The Travelers': Handbook for China

"The Travelers': Handbook for China", da autoria de Carl Crow, foi editado em 1913 em S. Francisco, EUA.

Neste guia turístico do início do século 20 a referência a Macau surge nas páginas 188 a 192. Segue-se o texto...

Distant 35 miles from Hongkong is Macao, equally interesting for its history, for the natural beauty of its location and for the quaint mixture of the Orient with Mediaeval Europe, as seen in its buildings. The steamer trip is made in three hours from Hongkong at a fare of $4 each way and should not be omitted from any tour to Southern China. Macao is the oldest outpost of Europe in its intercourse with China. The Portuguese established themselves here in I557 and by a fortunate circumstance, gained the good will of the Chinese authorities. The coast was menaced by a strong band of pirates, with whom the Chinese officials were unable to deal, and the Portuguese colonists were asked to help. They helped with such success that the pirates were driven away and, out of gratitude, the Chinese asked the colonists to settle on the narrow end of the peninsula, which has since been their home. The land was held at a nominal rental from the Emperor of China at 500 taels a year, but in 1848 Governor Ferreira de Amaral took advantage of other difficulties which engaged the attention of China to refuse further payments and drove out the Chinese customs house, together with all vestige of Chinese authority. It was probably because of this that he was treacherously murdered in August, 1849, and his head taken to Canton. 

The complete sovereignty of Portugal over the place was not fully recognized by China until 1887, when a new treaty was signed. For several centuries Macao was the principal trading point between China and the West, especially in the eighteenth century. The cession of Hongkong to Great Britain created a dangerous competitor and since then Macao has steadily declined as a commercial center. Many of the Macanese have removed to Hongkong, and Macao is now chiefly a pleasure resort for South China. 

The area of Macao is II square miles, and with its dependencies, it has a population of 78,000. Of the original 1000 Portuguese families which settled in the place, little remains but for long inter-marriage with the Chinese has resulted in the domination of the Chinese blood. 

Macao is quite unlike any other city in the Orient. Its blue, red, yellow and brown buildings rise on a hillside overlooking a beautiful crescent shaped bay. The buildings are neither Chinese nor foreign but a strange combination of the two, clearly showing the survival of mediaeval Portuguese iufluence. Standing out high against the sky line is the fine facade of the ruin of the San Paulo cathedral, built in 1594. 

The incorporated name of the city is ''City of the Name of God, Most Loyal of the Colonies", a name accorded it in 1642. It has always lived up to its name, for through the centuries Macao has remained Portuguese, and its history contains many passages telling how the brave Macanese held the place against invading Dutch and Chinese. 

Camoens, the great Portuguese poet, who is known as "The Chaucer of the Portuguese" lived in Macao as a political exile and wrote some of his greatest poems here. The grotto in which he worked may by seen by visitors. The grave of Robert Morrison is here, and it was in Macao that he spent many years of his long and useful life. He was the pioneer missionary and translator of China, and his translation of the bible into Chinese is the corner stone of all the mission work which has since been done in China. In spite of its decline in trade, Macao retains a few factories and carries on a small trade in tea, silk, tobacco and fire crackers. A small village near the city is devoted to the making of firecrackers for sale in the United States."