Macau Ricci Newsletter 4

No. 4 － February 2005

In some countries, custom wants that New Year wishes be offered before January 1st; in some others, only after should that be done. Here, we can be “after” while being “ before”: the two “New Year” – solar and lunar – give us that chance. We therefore present our most sincere wishes to you all who will receive these lines.

In keeping you informed about the Institute's activities, we intend to express our gratitude for the support and interest you have expressed for our works. Let us first report about those in which several members of the Institute have cooperated, and then about more personal research and studies.

The Symposium

Once a year, the symposium mobilizes our entire team. This year, as you might know, the theme was “Culture, Law and Order: Chinese and Western Traditions.” It was held on November 24, 25 and 26 (2004) in the most pleasant surrounding of the Macao Institute for Tourism Formation. Around forty invited participants acted as chairperson, presenter or discussant. Beside these, some other fifty registered attendees were there for all or part of the three day sessions. The presence of a large group of students from the University of Macao was also a sign of the importance attached to the issues involved in the main theme of the symposium. Its programme and time table are available at: www.riccimac.org/eng/symposium/2004.

Highly academic, the presentations were followed by dense and lively exchanges. Of very different origins, ages and backgrounds, the participants have also expressed largely diverging opinions. As always, these exchanges cannot be summed up in a few lines, so only important points will be mentioned as follows.

First, the cultural dimension: Professor Léon Vandermeersch, in his inaugural address, touched upon it by reminding the audience of the importance of rites in China. And in the concluding panel discussion, again he observed that, although the debates had focused on law, never had the content of this concept in different cultural contexts been explicitly developed. Of course, the distinction to be made between rule of law and rule by law has often been mentioned. Several scholars have also expressed that China remained closer to the rule by law. Perhaps is it due—as one explained—to the fact that the very close link maintained in contemporary China between politics and legislative work does not allow to grasp all the detrimental implications and consequences of ruling by law . Some present constitutional work nevertheless and the participation in the World Trade Organisation as well will lead China, it seems, to a deeper appreciation of the meaning and the function of a legal system and of its implications in the socio-political life of the country. Yet this evolution would not necessarily be conducive to a simple imitation of what is being done elsewhere. In fact, here again, one has to take into account the history of mentalities, even if the life of a culture does not manifests itself except through motion, that is through change.

Larger aspects of this symposium will be given to you soon in the forthcoming issue of 神州交流 Chinese Cross Currents. Since we could publish four communications only, we had obviously to make a selection, and it has been decided to give priority to the cultural and historical dimensions of the debates (L. Vandermeersch, Ritual and Law in Chinese and Western Traditions, G. Timmermans, Sir George Thomas Staunton and the Translation of the Qing Legal Code ) before getting into present and future Chinese issues (Zhang Haiting, Chinese Culture and the Rule of Law in China; Chen Jianfu, Civil Codification and Foreign Influence in China – Towards China's Civil Code? ). Later on, the proceedings of the symposium will be published in the “Macao Ricci Institute Studies” series.

We have been particularly honored and happy that renown author and Professor 何家弘 He Jiahong had accepted to participate in this symposium. 神州交流 Chinese Cross Currents had already in an earlier issue (Vol. 1, No.2, pp. 70-95) presented Professor He through an interview granted to Éric Sautedé, Chief Editor of the journal. As He Jiahong offered as a gift to the Institute's library five of his published works, we have asked him what pages he would particularly recommend that have some relation with the theme of the symposium. Here is his answer:

– in 毒树之果 Dushu zhiguo （Fruits of poisoned trees) : « 错放还是错判 » [Cuofang hai cuopan] (Acquittal error or judicial error), pp. 351-354 ; « 一念之差的罪恶 » [Yinian zhi cha de zui'e] (The Crime of one single erroneous thought), pp. 357-359 ; « 法律不是说着完的 » [Falu bushi shuozhao wande] (Law is not to give a sentence and that's all), pp. 360-362;

– in 神证 -人证- 物证 [Shenzheng, Renzheng, Wuzheng] (Divine proof, human proof, material proof) : « 尊严是法律的生命 » [Zun'yan shi falu de shengming] (Respect for the law is its life), pp. 188-194) and « 公正是法律的灵魂 » [Gongzheng shi falu de linghun] (Impartiality is the soul of the law), pp. 195-201.

These pages insist on the importance, in China, of the application of the law. What is needed most is not only good laws, but healthy structures that let them to be observed at all levels, including among people responsible for the respect of the law. Professor He Jiahong has, several times, insisted on this point during the symposium.

Let us finally observe that some of the communications were chapters of doctoral dissertations still in process of elaboration (for instance, on slavery in China as seen in XIXth and XXth centuries by missionaries; on judiciary personnel in North-Eastern China districts at the beginning of the XXth century; or on some legal problems concerning the ethnies of lesser number). We are glad to have welcomed young really promising Chinese and foreign researchers.

Without prejudging of the participants opinions, and in order to avoid complacency and self-satisfaction, these lines have nevertheless for goal to give these researchers a testimony of our gratitude for the seriousness and the quality of their contributions.

Similarly, we thank the staff of the Macao Ricci Institute which, with kindness and efficiency, has accomplished all logistic tasks necessary for the smooth running of such an academic gathering.

We have already started to prepare the next symposium. It would have for its main theme “History and Memory.” Based on the simple fact that it is impossible to write some story without choosing, we would like to reflect on the link between History and Narrative. In Imperial China the role of historians, in contemporary China the abundance of memoirs by revolutionaries and, after the cultural revolution as well, of auto-biographic narratives, indicate with enough insistence the cultural and present importance of the theme for men and women of China. Can it be said that the task of reading anew the past—be it more or less recent or remote— above all indicates, even through the referred “proofs,” a certain state of self-knowledge which one wishes to strengthen in order to better live an unforeseeable to-morrow? On the other hand, the use of this self-knowledge may be manipulated by some “oblivions” (some blank pages) or by some biased accents (to give meaning, nothing withstanding; to explain the meaning of the events). You will very soon find on the pages of the Institute's website a more complete presentation of this project.

Chinese Cross Currents

On November 25, right in the middle of the symposium, we were glad to present to the participants Vol.1 No. 4 issue of the Institute's periodical, which gathers some studies on population problems in China. The carefully studied lay-out, work of Éric Sautedé and Gary Lei, our graphist, wishes to render more attractive the reading of sometime rather technical articles. These texts have as purpose to draw the attention on social phenomena deemed important for years to come.

Earlier in the month of October went out of the press the precedent issue (Vol.1 No. 3), with its special dossier entitled “Culture, Art and Society.” Thanks to the number of articles on cultural exchanges between East and West in the artistic fields, one can find in it a good sample of the ambition of the quarterly. Let us quote: « The Influence of the West on Chinese Modern Art » by Oscar Ho Hing-kay, or else « From Trading Rivals to Academic Partners: The Relations of Macao and the Philippines from the XVIth Century to the Present » by César Guillen-Nuñez & Tereza Sena, both members of the Institute.

As we have said earlier, the dossier of the next issue, made of some of the contributions to the symposium, will have the same title: Culture Law and Order : Chinese and Western Traditions. Following issues of this year 2005 are already in the making, with provisory themes as: Success, Satisfaction and Values (April); Education and Society: Needs and Challenges (July); Harmonious Development (October), always in a perspective at the same time cultural and comparative.

Forums

Four forums were held during the last quarter of 2004, with an audience each time of 25 to 40 persons.

Professor Jean-Philippe Béja being in Hong Kong for a few days, Éric Sautedé invited him to present his recent new book, published in France under the title À la recherche d'une ombre chinoise : Le mouvement pour la démocratie en Chine (1919-2004) (Paris, Le Seuil, 2004 – [Looking for a Chinese shadow: the movement for democracy in China, 1919-2004]). The talk of Professor Béja, informative and stimulating, gave the main ideas of the work to a public which perhaps does not read French, and was followed by a multi-faceted and lively conversation.

The second forum was an occasion to discuss with Dr. Lam Wai-man, from the University of Macao, in reference with her book Understanding the Political Culture of Hong Kong: the Paradox of Activism and Depoliticization (New York, M.E. Sharpe, 2004). The methodological originality and the penetration of the analyses present in the study did not escape the best specialists. Several commentaries and questions did focus on the situation of Macao, in contrasting comparison with that of Hong Kong.

In an evening of November, Dominic Yung took up again some of the analyses of three important films presented in 神州交流 Chinese Cross Currents , issue Vol. 1 No. 3. But this time, some meaningful excerpts of these movies coming from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were also shown to the audience.

Finally, in December, thanks to his presence in Macao, we have been able to invite M. Antoni J. Üçerler, Jesuit and historian, to share with our public the results of his research. He chose the following topic: « Gutenberg comes to East Asia: The Jesuit Mission Press in China and Japan (1590-1620) ». Brilliant lecture on a very interesting period of the exchanges between East and West, with many positive aspects and some shadows in the history of Christianity in the Far East.

Personal Researches and Works

César Guillen-Nuñez continues his researches on the cultural history of Macao. He has been invited by several organizations (of Hong Kong in particular) to give lectures based on his works. He presently finishes the preparation of two or three books generously illustrated.

Teresa Sena pursues her work on the information database related to the inter-cultural history of Macao. She is also finalizing a monograph on Wu Li (1632-1718), one of the Six Masters of Early Qing painting history, Jesuit and first Christian poet of China. She has also been asked to write the introduction to the re-edition of O-Yoné e Ko-Haru, a famous work of Wenceslau de Moraes, first published in 1923.

…and the day to day…

Ignatius Futo, helped by Jeronimo Hung, continues to catalog with method and technical expertise books, old and new, of the Institute's library. Some other collections will also in the near future be hosted at the Macao Ricci Institute, so that the library will become a better research tool.