China

The firecracker factory

Eighth in a series on Portuguese companies and investors in Asia — what they built, what survived, and what is still being built today. "…they got on the plane, literally, and came knocking on his door." — Guy Villax, describing how Japanese pharmaceutical companies found his father's patents in the 1960s. Chemical & Engineering News, June 8, 2009 When a newly graduated Macau chemical engineer named Eddy Leong (梁炎華) heard that a pharmaceutical plant was operating near the Car

Spencer Low

3 days ago8 min read

Lisboa

Seventh in a series on Portuguese companies and investors in Asia — what they built, what survived, and what is still being built today. The busiest square in Macau is named after a Portuguese governor, and most of the people crossing it will never know who he was. Praça Ferreira do Amaral — 亞馬喇前地 in Chinese — is the traffic circle and bus terminus in front of the Casino Lisboa and the Grand Lisboa tower. Readers of the first post in this series have met the man before. João

Spencer Low

Oct 48 min read

Light, water, telephone

Sixth in a series on Portuguese companies and investors in Asia — what they built, what survived, and what is still being built today. Energia Ásia was owned 50/50 by EDP and ACE Asia Co. Ltd and its sole asset is a 21.2% stake in Companhia de Electricidade de Macau – CEM, S.A. ("CEM"), which acts as the exclusive concessionaire for transmission, distribution and supply of electricity in Macau since 1985. — EDP, S.A., market notification to the Lisbon exchange, 17 June 2024 S

Spencer Low

Sep 278 min read

Portuguese names in British ports

Third in a series on Portuguese companies and investors in Asia — what they built, what survived, and what is still being built today. Portuguese (Goa and Macau) — 459 Europeans and Americans — 476 — Hong Kong census, 1853 Part of José d'Almeida's gravestone is set into the wall that runs around the former cemetery at Fort Canning in Singapore. I have written about him before, as one of a group of Portuguese pioneers whose stones survive there when almost everything else abou

Spencer Low

Sep 67 min read

The company that never was

Second in a series on Portuguese companies and investors in Asia — what they built, what survived, and what is still being built today. Informação da armação ou contrato da Companhia em que os moradores de Amacao mandão a sua çeda a Japão. Report concerning the armação, or corporate agreement, by which the residents of Macau send their silk to Japan. — Manuel Dias S.J., report to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, 18 April 1610. Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, Ja

Spencer Low

Aug 318 min read

The Bank of the Great Western Ocean

First in a series on Portuguese companies and investors in Asia — what they built, what survived, and what is still being built today. 其人奉天主教，善行賈，多富厚。 Its people follow the Catholic faith; they are skilled in trade, and many of them are wealthy. From《皇清職貢圖》, "Illustrations of the Tribute-Bearing Peoples of the Imperial Qing", compiled from 1751 There is a hundred-pataca note in my study. It was printed for circulation in a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republ

Spencer Low

Aug 258 min read

How Portugal charmed China

In the long history of East-West relations, few sagas are as misunderstood as the diplomatic dance between the Portuguese Crown and the Chinese Imperial Court. Often dismissed as a footnote to the eventual rise of the British Empire, these embassies were, in fact, masterclasses in cross-cultural navigation. While other European powers approached the "Middle Kingdom" (the direct translation of China in Chinese—中国) with a mixture of commercial aggression and Protestant rigidity

Spencer Low

Jun 76 min read

The Secret Agent of the Silk Road: Bento de Góis and the Great "Cathay" Mystery

The familiar Typus Orbis Terrarum by Abraham Ortelius (c.1589). For the early 1600s, the world was suffering from a bit of a geographic identity crisis. As we’ve explored in my post about how China became known as "China" thanks to the Portuguese, the seafaring Portuguese had popularized the name China (derived from the Sanskrit Cina, likely referring to the ancient Qin dynasty). But while the sailors were docking in the south, ancient legends—and the ghost of Marco Polo—insi

Spencer Low

Apr 195 min read

Dutch-Portuguese Rivalry in Asia: from Java to Macau to Malacca

For most of the 16th century, the Portuguese had a "No Trespassing" sign over the sea routes to Asia. They kept their navigation charts—the roteiros —under literal lock and key. But every secret has a price. Enter Jan Huygen van Linschoten , a Dutch spy working as a secretary to the Portuguese Archbishop in Goa. He spent years copying top-secret Portuguese sailing directions and trade secrets. In 1595, he published them in a blockbuster book, the Reys-gheschrift vande navigat

Spencer Low

Apr 124 min read

Portuguese restaurants in Asia: Hong Kong's Casa Lisboa

Although the Portuguese have been present in Asia for 500 years, the number of Portuguese restaurants in the region is relatively limited (compared with, say, Italian restaurants). Goa and Malacca have the longest history, and there are indeed many Portuguese-inflected eateries in both cities. However, the vast majority are Luso-Asian, serving up delicious dishes that represent their respective hybrid cultural influences. Macau is clearly the top choice for high-end Portugue

Spencer Low

Mar 222 min read