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The article argues that the theory of “art” in imperial China must be understood in terms of its canonical dimensions: heterogeneous texts that, across different dynastic periods, established vocabularies, hierarchies of value, and regimes of legitimacy for poetry, music, and painting. Rather than treating such writings as mere “aesthetic reflections,” the author proposes a culturalist approach that highlights their constitutive function in the organization of taste, moral education, and the production of an authorial space where creation simultaneously negotiated dogma and autonomy. Methodologically, the work is organized as a project of annotated and modular translation, grounded in the direct study of sources. The first cycle selects canonical documents in the strict sense, such as the “Great Preface” to the *Classic of Poetry*, the chapter “Record of Music” in the *Classic of Rites*, and sections of the “Bibliographic-Artistic Treatise” of the *Book of Han*, followed by texts from canonical authors (between Han–Tang and, finally, Tang–Song) that refine theorization and terminology. The analysis is accompanied by a continuous commentary aimed at revealing subtleties of archaic Chinese and at rejecting expectations of impartiality or “rational” clarity characteristic of modern readings. It concludes that the canon operates less as a stable set of doctrines and more as a historical device of “translation” between cultural values and artistic practices, offering a privileged avenue for understanding the condition of the individual and the limits of creation in the Sino-imperial context.

The article analyzes the "canon of orthodox Chinese music" through an annotated selection of excerpts from the Yuel Ji 樂記 chapter of the Liji 禮記, translated and commented upon by the author as "Notes on Music." The central thesis maintains that, within the Confucian-ritual tradition (li 禮), the notion of music (yue 樂) is prescriptive and legitimizing: it is distinguished from mere sounds (yin 音) by being bound to conformity with tradition and to the moral and sociopolitical efficacy of ritual. Methodologically, the work articulates translation and exegesis with a comparative historical-cultural framework, drawing parallels with the European and Indian definitions of music as formation, prescription, and cosmology (for example, in the Platonic tradition and in ragas), while underscoring the Chinese specificity of the relationship between natural order and human order. Among the results, the evolution from a religious foundation toward an increasingly "moralizing" reading of behavior stands out, without abandoning the logic of correspondence by affinity (gan ying 感應), which sustains the causal interaction between human practices and natural processes. It is concluded that the Notes function as a canonical reference for the organization of teaching, conduct, and social stability, integrating music, rites, and governance within a single horizon of legitimacy.

The article by Giorgio Sinedino presents an annotated translation of the "Great Preface" 《毛詩大序》 to the Mao Poems, engaging with the debate on the "limits of the canon" in Chinese poetics. Based on the edition of Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (7th century), which consolidates the interpretation of the "Maoshi Zhengyi" 毛詩正義 (combining traditions attributed to Mao Heng 毛亨 and the school of the Classic of Poetry), the study also draws on the glosses of Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (2nd century). Its central contribution is to offer a philological and hermeneutic reading of the text, discussing, where historical data are insufficient, the controversy over authorship and, above all, the editorial function of the "Great Preface" and the (subsequently separated) "Little Preface." Methodologically, the translation follows Kong’s segmentation (20 passages), didactically reorganized into two parts: one dedicated to the foundations of poetry (ideals, emotions, unity with music and dance, "correspondence by affinity," and political-doctrinal role) and the other to a global reading of the Classic of Poetry. In its conclusions, the article maintains that the "Great Preface," regardless of its contested canonization in the Song tradition (reinterpretations by Zhu Xi 朱熹), remains decisive for interpretive orthodoxy, framing the work in notions such as "six aspects" and "four beginnings" and converting it into a theory of the history of the Zhou dynasty.

The article analyzes the Chapel of Our Lady of Guia (Guia Chapel) in Macau and, in particular, its recently identified and recovered mural painting program. Situating the analysis within the historical framework of the city — marked by the confluence of the Portuguese and Jesuit presence with local authorities — the author argues that the chapel, despite its nineteenth-century neoclassical façade, constitutes one of the oldest buildings in the territory, dating back at least to the last quarter of the seventeenth century. Methodologically, the text articulates an art-historical reading of the architectural space with a reconstruction of the material fate of the paintings, taking into account the long-standing practice of covering them with whitewash/lime wash (until 1998), the subsequent hydrolysis and re-emergence of fragments, as well as the systematic survey carried out in the late twentieth century under the auspices of the then Cultural Institute of Macau, culminating in the complete discovery of the program in 2001. The main conclusions emphasize that the mural program, although predominantly ornamental and occasionally conveying Christian rhetoric through cartouches, is distinguished by the integration of motifs of Chinese inspiration into its decorative language. The article thus interprets the chapel as a privileged space of cultural synthesis, where iconography and ornamentation establish a visual continuity between Eastern and Western artistic traditions within the context of Christian worship.

The article interrogates how to define Macau's identity within the framework of its post-return status to Chinese sovereignty, arguing that, despite demographic and cultural diversity, the cultural trait 'chineseness' constitutes the most determining core of the forms of identification and social coexistence in the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR). Building on a theoretical-conceptual discussion of identity/identities and a historical-institutional reading of the 'way of life' enshrined in the Basic Law, the text articulates the historical formation of Macau society—shaped by successive migratory flows of Chinese from different origins, as well as African, Indian, Malay, Portuguese and other communities—with the persistence of institutions and practices that support this cultural continuity. Methodologically, the author draws on results from questionnaires and household survey data (one hundred families), comparing them with evidence from other regional contexts (such as Hong Kong). The conclusions indicate that self-identification as 'chineseness' surpasses strictly 'Macanese' identity: 65% affirm 'chineseness', with 46% registering as 'Chinese of Macao' and 19% as Chinese only. Thus, the internal diversity of the 'Chinese world' is recognized, but the everyday reproduction of this 'chineseness' is presented as a central condition for socio-cultural stability in the MSAR.

This article investigates the Chinese presence on the island of Timor, with a special focus on the Hakka (客家/kehija) and, above all, on the case of "Chinese Timorese" and Chinese residents in Timor-Leste. The author proposes a historical and socioeconomic explanation for the intensification, in the recent period, of the arrival of Chinese entrepreneurs and specialists in the newly independent country, articulating the attraction exerted by a new economy with the dynamics of entrepreneurship in the context of twenty-first-century globalization. Methodologically, the text combines a historical framework—from the early arrivals linked to the sandalwood trade to the predominance of the Hakka before independence in 2002—with a contextual analysis of the post-2002 period, highlighting the role of the State and Chinese diplomacy (including the work of the embassy and institutional projects) in the deepening of Sino-Timorese relations. The author argues that the Hakka predominance, previously a majority, helps to understand existing networks and social capital, while the material opportunities of Timor-Leste (low income, infrastructure under construction, resource reserves, and a strategic geopolitical position) make the country particularly attractive for small-scale commercial initiatives. It concludes that the contemporary Chinese presence results from the interaction between migratory continuities and economic conditions favorable to entrepreneurial "calculated risk."

This article establishes an interpretive dialogue between the historiography of João de Barros (sixteenth century) and the intellectual figure of Charles R. Boxer (twentieth century), arguing that, despite their chronological distance, both are connected by a long duration of common concerns: the writing of History as an erudite and didactic practice, the mastery of chronicle sources from the Portuguese East, and the recognition of the human and documentary value of their "chroniclers" as privileged mediators of the empire. Through an analysis of Boxer's texts that thematize João de Barros—with particular emphasis on the use and appreciation of the Décadas da Ásia—the authors demonstrate how Boxer legitimizes Barros as a credible source and model of historiographical inspiration, underscoring the centrality of the historical context and geographical framework in reconstructing the imperial trajectory. Methodologically, the study proceeds through critical reading and bibliographical contextualization, confronting biographical works and historiographical assessments produced by Boxer and by subsequent historiography. As a result, the article concludes that the Boxerian exaltation of Barros is not merely literary recognition but a methodological gesture: in choosing Barros as a reference, Boxer reaffirms a conception of the history of the empire founded on the quality of coeval narratives, on the triangulation between information and setting, and on the historian's responsibility toward sources.

This article examines how Chaozhou-speaking Christians (Baptists and Presbyterians) in Shantou (southeastern Guangdong) mobilized socio-religious resources in response to the catastrophic cyclone of August 2, 1922. It argues that, in a context of political transition following the fall of the Qing Empire and before the effective consolidation of the nation-state, disaster management fell significantly upon non-state actors. To support this thesis, the author reconstructs the organization of relief through the articulation of Christian networks and other local agents—foreign missionaries, native believers, merchants, and municipal authorities—highlighting the formation of a multi-layered relief operation distinct from traditional responses based on chambers of commerce, temples, and lineages. The methodology consists of a historical-cultural reading of available sources on the event and its aftermath, situating the case within the broader panorama of relief practices in southern China. As a result, the article shows that “faith and charity” operated simultaneously as moral principles and as organizational infrastructure, enabling a coordinated response to massive damage, displacement, and loss of livelihoods.

This article proposes a critical assessment of Macao’s intellectual life from a deliberately “partisan” standpoint, articulating micro and macro perspectives on knowledge production and the role of the intellectual in the public sphere. The author mobilizes two contrasting theoretical frameworks: Antonin Sertillanges’ individualistic conception of intellectual life, centered on humility, solitude, and reflection, and Edward Said’s notion of the public intellectual, oriented toward critical intervention and civic responsibility. Methodologically, the text functions as an interpretative essay, confronting normative criteria of “intellectuality” with observable evidence from local institutions and social practices. It concludes that intellectual life in Macao is partial, limited, and marginalized: while pockets of intellectual activity exist in higher education, in many domains it tends to be redefined as “self-improvement” for labor mobility and professional advancement, rather than as critical creativity. Concurrently, a “vast silence” is observed in public discourse on values, the common good, and cultural development. The article argues that the reproduction of conformity begins early in schooling, operating as a structure that curbs creativity and, in a small-territory context marked by the risks of dissent, weakens the emergence of a more robust sphere of public intellectuals.

This article analyzes the conflict and fusion between Eastern and Western cultures in Macao from the perspective of Christian art, arguing that the local artistic trajectory—from initial importation to the process of acculturation and, ultimately, to production—constitutes a continuous process of cultural contact, tension, and reconciliation. Drawing on an art-historical approach, the text reconstructs key moments in the circulation of agents and visual repertoires within the Macanese space, linking events of the Christian mission to the institutionalization of Western pictorial teaching and practice. The argument centers on the arrival of the Jesuits and, above all, on the role of Giovanni Nicolao, who introduced oil painting to the city and founded a workshop that initiated the formal education of Western painting, training local artists. This is complemented by the study of specific cases: the “Portrait of Jesus Christ,” attributed to Nicolao’s pioneering efforts, and the “Portrait of Matteo Ricci” (1610), presented as one of the first oil paintings executed by a Chinese artist, which evidences both European technical apprenticeship and the cultural mediation of the recipient and the missionary context. The article concludes that, in Macao, Christian art functioned simultaneously as a vector of European aesthetic influence and as a tool of local adaptation, producing enduring visual syntheses.

The article analyzes the cultural exchange between Macao and Brazil, situating it within a broader historical framework marked by the reconfiguration of the Luso-Asian system and the advance of European powers in the Indian Ocean space. The author argues that the political and economic transformations that led to Macao's progressive weakening—particularly the commercial crisis, mandarin pressures, and English competition—created conditions for reorientations and alliances that indirectly influenced cultural dynamics and circulation networks involving the Portuguese Atlantic sphere. Methodologically, the text combines historical-institutional contextualization with a critical reading of accounts and historiographical interpretations, articulating chronologies, actors, and mechanisms of domination (occupations, annexations, and diplomatic-military pretexts) to explain how "isolation" and Asian political dependency reverberated in transregional connections. The main conclusions point to the existence of continuities between economic dependence on markets and commodities (such as opium) and the formation of cultural contacts, albeit mediated by imperial interests and military contingencies. Thus, the Macao–Brazil exchange is presented as the result of global trajectories of power, not as an isolated phenomenon, but as an expression of long-standing historical networks.

This article proposes a critical reading of the curatorial project “NOVAS VISÕES,” developed by BABEL – Cultural Organization, which materializes in the exhibition “Unfoldable Map,” by Ieong Man Pan (楊文彬). It argues that exhibiting art is not reduced to the set of works, events, and static documentation; on the contrary, the history of exhibitions and their cultural function require reflexive devices and formats capable of mobilizing the viewer as a central part of meaning. Drawing on theoretical contributions on contemporary curating (particularly the idea of a reflexive, articulated, and critically contextual practice), the author articulates an interdisciplinary approach to understand local artistic creations from plural concepts, themes, and voices. Methodologically, the text is structured as a theoretical problematization anchored in the theme of memory, mobilizing authors such as Pierre Nora, Auguste Comte, and Maurice Halbwachs to differentiate memory and history and to explain the role of objects and places in collective remembrance. Ieong Man Pan’s photography is used as a field of reflection on memory, recollection, and forgetting, articulating contemporary practices, Chinese visual arts, and the specific circumstances of Macau’s “constantly changing map” in the post-Portuguese administration period and after the liberalization of the gaming industry. It concludes that curating can function as a public space for critical debate, capable of revealing how cultural references are reconfigured in a territory marked by political, economic, and affective transformations.

The article analyzes the naming and baptism of Chinese children and young people in Macao in the first decade of the twentieth century, proposing that such practices functioned as inclusive mechanisms for social integration and, simultaneously, as instruments for access to Portuguese citizenship. The authors situate the phenomenon within the colonial context under Portuguese administration, when Chinese interference in the institutional sphere was limited, and investigate how political motivations, administrative strategies, and demographic dynamics contributed to transforming religious affiliation into a resource for social mobility. Methodologically, the study articulates a historical reading of institutional landmarks—with particular emphasis on the Asylum for Orphans of the Misericórdia of Macao and the workshop spaces of the Holy Childhood—with a linguistic approach to onomastics, treating the Portuguese names attributed in the context of baptism as documentary evidence of belonging and recognition. It concludes that, in a scenario of intense epidemics and social instability that increased the contingent of orphans, baptism operated as a first step toward the construction of citizenship and integration, reconfiguring relations between Chinese communities and the colonial administration. The article also suggests that the subsequent persistence of cultural and linguistic patterns coexisted with the gradual incorporation of Catholic and onomastic elements.

The article investigates how Macanese family genealogies—mobilized through memories, origin narratives, and archival practices (names, documents, oral histories, and domestic artifacts)—contribute to the production of Eurasian identities in a context of political and social change. Starting from the impact of the sovereignty transition and the reordering of relations between the “us” and the “others” in the post-1999 period, the author argues that the reconstruction of family ties functions simultaneously as a mechanism of social legitimation and as a device of identity negotiation. Methodologically, it adopts an ethnographic approach, based on fieldwork with Macanese families, combining biographical interviews and qualitative analysis of generational accounts and memorial uses of the colonial past. The results show that genealogical memory operates through processes of selection, emphasis, and forgetting, allowing the articulation of local belongings, historically situated alliances, and perceptions of ambivalence toward the present. It concludes that, for Macanese communities, genealogies are not merely records of lineage but cultural technologies that sustain affective continuity while simultaneously reorganizing identity boundaries in response to contemporary transformations.

The article analyzes the constitution and initial operationalization of inquisitorial representation in Macau at the end of the sixteenth century, framing it within the persistent tension between religious jurisdiction and local disputes. Based on the documentary scarcity of the Goan district following the abolition of the Holy Office and the subsequent destruction of its registry, the author identifies in Macau an exceptional case of source continuity: commissioners of the Holy Office mobilized the commission as an instrument of power in civil conflicts not necessarily related to matters of faith, generating documentation that, in turn, survived in royal and ecclesiastical archives. Methodologically, the study cross-references the inquisitorial institutional apparatus (commissions and records of the General Council) with the position of D. Leonardo de Sá, first bishop of China (1578–1597), in order to understand how the prelate was invested with apostolic competencies with a normative horizon concerning crimes against the faith. The research argues that the connection between the bishopric of China and the Inquisition was not limited to a spiritual role, but rather functioned as a mechanism for the territorialization of inquisitorial power, delimiting geographic spheres (including Japan, according to contemporary evidence) and offering a model of articulation between episcopal delegation and the jurisdictional requirements of the Inquisition for the Luso-Asian Christendom of Macau.

The article analyzes how, in Chinese cities, images of urban art are continually classified and disputed in terms of “(il)legality”, contesting the notion that such practices are merely destructive vandalism of public space. The author argues that the attribution of legal or illegal status is not unequivocal: it results from negotiations between creators, municipal authorities, institutions, and cultural mediators, as well as from a semantic dispute over what counts as graffiti, street art, and other categories that appear in laws and in cultural practice. Methodologically, the text is based on observations and interviews conducted by the author with urban art creators in mainland China, Macau, and Hong Kong since mid-2006, accompanied by contextualization of the conceptual debate and the scarcity of systematic academic documentation on the subject. It concludes that, although unauthorized activities remain a constitutive part of the scene, there is growing public appreciation for projects involving cooperation with associations and institutions—for example, initiatives in education, social awareness, charity, and urban beautification. Thus, “illegality” becomes rehierarchized through moral, social, and institutional framings, revealing a contemporary dynamic of negotiated tolerance and cultural production in urban spaces.

The article argues that the image of women in Chinese art functions as a "thermometer" of cultural and political transformations from the end of the Qing dynasty to the communist period. The author begins from the observation that, under Confucian ethics, the artistic representation of women was relatively rare, dominated as it was by narrative and landscape themes and, when present, frequently tied to the male gaze and to codified bodily idealizations (for example, nineteenth-century visual practices). With the modernization of the early twentieth century and the circulation of artists trained in Europe, new techniques and modes of representation emerged that displaced the female figure into private spaces and, at times, toward nudity or translucent garments, articulating "beauty" and formal experimentation. Methodologically, the text offers a comparative reading of specific works and visual motifs, observing changes in composition, costume, scenography, and iconographic function. It concludes that, under the communist regime, women came to be systematically integrated into propaganda and the national project: their presence expanded in paintings and mobilization posters, frequently associated with youth, discipline, and productive/military labor. The author further shows how artists combined local aesthetic principles with foreign influences and, above all, how female iconography was reconfigured to educate the public and legitimize women's participation in the new society.

This article argues that the so-called “Outer Harbour Project” of Macao (1922–1927), often treated as a local infrastructure initiative, must be reinterpreted as the outcome of transnational political disputes that connected the Chinese Revolution, the activities of the Comintern, and the internal reorientation of the First Portuguese Republic. Based on the observation of the arrival in Macao, in 1922–1924, of two Portuguese figures with opposing ideological positions—Rodrigo Rodrigues, linked to the republican Left, and General Gomes da Costa, representing the conservative/military camp—the text argues that the port history of Macao functioned as a point of articulation between changes in Portugal and strategic transformations in South China. Methodologically, the author articulates a political-institutional chronology (manifestos, revolutionary reorganizations, and official displacements), the reading of documentation, and the reconstruction of logistical connections (waterways of the Pearl River, railway links, and integration plans with the hinterland as far as Yunnan). The main conclusions show that Rodrigues promoted the launch of a decisive project to convert Macao from a silted “riverine backwater” into a competitive international port, deepening the channel and reconfiguring port areas, while the Comintern framework created after the Sun–Joffe manifesto in January 1923 provides the international political context that allows for an understanding of the broader dimension of Portuguese involvement.

The article examines the devotion to the Chinese deity of syncretized origin Nezha in Macau, asking to what extent the popular religion practiced there functions more as "ritualism" (i.e., formal repetition of prescriptions and fulfillment of expectations) or as "relief" (the affective and therapeutic dimension of belief). Based on an interpretive reading of traditional narratives associated with the cult—especially the popular plot of *Fengshen yanyi* and its variants—the author shifts the focus from scholarly sources to the contemporary meaning of the images, objects, and stories that circulate in the local context. The text characterizes the cult through Nezha's iconographic attributes (his magical weapons and endowments) and shows how these elements condense moral values, risk management, and conflict resolution, offering devotees a framework of meaning for dealing with everyday anxieties. The conclusions suggest that, although religious practice in Macau preserves stabilized ritual forms, its main social effect lies in the ability of belief to provide "relief" through narratives of protection, responsibility, and supernatural intervention, converting ritual into an emotionally significant experience.

The article examines the coexistence, in the sixteenth-century Iberian world, of contrasting discourses on China, characterized as sinophilia and sinophobia, arguing that European "Sinography" was born not merely from an alleged informational rupture, but from a broader ecology of Portuguese and Castilian mediations. Instead of presenting the shift from "Cathay" to a more current knowledge as a linear process, the author demonstrates how manuscript sources (such as letters from Portuguese captives in Canton) and records of limited circulation coexisted with printed works of great impact. Methodologically, the analysis articulates historiography, textual criticism, and the history of the book, tracing genealogies of dependence and translation between Castile and Europe: from Fernão Lopes de Castanheda and João de Barros to the Portuguese compilation of Gaspar da Cruz (1569), and from there to the Castilian texts of Bernardino de Escalante (1577) and Juan González de Mendoza (1585), whose broad reception consolidated the sinophilic image of the Middle Kingdom (abundance, political order, merit in the selection of rulers, urbanism, and stability). It concludes that, although sinophilia imposes itself in the printed canon through its legibility and diffusion, sinophobia—less visible and less mapped—remains an alternative response to experiences and observations that strain the utopian and normative model of a European China.