Macau Ricci Newsletter 17

No. 17 － June 2011

"China Trade" Workshop

The MRI International Workshop 2011 entitled “China Trade (1760-1860), Merchants and Artists: New Historical and Cultural Perspectives” was held on 2-3 March, 2011 at the Auditorium, Team Building, Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT). About 65 participants attended the opening session.

There were 16 invited guests as speakers and chairpersons from different countries of the world including U.S.A., Portugal, Sweden, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom, China, Hong Kong and Macau. The Welcome Speech was addressed by Dr. César Guillén-Nuñez who was the Chief Coordinator of the event.

The theme of the morning session was “Historical Aspects of the Early China Trade”, followed by a group photo taken at the entrance of the IFT Restaurant. In the afternoon, there were two sessions with the main topics as “China Trade: Painting and Art” and “Record & Collections” respectively.

On the following day, there was a morning session with the theme as “Aspects of 19th Century China Trade History”, chaired by Fr. A, Wardega. The concluding panel was presided by Prof. Patrick Conner, with Prof. Rogério Miguel Puga, Prof. William R. Sargent and Prof. Betty Wei Peh T’i, all of whom addressing their final commentaries as regards to the successful Workshop. At the end, Mr. Albert Wong, academic assistant of the MRI, expressed the Institute’s gratitude for the contribution of all the scholars and speakers to the Workshop. For more information please check out our website at http://www.riccimac.org/eng/workshops/2011/chinatrade/index.htm.

Forums

On 16 February, the MRI held its first Forum of the year with the title “We are victims, aren’t we? Self-victimizing nationalism as an obstacle to Sino-Japanese reconciliation”. Mr. Martin Chung Chi-Kei who was a lecturer at the University of St. Joseph and is now a Research Postgraduate for PhD in European Studies, at the University of Hong Kong, was our guest speaker. The presentation was largely appreciated by well attended audience. The forum was followed by a small cocktail party and a little musical performance with mandolin and acoustic guitar by our staff Mr. Jerónimo Hung and his two old friends, Mr. Rui Coelho and Mr. António Lopes (the trio is named as Velhos Amigos).  The soft Italian music with a couple of local Macanese dialect (Patuá) songs did please all the audience.

On 19 April, our Institute invited Mr. John Wong, a PhD candidate in the History Department at the Harvard University, who is currently a Fullbright Scholar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, conducting research on the China Trade in the 19th century, to be speaker of the Forum entitled “Riding the Eagle to Break Free from the Lion: Houqua’s positioning of the China Trade in view of the shifting geopolitical landscape of the early 19th century”. The presentation of the speaker was appreciated by the audience.

On 16 May our Institute held another Forum entitled “Macaulogy: A polymorphic approach to an historical and dynamic phenomenon”. The invited speaker was Prof. António V. de Saldanha, a full Professor at the School of Political and Social Sciences – Lisbon Technical University (ISCSP-UTL).  The topic presented was largely appreciated by the audience who has made good dialogue with the speaker.

神州交流 — Chinese Cross Currents (CCC)

The first issue of CCC in 2011 is fortunate to present two contributions indirectly related to the elapsed time since Matteo Ricci’s sojourn in Macau for only a few months (7th August 1582 till September 1583). Among the many aspects of his personality, Ricci is known for his excellent memory and for the mnemo-technical devices he learned and, most probably, applied when he started learning, in particular written Chinese, in Macau. Thanks to his “memory palace”, to quote Ricci himself and Jonathan Spence, he was able to master the Mandarin Chinese of his time more easily than his elder Michele Ruggieri. The first contribution of this section, by Zhang Zhiyan, of the University of Exeter, UK, explains why “Matteo Ricci’s Art of Memory” did not appeal to his Chinese contemporaries despite the fact that they had been amazed by his performances (!). The second contribution deals also with languages as presently practised in Macau. In it, written by David C. S. Li of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, the author addresses the state of the bi-lingualism as it is lived now in the city of Macau. There are probably similarities with the state of the matter in Ricci’s time. Yet, not everyone has built, as he did, any “memory palace” to help!

As the April 2011 issue (8.2) of CCC is being published, more than three months have already passed since Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old walking fruit vendor from Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, set himself ablaze on 17 December 2010 and two weeks later, in Ben Arous, died from his burns: after a dispute with the police who had confiscated his cart, he protested against the regime of his country. That was the innocent spark that ignited in despair a succession of rebellious popular movements not only in Tunisia but in several other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries. From a wider angle, the contribution of the World section examines the global context. Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International (CSIS), Washington DC, presents a detailed analysis of what he calls “The Vital Triangle”, the mutual and competing relationships that the U.S.A., China and the Middle East oil-producing countries of the region share differently. In this wider background, the change of focus might open new perspectives. This issue also remembers a Western scholar in “Jean Lefeuvre (1922-2010): Jesuit, Lexicographer, Sinologist”. Through his research on the most ancient script of the Chinese language, the ‘oracle bones inscriptions’ dating back to the Shang dynasty, Jean Lefeuvre contributed to the quest of Chinese scholars who, in these inscriptions, were rediscovering the first expressions of the Chinese thought and culture. These roots are still living today.

Researchers’ activities

On 12 April, Fr. A. Wardega went to Beijing and paid a visit to the Institute of Qing History, Renmin University of China. A meeting was held at the Headquarters of the National Committee for the Compilation of Qing History together with Prof. Dai Yin and Prof. Liu Wenpeng. The Committee is interested with the proceedings of our previous Symposium on “Acta Pekinensia” and would like to publish the Chinese version of some selected texts.

On 20 April, Fr. Wardega was invited to attend a Forum held at the Library of the University of Macao, for the introduction of the digital sources of references (including Fr. Matteo Ricci) from the Zhaoqing Library, presented by their Head Librarian Ms. Fan Xuemei. More than 10 books regarding Zhaoqing and its Library were offered to the Library of our Institute. In return, our Institute offered to the Zhaoqing Library, 5 copies of our booklet “Portrait of a Jesuit: Matteo Ricci” (Chinese version) as well as 2 copies of our latest issue Vol.8, No.1 of our magazine “Chinese Cross Currents”.

Dr. Liu Jingjing, our assistant researcher, attended the Third Conference on Interreligious dialogue and Harmonious Society, co-organized by the Research Centre for Religion and Culture at Lanzhou University, and the Culture Regeneration Research Society (CRRS) held 10-12 May. She presented a paper “Should Christianity supplement Confucianism and replace Buddhism? A Case Study of Zhang Xingyao”, exploring the dialogue between the three confessional traditions by presenting the core thought found in the Zhang’ works.

On 12 May, Fr. A. Wardega was invited by the Department of Chinese of the University of Macau to attend the Conference on the Themes of South China Journal of Humanities and the launching of the first issue of the semi-annual South China Journal of Humanities (南國人文學刊), held at the University’s Library. Its international editorial board includes Prof. Hao Yufan and Dr. Wu Zhiliang as the honorary Editors-in-Chief, Prof. Yang Yi and Prof. Zhu Shoutong as the Editors-in-Chief, Prof. Wolfgang Kubin, Fr. Artur W. Wardega et al. as members. During the event, Fr. Wardega met and talked with several well-known people including Mr. Hong Bo, the Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Education of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao SAR, Prof. Jiang Shuzhuo, the Chair of University Committee of the Jinan University, Guangzhou, Prof. Yang Yi, the Chair Professor of Chinese Literature at the University of Macau and Dr. Wong Man Fai from the Studies, Research and Publications Division of Macau Cultural Institute.

On 25 May, Fr. A. Wardega was invited to take part in the opening ceremony of the “Mobile, Memory - The fifty-fourth Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition (Macao Collection Exhibition)” held at the Macau Art Museum Gallery. The cerimony was presided by Dr. Tam Vai Man, President of the I.A.C.M., together with Arqtº Carlos Marreiros, Fr. A. Wardega, Director of MRI, Prof. Li Zhen Qiu from the Higher School of Arts of Macau Politechnic Institute, Mr. Lok Hei from the Art Association of Macau and Prof. Miao Peng Fei. There were 12 sets of art exhibits including four which will participate at the Venice Art Exhibition.

On 26 May, Fr. A. Wardega went to Hong Kong to attend the opening ceremony of the “Joint Conference on Christianity in Asia: Past, Present and Future”, jointly organized by The Chinese University of Hong Kong and University of Notre Dame, held at the Lecture Theatre 3, Esther Lee Building of the CUHK. As representatives of the Macau Ricci Institute, Dr. César Guillén-Nuñez and Ms. Liu Jingjing presented papers at the Conference (“Western Religious and Chinese Literati Portraiture as Reflected in the Portrait of Matteo Ricci” and “Should Christianity supplement Confucianism and replace Buddhism? A Case Study of Zhang Xingyao” respectively). Both of them were well received and got good comments. Fr. Wardega met and talked with several participants including Dr. Jonathan Noble, Prof. Howard Goldblatt, Prof. Robert Gimello and others.

Visits

On 26 January, Mr. Angelo Paratico, Executive Vice-President of Candiani Denim (Far East) Ltd., paid a visit to our Institute. He is also a novelist and has writtem several books in Italian language. Heoffered to our Institute two books entitled respectively “Ben” and “Un manual per uomini superiori: Il Lun Yü di Confucio”. He was looking materials in Macau for his next novel about interesting historical happenings during the period of 1941-1945, preferably related to Italian people or with Italian background. Both Mr. Jerónimo Hung and Dr. César Guillén-Nuñez had a good conversation with Mr. Paratico.

On the same day there also came Ms. Shaina Li from Princeton University visiting our Institute. She is currently writing and researching her thesis on colonial architecture in Macau, with focuses on Macau.  Dr. César Guillén-Nuñez had a conversation with her and introduced to her several books from our Library with topics of Portuguese colonial architecture in Macau.

On 17 Febraury, Dr. Glenn Shive, Executive Director of the Hong Kong America Center (Fullbright Hong Kong), visited Fr. Wardega. His objective was to start cooperation with our Institute on an exchange of scholars for planned conferences. On this occasion he invited Dr. César Guillén-Nuñez to present a lecture for the Conference which Hong Kong America Center will co-organize with the Macau University during the period of 2-3 March. Since it would coincide with the period of our China Trade Workshop, such an offer was regretfully declined. In the meantime, a couple of other ideas were exchanged between Dr. Shive and Fr. Wardega.

On 25 Febrauary, accompanied by Fr. Luciano Morra, Fr. Ignacio Ramos Riera, a Jesuit from the Philosophische-Theologische Hochschole Sankt Georgen, Frankfurt, came to visit our Institute. Fr. Wardega and Mr. Albert Wong gave them a warm reception. Upon showing Fr. Ramos Riera around the premises and facilities of our Institute, Fr. Wardega presented to him our powerpoint presentation of the MRI, introducing the activities and publications over the past 11 years.

On 16 March, Ms. Lisa Hellman (Department of History), from the Stockholm University, Sweden, came to visit our Institute. Dr. Anders Hansson and Dr. César Guillén-Nuñez gave her a warm reception and showed her around our Institute and our Library as well. Ms. Hellman, who was invited to be as a speaker during our “China Trade” Workshop earlier that month, had a one-month internship granted by a local Academic Institution and her research field is History of Canton Trade. She had a good conversation with both Dr. Hansson and Dr. César and was delighted to have a better knowledge about our Institute.

On 24 March, Mr. José Manuel Teixeira e Simões Morais, a scholar, came to use our Library’s facilities. He was looking for certain material regarding the history and background of Macau-Ilha Verde which he could hardly find in Macau. He succeeded to find some valuable information from the first Volume of the late Fr. Manuel Teixeira’s “Macau e a sua Diocese” for his research. He came again on 19 April, consulting the journal “Religião e Pátria” (year 1960), as well as some Chinese mythology books for his own research.

On 25 March, Mr. Przemyslaw M. Jenke, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Hong Kong, together with Prof. Marcin Jacoby, the Project Manager for Asia from Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Warsaw, Poland, paid a brief visit to our Institute. The main objective of their coming to Macau was to visit the Macau Cultural Institute upon which they would like to see our Institute.

On 4 April, Ms. Stefanska Otylia from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, came to visit our Institute. Upon a warm reception by Fr. A. Wardega, Ms. Otylia has used the facilities of our Library for her own research. Her field is the role of China in contemporary world and China society. Ms. Otylia has founded valuable material for her work.

On 15 April, Fr. Ross James Jones SJ, from Australia, came to visit our Institute. Fr. Jones is the Rector of the St. Ignatius’ College, Riverview, Lane Cove-NSW, Australia and is passing by Macau on holidays. Mr. Jerónimo Hung gave him a warm reception and showed him around our Institute, as well as introducing him our Library and staff. Fr. Jones was very delighted to know the details of our library and publications and was keen to recommend their College to subscribe our bilingual magazine “Chinese Cross Currents” which should be quite useful especially for their Chinese students.

On the same day, Mr. Sujay Royson Pais, a Jesuit scholastic who is studying Chinese at the Fu Jen University in Taipei, came to visit our Institute. He was very impressive with our Library and facilities, as well as the publications of our Institute.

On 27 April, Mr. Crispin Jewitt, Specialist Advisor of the British Library Cartographic and Topographic Materials, came to visit our Institute. Fr. A. Wardega, Mr. Jerónimo Hung, Dr. César Guillén-Nuñez and Mr. Albert Wong gave him a warm reception. Mr. Jewitt has compiled a book entitled “Maps for Empire: The first 2000 numbered War office maps 1881-1905”, and his second book will be launched shortly in London. The objective of his visit was to look for useful materials and to seek eventual collaboration from Macau Ricci Institute in terms of contacts and sources for the project of his third book. Mr. Jerónimo Hung also showed Mr. Jewitt around our Institute as well as the MRI Library.

In the afternoon of the same day, Dr. Paul B. Spooner, who is teaching history courses at the University of Macau, together with a group of around 30 university students came to visit our Institute.  Fr. A. Wardega gave them a lively power-point MRI presentation and Dr. César Guillén-Nuñez has enlightened them on some enquiries about his book “Macao Streets”.

On 4 May, Mr. Qiu Zhenmiao (邱振淼老師) from Taiwan, came to visit Fr. A. Wardega. Mr. Qiu is a teacher at the Vanung University and gave good help regarding the project of the latest French version book of “La ferme de la Montagne Li – by Zhong Lihe”, translated by Fr. A. Wardega and published by Artois Presses Université. By the end of July of this year, Mr. Qiu will also cooperate to launch the aforesaid book in Taiwan.

On 19 May, four members of the Sino-Polish Working Group of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland, including Ms. Alicja Olechowska, Mr. Henryk Milcarz, Mr. Lech Antoni Kolakowski, together with Mr. Tadeusz Chomicki, Ambassador of Poland in Beijing and Mr. Przemyslaw M. Jenke, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Hong Kong, came to visit our Institute. Fr. A. Wardega has given them a warm reception and did a powerpoint presentation to introduce our Institute to the visitors.

On 25 May, two students from the University of Macau, Ms. Xia Xue and Ms. Fu Jing, came to visit our Library. Their research field is the Chinese linguistics. They have found lots of books in our Library which were quite helpful for their researches.

Media Coverage

An article written by Dr. Elzbieta Potocka about Macau Ricci Institute, is published at issue No.13 of the magazine “Azja-Pacyfik” from Adam Marszalek, Torun, Poland. Upon an interview with our Director, Fr. Artur Wardega, a quite detailed introduction was described regarding the Institute’s history as well as all the development and achievements throughout its 11 years of establishment.