This collection contains six long articles. They originally came out in the Macao-based Review of Culture / Revista de Cultura (international edition) between 2003 and 2009 and were partly reworked for the present volume, which also carries a preface, a fine introduction, a most useful conclusion and an updated separate bibliography with the titles quoted in the notes. Dr Christina Miu Bing Cheng, the author of the articles, is known particularly for her widely circulated book Macau. A Cultural Janus (Hong Kong, 1999) in which she addresses some of the points also mentioned in Tracing Macau.

At first sight, the general idea of the collection seems quite simple, but as one goes through the articles, one by one, it becomes evident that we are looking at an unusually complex arrangement, with all kinds of intellectual ramifications that point in different directions. Well then, what is this book about? The first three articles discuss the ways in which three famous men of letters – Tang Xianzu 湯顯祖 (1550–1616), Wu Li 吳歷 (1632–1718) and Leung Ping-kwan 梁秉鈞 (1949–2013) – saw this Portuguese place, how they were linked to Macao, and how we may relate their views, expressed in beautiful prose or poetry, to larger mental settings, as well as their own personal ambitions. These three men came to Macao in different periods: Tang experienced the Cidade do Nome de Deus na China in its formative stage when he passed through the city in 1591; Wu Li arrived in 1681, at a time when Macao had already left behind its golden age and was caught in what is sometimes called the mid-seventeenth century crisis; Leung Ping-kwan first visited Macao in the 1970s, just prior to the revolution of 1974 and the final disintegration of Portugal's African empire. It is obvious, then, that we are exposed to three different political, economic and intellectual constellations and that this reflects on the experiences and concerns of the three “recipients” in very distinct ways.

Papers Four to Six deal with another set of topics: Chinese temples in Macao, forms of popular belief associated with them, and how one can relate local manifestations of individual cults to the religious panorama inside China. The temples in question are the Lianfeng miao 蓮峰廟 near the old border gate in the northern section of the Macao peninsula, the Nüwa miao 女媧廟, and the Sanjie Huiguan 三街會館. As is often the case with Chinese temples, they are dedicated to more than one deity; these deities are briefly introduced to the reader, one by one, usually by referring to standard reference works such as the one by E. T. C. Werner. While the Lianfeng temple is quite well-known, even internationally, the other two locations are definitely less spectacular, but, as Christina Cheng shows in her articles, they certainly merit careful investigation.

Three papers on famous intellectuals with different backgrounds and aspirations, and three papers on a religious mélange in the best sense of the word – where are the bridges between these seemingly separate themes? Well, surprisingly, there are more connective elements than one may expect, but they need to be unveiled through meticulous research. This is exactly what Cheng has achieved with much enthusiasm and clarity.

To begin with, she examines various mental dimensions of the Chinese living in and writing on Macao; the Portuguese or European stratum is relegated to a passive role, in all articles. There are not too many studies in European languages which follow such an approach. Next, Macao was considered exotic, or simply “special”; this includes the religious element. Religious concerns were also important to curious men like Tang Xianzu, but even more central in the life of Wu Li. Liang Ping-kwan refers to Macao's churches and shrines as well, besides sketching different aspects of daily life. Hence, religion plays a key role in much of this book.

Furthermore, we all know that Macao was and continues to be a place with diverse ethnic groups and that its mixed cultural setting is characterised by tolerance. One major component of that arrangement is the Catholic Church. Normally Catholicism follows tight rules, but in Macao, and through the Jesuits in China, it came to be handled with much “flexibility”, just as in parts of early modern India and certain other areas. In one word, the missionaries knew well how to adjust to local needs. This coincided with the syncretic ideas embodied in the programmatic term sanjiao he yi 三教合一, then en vogue in China. Wu Li, in particular, profited from such thoughts and thus became receptive to the Catholic faith. Cheng discusses these and many other points at great length. She explains, for example, how the multi-dimensional mental and physical setting of Macao comes out in Wu Li's “Sino-Christian” verses, as well as in Leung Ping-kwan's modern poems, which echo a unique kind of modern nostalgia.

This “multi-dimensionality” also shines through Macao's many Chinese temples; in a sense they all stand for an open society while, at the same time, they mirror a strong feeling for the past. Believers attending ceremonies, or silently praying in one of the ceremonial halls, rarely draw sharp differences between Buddhism and Daoism; in daily life, they often follow Confucian ideals (as if sanjiao he yi would still be intact today). Nor are there strict boundaries between Catholicism and local cults, as we can see from the worship of the Holy Mary (especially in its Stella Maris variant) and Mazu 媽祖 (various titles: Tianfei 天妃, Tianhou 天后, etc.), i.e., the Chinese deity of mariners and sailors; both forms of belief are addressed in Cheng's book.

To the attentive observer, Macao's quotidian routine offers the bright sides of life and wealth (including a long list of wonderful cultural monuments), and the grey layers of vice and misery. But contrary to Jonathan Porter, who created a superficial imagery that suffers from a set of “northern” prejudices, Cheng tactfully combines these two seemingly antagonistic poles by implicitly arguing they always belonged to Macao. Without doubt, this dichotomy also transpires from the world of Chinese poetry and, again, from Macao's temples and shrines; indeed, perhaps the author would agree with me in stating that it is one of the vital forces behind the city's career through time. One may also say, Macao lives on a fundamental paradox, vaguely reminiscent of the sanjiao he yi agenda in certain Ming novels – an agenda that often unfolds around the mystery of “emptiness”, or, more enigmatically, oscillates between being and non-being, pushed by a non-existent yet completely visible pace-maker, without identity. – Yes, most definitely, for some individuals Macao is a city of broken dreams (p. 120), and for this very reason there is always a potential of recovery. . .

But I do not wish to move beyond the author's clear-cut framework, by toying with terms, or, for example, by reconsidering the Catholic dimensions associated with Wu Li's inner journey; rather, it should be more appropriate to comment on some further observations presented in the book. The article on the Nüwa temple, in particular, is full of interesting details. These relate to mythology – of the kind one can extract from the old collections by H. Doré and others. Cheng takes us through various ‘mythemes’, citing traditional texts and such authorities as Freud and Lévi-Strauss, to whom one could add Wolfgang Münke and his systematic categorisation of China's distant past. Finally, with respect to Macao, we are told this: Fu Xi 伏羲 is totally absent in the local Nüwa ambiente, and since the Macao temple is located near a very “special” urban compound, this deity's divine functions, in the “City of the Name of God”, are somewhat similar to those of Ishtar in the Babylonian world. At the same time, if a cult can be characterised by a centre-periphery constellation, the Macao version of Nüwa should clearly fall into the “outer” category. Finally, Nüwa's role is “greatly overshadowed by the dominant virgin trio – the Virgin Mary. . ., Tian Hou. . . and Guanyin. . .” (p. 180). Voilà, one may smilingly conclude, especially with Tang Xianzu's “Peony Pavilion” in mind, many parts of this collection are tied together by a female dimension.

The final article highlights Guan Yu 闗羽, the “ideal of Chinese maleness, which embodies” both wen 文 and wu 武 (p. 207). Guan Yu is the central figure in the Sanjie huiguan, where no female deities are honoured. Hundreds of studies outline his career from general to god; this also includes some “Western” language articles and an early monograph by G. Diesinger, but Cheng's essay probably is the first major English account on Guan Yu in Macao. This man's posthumous rise was made possible, in part at least, through repeated state protection. Normally he stands for such values as righteousness, patriotism and justice – similar to Zheng He 鄭和, who also came to enjoy official support. But of course Guan Yu remains more attractive in many respects. In the Sanjie huiguan, his primary functions relate to material benefit, and he should encourage businessmen to be honest and fair (p. 205) – almost a contradictio in adjecto. “God and Mammon”, to employ an old combination occasionally used in the context of Macao, form an inseparable duo, well understood by historians, local players, and those arriving from afar, especially the rich.

To round off my remarks: This book starts out with an early “crossroads image” derived from the elegant words of a colourful individual – Tang Xianzu. There are exotic categories, such as the “upside-hanging-down bird” (later depicted in the Gugong niao pu 古宫鳥譜, as a green creature with some red), “painted faces” and rosewater, all of which appear in various Ming descriptions of southern countries, and there is an upward movement through time that ends with a male hero, whose qualities are such that he should survive most future “transformations”. Macao is a world heritage city, as Cheng underlines; the temples and churches, gods and spirits, including Guan Yu and his prestige, all form part of that stage. This stage and the Chinese views on it are as rich as the book itself; hopefully, then, Tracing Macao will encourage European sinologists to further explore China's written monuments on Macao's past, its many faces and its cultural wealth.