A little country on the edge of China

Macau

(Macau, on, and just off the coast of China. From: Wikipedia).

In as early as the neolithic age, there were already inhabitants in Macau. And centuries ago, somewhere during the Song and Yuan Dynasties of China, there were already people residing in Macau. Situated at the mouth of the Pearl River Delta, Macau was an excellent fishing port. On the other side of the river mouth is Hong Kong.

Most of the aboriginal inhabitants of Macau earned their living by fishing. These fishermen used to gather around the Inner Harbour. Besides living on their fishing boats, they built simple huts on shore to shelter themselves from storm and rain, or to dry their fish in the sun. The life of these aboriginal inhabitants was simple and humble. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Portuguese navigators discovered a new route between Europe and Asia, and set foot on the Chinese soil for the first time in 1514. They carne to Macau in 1553 and on the pretext of drying their goods, asked for permission to go ashore. Since then, Macau remained to be Europeans’ only foothold in China for centuries.

The indigenous fishermen called the place Ou Mun, or “trading gate”, because of its location at the mouth of the Pearl River downstream from Guangzhou (Canton). During ancient times port city was part of the Silk Road with ships loading here with silk for Rome. It was this history as a trading port for which the local entrepreneurs welcomed the arrival of Portuguese merchant-explorers.

In the early 1550s the Portuguese reached Ou Mun, which the locals also called A Ma Gao, “place of A Ma”, in honour of the Goddess of Seafarers, whose temple stood at the entrance to the sheltered Inner Harbour. The Portuguese adopted the name, which gradually changes into the name Macao, and with the permission of Guangdong’s mandarins, established a city that within a short time had become a major entrepot for trade between China, Japan, India and Europe.

Macau is a very multicultural place.  The Roman Catholic church sent some of its greatest missionaries to continue the work of St Francis Xavier, (who died barely 20km / 12.5 miles away on Shangchuan Island, after making many converts in Japan).

Portugal’s golden age in Asia faded as rivals like the Dutch and British took over their trade. However, the Chinese chose to continue to do business through the Portuguese in Macao, so for over a century the British East India Company and others set up shop here in rented houses like the elegant Casa Garden. As Europe’s trade with China grew, the European merchants spent part of the year in Guangzhou, buying tea and Chinese luxuries at the bi-annual fairs, using Macao as a recreational retreat.

The Portuguese had to pay regular rents to the Chinese Government for the use of the land. After the opium war, the Portuguese in Macau stopped paying rates to the Chinese Government for the Leased Land. After the “nibbling” over a long period of time, the area occupied by the Portuguese in the Macau Region has gradually become the area of Macau today (including the Taipa and Coloane Island). The Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Friendship and Trade was signed in 1888. However, no agreement on the boundary of Macau was made. The Chinese Government informed the Portuguese Government about the termination of the Treaty of Reconciliation and Trade in 1928. After the April 25 Revolution of Portugal in 1974 and the establishment of Sino-Portuguese diplomatic relationship in February 1979 the Constitution of the Republic of Portugal was amended,　recognizing Macau as a Chinese territory under Portuguese administration. The Governments of the People’s Republic of China and of the Republic of Portugal started to talk about the future of Macau at the end of June,1986 and officially signed the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration on 13th April, 1987. The Chinese Government resumed exercising sovereignty over Macau on 20th December 1999.

(The skyline of the core area of the Macau Peninsula. The iconic building at the center is the Grand Lisboa Hotel. Image Charlie fong, Wikimedia)

Obverse

The obverse of the coin features the Portuguese shield above date surrounded by legend flanked by stars. The shield contains seven castles around the edge. These are the castles conquered from the Moors and built by the Christians in the reign of King Afonso III.

The central design of the shield, “five escutcheons forming a cross and a dot within each square”, you may recall from the explanation on the 1949 Portugal 20 Centavos coin.

Reverse

The reverse features a Stylized dragon above value. While China is well known for its love of Dragons, I did find a particularly Macau variant:

The Feast of the Drunken Dragon is a unique folk festival celebrated by Macao’s fishing-sector workers. It takes place annually on the eighth day of the Chinese lunar calendar’s fourth month. Centrepiece of the celebrations is the Drunken Dragon and Lion Dance Parade, which proceeds around harbour areas of Macau. The Drunken Dragon dance is traditionally performed by men who dance while simultaneously spraying rice wine from their mouths and carrying effigies of dragons carved head to tail from wood. Another highlight of the festival is the distribution of “longevity rice”, symbolising good fortune and health.

What is your favourite stylized design on a coin? Let us know below!