On Thursday I decided to venture over to Macau for a day. Macau is an hour ferry ride from Hong Kong, and like Hong Kong it is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. As a result, I can travel to Macau without a Chinese tourist visa. Macau is a fascinating place with an interesting story. It receives more foreign tourists than Hong Kong each year and is considered the Vegas of the East, with many wealthy businessmen and leaders coming in search of luck. In fact, one of Kim Jong Il's sons comes to Macau quite often squandering his share of his father's wealth.
I left pretty early in order to catch a morning ferry. The ferry terminal is located near Hong Kong station, and it was pretty packed in the morning. I left Hong Kong around 9:30 and arrived in Macau about an hour later. Next was customs....oh boy.....
There was a designated line for Macau residents, while the rest of us foreigners (including Chinese nationals) stood in a separate line. As I was standing in line, a very dramatic scene unfolded. I noticed a Chinese family very subtly sneaking their way farther into the line. Not knowing the language and not in a huge hurry, I figured it would be best not to say anything, the last thing I would want would be to cause an international incident in the customs line to Macau. However, the couple right in front of me would not have it. They said something to this line hopping couple in Mandarin that I could only imagine was very blunt and insulting, because the next thing I knew, the line hopping man was putting his fist up as his wife tried to hold him back. It got very tense as the line hopper yelled at the top of his lungs and glared at the other man with a look of utter hate. The other man tried to ignore him at this point, because he was getting very threatening. As the line hopper tried to lunge at him again, a group of about six men made a human wall protecting the other man. A few of them indicated to that man to quickly get through customs and get out as fast as he could, which is what he did. One thing that really surprised me throughout all of this is that the guards glanced over once and besides that did not get involved. Very strange, but the whole incident was my welcome to Macau!
After getting through customs, I took a city bus to the old district of Macau. Macau was developed as a Portuguese settlement in the 16th century. It has very distinct European roots that have a significant place in the culture to this day. The old district of the city is home to the area that the Portuguese built their area for trade with Ming China.
While in the old district, I visited seven different churches, each with a unique story in Macau's history. I visited several smaller Catholic churches before visiting the ruins of St Paul's. I found it very strange to find churches reminiscent of European architecture not only in Asia, but well established pieces of the city. It was fascinating walking into these churches with all of the text in both Portuguese and traditional Chinese characters. Viewing the art of these churches reminded me of the Catholic cathedrals back home.
St Paul's Cathedral was built from 1582-1602. It is a sight to behold as you make your way over a hill to see this dominating stone masterpiece. It has fallen into ruin, but it is still an amazing place where history comes to life. One of the coolest things about St Paul's is that they have kept the catacombs of the early Chinese Christian's graves intact under the church. You can walk through this area and see the very beginnings of Christianity in this area. One thing that was very interesting as I walked through this as well as the relics chamber was to see the reactions of Chinese nationalist tourists. They approached these places with similar fascination as I approach a Confucian or Shinto temple: A curiosity for the traditions and an inability to fully understand the importance of this space to the people of that faith. It was weird seeing it from the other side of the spectrum (believing in the faith of the place while watching others who do not hold that faith)while walking through these ruins.
After St Paul's, I visited an old Portuguese fortress that overlooked the cathedral as well as the casinos today. I found it quite ironic that many of the cannons that have stood here for 500 years seemed to point directly at the casinos. My imagination?
I then walked one of the old winding streets to the Protestant church and cemetery. This was one of the few places of worship for non-Catholics. The graveyard holds a lot of very interesting historic characters, including Robert Morrison, who wrote the first English/Chinese dictionary and translated the Bible into Chinese as well as George Washington's grandson, Joseph Adams, who was an opium trader around the time of the Opium War. In addition, there were countless Opium traders that on their graves indicated that they were killed during the War. I have mixed feelings about these men. On their graves, they write about their deep profound faith, yet that faith was not enough to defeat the lust for greed and power. I did not live in that time, so I can't be too judgmental about their desire for comforts over doing what's right, especially when there are issues that happen today that I may not condemn with my actions as much as I could. It is interesting how at that time, they may have thought what they were doing was nothing too terrible, yet now history views them as some of the most manipulative individuals of that time. It makes me wonder how history will view my generation....
I made my way back to the ferry around 5pm. It would be another two hour trek back to home base: ferry, subway, bus...the tour of public transportation! Nevertheless, I was glad that I was able to visit Macau for the day. The short trip sparked my interest in learning more about this very deeply rooted European region of China.
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