The Growth of Macao’s Chinese Community in the Mid-Qing Period:Urban Changes during the Reigns of Emperors Qianlong and Jiaqing

The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government will organize a Research Grant Lecture in the Cultural Affairs Bureau Auditorium (Edifício do Instituto Cultural, Tap Seac Square, Macao) at 6:30pm on October 19 (Thursday). Prof. Zhang Ting Mao of Jinan University will give a lecture on “The Growth of Macao’s Chinese Community in the Mid-Qing Period: Urban Changes during the Reigns of Emperors Qianlong and Jiaqing”.
During the reigns of Qianlong and Jiaqing, Macao’s Chinese community expanded rapidly accompanying the city's development due to both internal and external factors. Even though many foreigners settled in the Portuguese enclave, the Chinese became the main population in the city, ushering in major changes to lifestyles and urban space. Several Chinese villages were established outside the city walls, while a significant Chinese neighbourhood established itself inside the city; new urban layouts were formed on the Macao peninsula, creating a new social order. These changes reflected adjustments to the local economy and also the enhanced status of the Chinese community.
Born in May 1960, Zhang Ting Mao received his Ph.D in History (Sino-Foreign Relations) from Jinan University in 1997. He is now an assistant professor in the Department of History and a supervisor to M.A. research students at the same university. His academic research covers China’s overseas relations during the Ming and Qing dynasties, Macao history and the history of the Chinese diaspora. Zhang has published one monograph and over 30 articles and translations in World History, Journal of Chinese Historical Studies and in Macao’s Review of Culture. He has assisted the National Coordinating Committee for Universities' Studies on Ancient Documents in annotating part of the rare book Haiguo Tuzhi [Illustrated Gazetteer of the Maritime Countries]. Zhang has finished two research projects granted by the Research Scholarship Competition of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government – “A Study on Macao’s Maritime Trade during the Ming and Qing Dynasties” and “D. Francisco Mascarenhas and Macao”, and is now researching on “A Study on the Chinese in Macao during the Qing Reigns of Qianlong and Jiaqing”, another research granted by the Cultural Affairs Bureau’s 13th Research Scholarship Competition, and “Notes on Qing Dynasty Chinese Macao Documents Collected in the National Archives of the Tower of Tombo, Portugal” subsidised by the National Coordinating Committee for Universities' Studies on Ancient Documents.