Description

MACAU – ETHNIC CHINESE COMMUNITY / HONG KONG IMPRINT / CHINESE IMMIGRATION TO CUBA:

 

Manuel de CASTRO SAMPAIO (1827 – 1875).

Hong Kong: Typographia de Noronha e Filos, 1867.

 

8° (20 x 13.5 cm): xi, 144 pp., 2 ff., plus 1 folding map (measuring 24 x 19 cm), bound in original publisher’s printed paper covers, period former owner’s mss. inscription of “Jose Joaquim dos Santos” in indigo pen to title, faint period bookseller’s handstamps to front cover (Good, internally quite clean, just some minor stains especially to early and latter leaves, map with light even toning as is often the case, covers quite toned and stained, spine almost totally worn away but binding strings holding firm, textblock bound in slightly slanted fashion).

 

Macau became a Portuguese colony in 1557, and for the next two centuries it enjoyed great commercial advantages as the only major European-controlled port in China.  However, beginning in the mid-18^th century, Macau endured competition from the new European factories in Canton; then the establishment of the British colony of Hong Kong in 1843; and next the foundation of foreign treaty ports across China from 1860.  Moreover, China refused to extend Portugal favoured trading status, as they contested Lisbon’s claims over Macau and resented their mutual boundary disputes.  As such, in this new era, the Portuguese merchants and the colonial government had to hustle to drum up business.

Meanwhile, over 80% of Macau’s population was ethnic Chinese.  Some of the Chinese residents descended from families that had been there for hundreds of years, although most were more recent immigrants from Guangdong province.  Despite the new immigration, the Chinese community in Macau developed a culture with many elements distinct from that in neighboring Guangdong.  As such, the Macanese Chinese were often not considered to be truly Chinese by their brethren across the border, while traditionally leading lives segregated from the Portuguese/European colonial community.  Indeed, the Europeans historically tended to view the Chinese community with much suspicion and prejudice.

However, just as affairs became more difficult for the Portuguese colonial establishment, the Chinese community thrived, linked to a massive overseas trading network in China and with the Chinese diaspora communities in Southeast Asia.  At the same time, a new generation of Portuguese officials, businessmen, scholars and artists came to have a more open-minded view towards Macau’s Chinese community, the author of the present work, Manuel de Castro Sampaio, perhaps foremost among them.  While many Portuguese people still kept their distance, this new generation forged close personal and business relationships with the Chinese community, and came to have respect, if not great affection, for their culture.

By the time he wrote the present work, Manuel de Castro Sampaio had spent many years in Macau, first as an army officer, and then as the colony’s leading journalist.  He developed a deep fascination and respect for the Chinese community in Macau and spent countless days interacting with its people.  He thus acquired an insider’s view of the community to the highest degree that could ever be achieved by a European.  While his viewpoint still suffered from some European biases and prejudices, in this work he approaches the Chinese of Macau with curiosity and respect, creating a work of special value.

The book was very highly regarded in its day, with a derivative work in English, Rufino F. Martins’s (trans. and ed), Manners & Customs of the Chinese at Macao (Shanghai: Printed at the “Celestial Empire” Office, 1877), issued a decade later.  In recent times, it is still heavily referenced, considered the seminal 19^th century work on the Chinese community in Macau, and one of the most important historical works on Macau in general.

Castro Sampaio’s coverage of the Chinese communities in all its facets is amazingly thorough, and is divided into an Introduction and 14 chapters, as follows:

 

Introducção [Introduction] (pp. vii-xi)

 

1. De Macau [On Macau] (pp. 1-12). This chapter provides a profile of Macau’s history and geography and the general nature of its Chinese community and its distribution within the colony. Many intriguing facts and statistics are included, such as the chart noting that the Chinese community consists of 56,252 people but that only 10% are descended from traditional residents, while 80% are more recent emigrants, largely from form Guangdong Province.  A highlight is the map of the commercial heart of the Chinese community, the market, or bazaar district, custom-made for the work by the author, Planta topographica do Bazar de Macau por M. de Castro Sampaio (placed after p. 4).

 

1. Da physionomia dos chins, do seu vestuario e diverso accessorios, e de alguns de suas qualidades [On the Physiognomy of the Chinese, their Clothing and Various Accessories, and some of their Qualities] (pp. 13-27).

 

III. Dos alimentos e bebidas [On Food and Drinks] (pp. 28-33).

 

1. Dos casamentos [On Weddings] (pp. 34-43).

 

1. Dos habitações des chins e de alguns de seus actos domesticos e de etiqueta [Of the Chinese Dwellings and some of their Domestic and Habits and Etiquette] (pp. 44-49).

 

1. Do tribunal onde os chins são julgados em Macau [On the Court where the Chinese are Tried in Macau] (pp. 50-67).

 

VII. Dos principios cultos dos chins e de seus actos religiosos [On the Faith Principles of the Chinese and their Religious Rituals] (pp. 68-73).

 

VIII. Da medicina chineza [On Chinese Medicine] (pp. 74-77).  This chapter provides an intriguing short overview of the importance of Chinese medicine, written by Castro Sampaio, a former army medic.

 

1. Das ceremonias que ha por occasião de falecamentos e enterras [On the Ceremonies that take Place on the Occasion of Deaths and Burials] (pp. 78-91).

 

1. Das festas [On Festivals] (pp. 92-102).

 

1. Das procissões [On Precessions] (pp.103-107).

 

XII. Das varias superstições [On Various Superstitions] (pp. 108-113).

 

XIII. Do commercio e industrias [On Commerce and Industry] (pp. 114-136).  This chapter provides a fascinating overview of the vibrant trade that the Chinese community of Macau undertook with Hong Kong and the Chinese diaspora communities in places such as Singapore, Malaya, Manila, Batavia (Jakarta) and Vietnam, often facilitated by the Hāos trading syndicates.

 

XIV. Mais duas palavras (Sobre a emigração chineza em Macau) [Two More Words (About Chinese Emigration to Macau)] (pp. 137-144).  This highly important chapter concerns the Chinese emigration to Latin America, which flowed through Macau.  In the mid-19^th century, Cuba desperately needed agrarian labour and sought to attract immigrant workers from China.  For a variety of legal and commercial reasons, these workers had to be transported from China to Havana via Macau.  From 1847 to 1877, the Compañia Asiatica de la Habana, the commercial body set up to manage the system, transported over 140,000 Chinese labourers to Cuba.  Here Castro Sampaio gives a detailed account of this migration system and provides recent statistics.  The table on page 141 shows that from 1856 to 1860, 32,513 Chinese emigrants passed through Macau, with the great majority, 28,012, bound for Havana, while 1,613 were headed for Peru.

Manuel de Castro Sampaio: Journalist, Soldier and Governor in the Far East

Manuel de Castro Sampaio (1827-1875) was during the 1860s one of the most prominent residents of Macau, a senior army officer and then a respected journalist.  While still a young man in Portugal, he had founded the Voz do Alentejo, a magazine in Elvas, and wrote a work of poetry, Pobreza envergonhada (Valencia 1852).

He subsequently joined the army, and as a member of the medical corps, was posted to Macau, where he eventually became the captain of the garrison.  Of great intellect and possessing an open-mind, Castro Sampaio befriended a wide variety of people from all classes and races, granting him precious cultural insights.  He left the army and became a full-time journalist, being one of the founders and editors of the short-lived but highly regarded weekly magazine, Ta-Ssi-Yang-Kuo (1863-6), and the author of several books, of both fact and fiction, including, Ensaios Poeticos (1858); Compendio de hygiene popular – tradução livre do texto de D. FranciscoTamires Vaz, (Elvas, 1860); Victimas de uma paixão (Lisbon 1863); Memorias dos festejos realizados em Macau no fausto nascimento de S. A. o sr. D. Carlos Fernando (Macau, 1864) and Compendio de ortographia (Macau, 1864).  The present work was Castro Sampaio’s finest and most important, based on his many years of intimate knowledge of the Macau’s Chinese community.

Sampaio was highly regarded by the Portuguese government and served as the Governor of East Timor (Timor Leste) from 1871 to 1873.  Sadly, his years in the Orient took a toll on his health, and after having returned to Portugal, he died at only the age of 48.

 

The Publisher: Noronha & Sons – the Macanese Official Printer to the Kong Kong Government

The present work was issued by the firm of Noronha & Sons, a leading Hong Kong publishing house that for a century played a major role in the history of media and print culture in Hong Kong, Macau and southern China.

The firm was founded by in 1844, the year after Hong Kong’s official creation as a colony, by Delfino Noronha (1824-1900), a virtually penniless Macanese immigrant.  However, Norohna was incredibly hardworking, and a stickler for detail and quality, who spoke several languages.  He produced far better works at more reasonable prices than his British competitors, leading the crown to appoint him to publish the Hongkong Government Gazette.  He was subsequently made the official government printer, a major accolade for anyone, especially an immigrant.

Noronha & Sons published many of the most important books and magazines in Hong Kong, in a variety of languages, and Delfino Noronha became a very wealthy man and a major philanthropist and patron of the arts.  He also founded the first ferry service across Hong Kong Harbour, the forerunner to the famous Star Ferry.  Noronha was also one of the principals of the Club Lusitano, the highly influential organization for Portuguese nationals in Hong Kong.

The Noronha firm was continued by his heirs after his death and remained the government printer until World War II.

 

A Note on Rarity & Variants

While we can trace around a dozen or so examples in institutions worldwide, the work seldom appears on the market.

Importantly, there are two variants of the book, which are identical save for the final leaves that list the author’s other works.  The first variant (the present example), features a single, unnumbered page of the author’s other works after the index, entitled, ‘Obras de Mesmo Auctor’.  The earlier print runs of the book are of this variant.

The second variant features a differently printed, expanded 2-page list of the author’s other works, entitled ‘Obras de Manuel de Castro Sampaio’, continuing the pagination of the book to page 149.

 

References: Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal: H.G. 15528 P.; British Library: General Reference Collection 1509/3687; Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden: KITLV3 M ww 662; University of Macau: RMK 1929; OCLC: 760470066, 253039237, 482495130; Jean A. BERLIE, ‘The Chinese of Macao: Identity and Transformation’, in Eilo W.Y.YU and Ming K. CHAN (eds.) China’s Macao Transformed: Challenge and Development in the 21st Century (Hong Kong, 2014), p. 147; R. D. CREMER, Macau: City of Commerce and Culture (1991), p. 367; N.B. DENNYS (ed.), Notes and Queries on China and Japan, vol. 1 (Dec., 1867), pp. 63-4; Kendall JOHNSON, Narratives of Free Trade: The Commercial Cultures of Early US-China Relations (Hong Kong, 2011), p. 202.