400 YEARS OF PORTUGUESE PRESENCE

MACAU - FEBRUARY 2001

With the intent of doing business with China, a Portuguese ship dropped anchor off of Macao, more than 400 years ago. That's how Macau became an ethnic melting pot, and a cultural mix of Portuguese, Chinese, and other influences - the world's first mixed-race culture, some would say! And that's also how, in 1953, a certain baby was born in Macau from an expat Portuguese couple. Almost fifty years later, she's back again!"


"DRAGONS - 1953 was, however, the year of the SNAKE!"


"RIQUEXÓ - Western and Eastern culture have lived side-by-side in the city. Cultural legacies from the Portuguese and the Chinese have made Macau a unique city. Riquexó was used for ages as one of the main means of transportation. The tourists still use it to visit the historical places of Macau nowadays, but it has also acquired the status of a museum piece"



MUSEU - The Museum tells the history of Macau - its origin and relation to Western countries - and shows tapes and films to help you know how people lived and worked at the beginning of the 20th century"


"SAINT PAUL - (Chinese: 聖保祿大教堂, commonly known as "大三巴") — was a 16th-century cathedral in Macau. Today, its ruins are arguably the Macau Region's most famous tourist site. Built from 1582 to 1602 by the Jesuit priesthood, the Cathedral was the largest Christian church in Asia at the time. The Cathedral was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835"




"COLOANE - Temples and Churches. Temples are built in pure Chinese style while the churches are purely Portuguese. The Tam Kung Temple is one of the temples in Coloane. Tam Kung had extraordinary powers and was said to be able to heal the sick and control the weather.
The church of St. Francis Xavier is a small chapel built in 1928 following the baroque style. The plaza in front of the church have arcaded restaurants and on one side is the monument commemorating the local victory over pirates in 1910. The chapel used to hold some sacred relics of Catholic Asia, including a bone from the arm of St Francis Xavier, who died in 1552 on Sanchuan Island, 50 miles from Macau"


"DINNER at Francisco's house"