Individual Paper
2. From Oceanic Crossroads: Empires, Networks and Histories
The history of Macau’s urban modernization since the advent of a de facto colonial government in the mid-nineteenth century has been told through the history of infrastructure development and city remodelling at different levels (e.g., riverfront reclamation, urban projects and plans). At the core of such strategies were intermittent attempts to make sense of Macau’s role as a port city, soon to be nearly depleted of its maritime appeal. This paper examines the shaping of Macau’s urban modernity when the city was categorically losing its significance as a sea trading hub in southern China and found itself in a scramble for financial solvency. Whereas searching for ways to retain the original port vocation it has never completely abandoned, reassessing it in light of new approaches to its maritime past and culture, the city was becoming, nevertheless, more continental. Indeed, Portuguese Macau’s fin de siècle urbanization endeavours have fostered the emergence of a new elite and business harnessing inland networks rather than maritime ones, highlighting the city’s transition from a mercantile to a service-based economy, more Chinese-led than foreign-oriented economy. Therefore, the rise of colonial Macau evinces the city’s turnaround from the global dimensions that had incrementally formed it to a more localized, regional, and sinicized city.
Sheyla S. Zandonai
University of Macau, Macau