1ºs livros sobre a história de Macau

A soberania de Macau sofreu um primeiro impacto com a publicação em 1832 de um estudo sobre a sua história, pelo sueco Anders Ljungstedt. Nesse estudo afirmava que Macau era território da China. As suas afirmações foram consideradas falaciosas pelos historiadores portugueses.

Mais tarde, Carlos Montalto de Jesus, numa resenha histórica sobre Macau, publicada em 1902 (Historic Macao), afirmava “que os portugueses tinham sido convidados pelos chineses a instalar-se em Macau, e que, nos primeiros tempos, não havia qualquer renda”. Mas Montalto de Jesus, na segunda edição, publicada em 1926, acrescentou novos capítulos, em que se refere às falhas de Portugal e da China como responsáveis pela ruína de Macau, ao triste destino de Macau... O Governo de Macau sentiu-se atingido e acabou por condenar herética esta 2ª edição, apreendendo-a e queimando-a em público.

Em 1992, Monsenhor Manuel Teixeira fez elogios ao trabalho de Ljungstedt, reabilitando-o. A obra mereceu então nova edição.

Excertos de uma entrevista do Monsenhor Manuel Teixeira, em 1982:

Monsenhor:

Well, I was born in Portugal, in a villa called Freixo de Espada-a-Cinta in the Tras-os-Montes. That village is a missionary village. We have more missionaries from that village than all the others put together. I came to Macao in 1924 for my ecclesiastical studies at the seminary of Macao under Jesuit fathers. My professor of French was a father belonging to the Foreign Missions Society of Paris. He was very interested in history and was the only historian at that time. He published a book called: Resumo da história de Macau. (A Summary of Macao History.)What was his name?

Monsenhor:

Father Regis Gervaix. In 1925 he went to Peking and became a professor of French literature at the Goverment University and there he published a new history of Macao in two volumes called "Abre'ge' de l'histoire de Macao". So it was that father who gave me the taste and inclination to carry on his work. Because on his departure Macao was left without historians. When I finished my studies in 1933, I started at once writing history and published my first book in 1937. And since then I have published a hundred and nine books on Macao history. This year on the tenth of June I published four volumes and next year on the tenth of June - because it is a national holiday - another four volumes...Was it Gervaix who started this?

Monsenhor:

The first man who wrote a history of Macao was a Franciscan friar, Jose de Jesus Maria: Azia Sinica e Japonica. A very nice volume. Professor C.R. Boxer has published the manuscript in two volumes. The book was written in between 1742 and 1745. He spent three years in Macao, consulting all the archives. Many of these do not exist any more. Then the second history of Macao was written in 1902 by a layman, Montalto de Jesus: Historic Macao, then came father Gervais as I said and then....What about Sir Andrew Ljunsted?

Monsenhor:

Yes, in 1834 he published here the History of Macao, an historical sketch of the Portuguese settlements in China. He was the factor of the Swedish in Macao. He used the documents collected by Bishop Dom Joaquim de Souza Saraiva, the Bishop of Peking. He arrived in Macao in 1804 and died here in 1818. All his documents he handed over to Ljungsted and Ljungsted acknowledged in the introduction of his history that he used the bishop's documents.