deceive the directors of the Society of the Friends of the Luso-Brazilian Community of Macao as to the echo of their calls in Brazil and he ended up by asking for news from Goa, Daman and Dio, "[...] where the Indians, in Hitler's style, follow the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi, for they oppress the Portuguese speaking community, who speak Portuguese, one of the several Languages of the Indian Union."

Immediately after, he referred to Macao"[...] a seed of the culture to which we, the Brazilians, belong, that was planted in Asia without war or conquest, [... stressing that if Brazil would vote against Portugal in the United Nations it would not take from that vote...] any consequence or benefit, from the many and legitimate benefits we should take. [And he emphasized...] For this reason there it stands, pathetic, like that mother from Malacca, talking about the Luso-Brazilian community as if using expressions from an old, almost dead Language, there it stands, the Society of Macao. How much would the well-governed Nations give to have an open door such as this in all the Continents, such a port in all the seas?"

Carlos Lacerda saw in Macao "[...] China translated to Portuguese [...]", to use his curious expression, and at the same time he regreted in that old article of 1966, so up to date in what concerns the concepts, the ignorance and indifference of the Brazilian regarding the reality of the Portuguese Language world. And Carlos Lacerda concluded: "It is for this kind of reason that Brazil does not appreciate the tools left at its disposal for the diffusion of its ideas, its products, the interchange and peaceful expansion which Portugal offers, and which depends only on using a clear, understandable Language -- even if we have to resort to ancient Portuguese, instead of this political 'cockney' we have been using, more and more confused, with a shortsighted politic vocabulary, shy and hesitating the sad vocabulary of disbelief and ignorance."

And, of course, we can not close the chapter Macao-Brazil without evoking the existence of the Brazilian City of Macau, in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, where since the eighteenth century salt has been exploited, besides being a region of fishing and agriculture production from cotton to beans, coconuts, corn and watermelon.

The Brazilian Macau is 174 km. in a straight line from Natal, Capital of the State of Rio Grande do Norte, and its current population is about twenty-five-thousand. According to a Monography of the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica ([IBCG] Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), Macau began on the Island of Manuel Gonçalves, which was, in those days "[...] inhabited by Portuguese, working in the extraction and commerce of salt. [...] But since the year 1825 the village was gradually invaded by the Atlantic Ocean and, in 1829, it being impossible to stay on the Island, it was decided to tranfer it to the mouth of the river Açu. [...] And the Monography of the IBGE adds: "The founders of the village of Macau were the Portuguese, Captain Martins Ferreira, four of his sons-in-law－José Joaquim Fernandes, Manuel António Fernandes, Manuel José Fernandes and António Joaquim de Sousa－and also João Garcia Valadão and the Brazilian João da Horta."

In the Brazilian Official Monography it is also explained that "Macau is a deviation of the Chinese word Ama-Ngao, which means, shelter or port of Ama, the godess of sailors." On the 2nd of October 1847, the village became a Municipality. In 1871 it became a Judicial District and in 1875 a City. It is located at 5°06'56" of latitude and 36°38'08" [sic] of longitude West of Greenwich [London/GB]. A centre of major salines, its deposits run along the banks of the rivers Açu, Cavalos and Amargoso, being explained in the Monography of IBGE that the "[...] coast is low and the mouth of the Açu river is divided by several branches. Thus, the tidal waters cover the low-lying regions and form the 'salty rivers.' Further advancing, the waters reach the muddy plains where they leave deposits in the soil. The suspension sediments of the tides, the amplitude of which is always normal, invade the evaporation basins, which easily happens due to the low coast. Then the elements act, favouring a quick evaporation."

Here we have some Geographic and Economic information of the Brazilian Macau, whose connections with the Macao of Asia seem unmistakeable, if we consider the relation established by the author of the official monography, Erasmo Catauli Giacometti. What inspired the first inhabitants to name the land Macau is something we ignore, but it is very likely that there was some relation which we could not discover. However, it is known that the licence to explore the salines might have been granted in 1605, by Jerónimo Albuquerque, to his sons António and Matias. Jerónimo Albuquerque was the conqueror of Rio Grande do Norte and he became Captain-General of Maranhão, after having defeated the troops of La Ravardiére, who tried to establish a Colony in the North of Brazil called Equinoxial France.

The writer Luís da Câmara Cascudo, who left precious works on the history and customs of Brazil, wrote that the salines, "[...] forty miles to the North, in lands which are suitable only for extraction of salt, and where it is spontaneously formed by the configuration of the terrain, and where identified by Luís Fernando as the salines of Macau."

One last thing to say, is that the two biggest religious celebrations of the Brazilian Macau are those of Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Our Lady of Conception)－patron Saint of the Municipality－and Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes (Our Lady of the Navigators). The first begins on the 28th of November and ends on the 8th of December, while the second is from the 11th to the 15th of August.

Having an area of 1,185.00 sq. km. at an altitude of only 5 metres, the average temperature of Macau ranges between 16° to 35° degrees, with an annual rainfall of 390 mm. average.

Who knows if one day we will identify the one who had the idea of naming the Brazilian Macau after the Macao of Asia?

Of the relationship of Camões with Macao, it is often mentioned in Brazil that his presence in that Asian land was accidental. This is one more thing to add to legend and reality. Nontheless, in this case it is a positive note, for it was through the poet of Os Lusiadas (The Lusiads) that the invisible ties of Language and spirit, across seas and continents, were formed. Are there linguists who say that the Language of Camões survived in Brazil?

Authors like Venceslau de Morais, Camilo Pessanha－who dreamed and wrote in Macao－and Joaquim Paço d'Arcos, are other cultural references which emerge in Brazil when the work of any of the three Portuguese writers is read, analyzed or discussed. The poetic work of Camilo Pessanha is the more widely known due to the interest in Portuguese contemporary literature, mainly at the Universities. And here we venture a suggestion－the divulgation of the work of the poet of the Clepsidra in Brazil, possibly organising a course and a series of talks, and through documental exhibitions, photos and films, if these can be found. If our intention is to go a little further, we may also remember José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage, who spent some time in Rio de Janeiro [1783], before departing to Goa and reaching Macao [1789].

In his work A influência da cultura portuguesa em Macau (The Influence of Portuguese Culture in Macao) the writer Rafael Ávila de Azevedo mentions the book A China e os chins (China and the Chinese) by the Brazilian diplomat Henrique C. R. Lisboa, published in Montevideo, in 1888. We did not manage to find the work which describes－according to the Portuguese essayist－Macao in 1880s.

The fortunate situation of having a copy of the "Boletim do Instituto Luís de Camões", gave us the opportunity to read a study by Edgar C. Knowlton Jr. entitled Machado de Assis and His 'Lira Chinesa' and a brief bibliography of the great Brazilian writer, so close to Portugal through his wife Carolina Novais and other strong cultural ties. Yet another link in the spiritual bridge of the Portuguese speaking peoples.

Before we finish, we want to underline the fact that the Bibliografia Macaense, by Luís Gonzaga Gomes includes more than a dozen works, of big and small dimension, which illustrate the historical, literary, journalistic, economic and cultural dialogue between Macao and Brazil. Some of those works deal with similar questions; there are also cases of Brazilian editions, unfortunately rare, about Macanese matters. Of that number, we could only consult the book by Alda de Carvalho Ângelo, who was born in Macao and whom we met in São Paulo. It was through her editions that we fed our interest for Macao, beyond the cultural ties which bind all the Portuguese Language communities and peoples. She is the author of Fragmentos do Oriente: contos, viagens, culinária (Fragments of the East: stories, travels, culinary), published in São Paulo, in 1965. This author also selected and partially translated Maravilhas do conto chinês (Gems of Chinese Prose), equally published in São Paulo. She also contributed to a number of Brazilian periodicals. Fragmentos do Oriente has a little bit of everything, from memories of China to other travels, to war [...] and Chinese culinary art with a special focus on Macao and two stories: Saudades da minha casa (Nostalgia of Home) and Minha Amah velha (My Old Amah ), written by the author, distant from her roots. In the second story the author tells of the lullaby her nanny sang her and her brothers to sleep with: "[...] however, what pleased me the most were the wonderful fables she sang. Although in a rustic manner, she sang them with such an expressiveness, such warmth in her voice that our attention was total. We were all ears. We vibrated with emotion at the incidents, our eyes followed with interest her expressions and gestures." Stories of Macao remembered in São Paulo!

Our route through the past and present of a dialogue which was already fluent between Macao and Brazil, thanks to the Language of Camões, shows that it is possible to dynamize it. We recognize that one of the vehicles of that necessary dialogue is the Instituto Cultural de Macau ([ICM] Cultural Institute of Macao).

But we shall not finish without stating that the Macanese can intensify their interchange with the peoples who express themselves in Portuguese. In the case of Brazil, we only wish to add that all conditions favour the dialogue, as the curiosity for the Macanese editions in Chinese of Fernando Pessoa's works show. The way to follow is pointed there.

Translated from the Portuguese by: Rui Cascais

Panoramic View of Rio de Janeiro.

From the Convent of the Ajuda and the morro do Castelo (Castle hill)to the end of the Island of the Cobras (Snakes).

SUNQUA (active ca 1830-1870).

Ca. 1830. Oil on canvas, signed, not dated, 40,0 [cm] x 124,0 [cm].

Panoramic View of Rio de Janeiro.

From the Island of Villegaignon, Pão de Açucar (Sugar Loaf), to Corcovdo and Lapa.

SUNQUA (active ca 1830-1870).

Ca. 1830. Oil on canvas, signed, not dated, 40,0 cm x 124,0 cm.

Panorama do Rio de Janeiro (Panoramic View of Rio de Janeiro).

From the Naval Chandlery to the mouth of the river estuary.

SUNQUA (active ca 1830-1870).

Ca. 1830. Oil on canvas, signed, not dated, 40,0 cm x 124,0 cm.

** Translator's Note: Reverted to English from the Portuguese translation of the original text.

* Lecturer on Social Communication at the Cásper Libero Faculty, São Paulo, and at the Escola Superior de Jornalismo (Oporto College of Journalism) and Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa (Institute for Labour and Business Sciences), in Oporto. Former editorial manager of "O Estado de São Paulo", São Paulo. Organizer of the I Colóquio Luso-Brazileiro de Estudos Pessoanos (First Luso-Brazilian Colloquium of Studies about Fernando Pessoa), in São Paulo, and the Encontro de Intelectuais e Artistas Portugueses do Brasil (Assembly of Portuguese Intellectuals and Artists in Brazil), in São Paulo. Author of Fernando Pessoa, poeta singular e plural, Movimento futurista em Portugal and História da Imprensa de língua portuguesa no mundo. Author of numerous publications on Luso-African-Brazilian topics.