Indice Cultura Chinesa Uma Perspectiva Ocidental (original) (raw)

An encounter with difference: images of Macao and China in the Works of two Portuguese writers ( Ferreira de Castro and Miguel Torga)

oficial Conference Procedings, 2012

In 1940 the Portuguese writer Ferreira de Castro visited Macao and China and expressed his impressions in his travel chronicle A Volta ao Mundo. In June 1987, forty seven years later, Miguel Torga visited the same city conveying his impressions in several passages of Diário XV. This work aims at analyzing how Macao is represented by the above two authors, responding to suggestions such as, how is the foreign space established in writing? How does the ‘I’ relate to the ‘Other’? Which approach defines the ‘view’ and the foreign image represented? How is this representation stereotyped or original?

Shadows of orientalism in Portugal – some notes on theories and practices in Macao early narrative images (16th and 17th centuries)

2017

Imperial Portuguese imagery unveils three discursive tropes as primordial signs of the representation of an idea of empire-the cross, the crown and the sphere. These three signs embody the representation of the Portuguese monarchy since the remote 16th century and play a role in the building of an Orientalism in Portugal. Having in mind the notion of Orientalism as an ongoing conceptual building, I will approach the first narrative images of Macao that emerge in reports about the Portuguese presence in that space. My focus will lie on Duarte Barbosa's and Tomés Pires' texts, and on Fernão Lopes de Castanheda's and Gaspar da Cruz's chronicles, in order to show how space summons the imagery of a historical time. In these texts, we are not yet before an idea of progress, since they only confront the different, either incorporating or rejecting it.

Cenografias Exóticas no azulejo Setecentista”. In O Exótico nunca está em casa? A China na faiança e nos azulejos portugueses - Séculos XVII e XVIII, Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Lisboa, 2013, pp. 85-91

Esteve hoje um calor ardentíssimo, e eu desperdicei toda a manhã no meu pavilhão, cercado de fidalgos cobertos de floreados roupões, e de músicos em trajos côr de violeta com grandes chapéos de palha, como uns bonzos ou talapoins, e tão ociosos, indiferentes, e requeimados do sol, como os habitantes de Ormuz ou de Bengala. A minha sociedade e a minha sala tinham assim a mais pronunciada aparencia oriental – o divan, que se eleva poucas polegadas acima do sobrado, a grade doirada das janelas, e os transparentes jorros de água, que em baixo repuxam dún tanque, alimentado continuamente pelas nascentes da rocha viva. Reina no meu salão asiático uma variedade. Das minhas cortinas metade não deixam passar a luz, e ostentam as mais opulentas dobras; as outras são transparentes, e derramam uma suave claridade sobre a esteira e os sofás. Grandes e polido espelhos multiplicam esta profusão de cortinados e, alguns dos meus hóspedes pareciam não se cansarem de correr todos os cantos para disfrutarem a vista dos diferentes grupos de objectos, reflectidos por todos os lados nas mais insperadas direções e imaginavam-se talvez admitidos a espreitarem um labirinto de salões encantados... " William Beckford , A Corte da Rainha D. Maria I, Lisboa, 1901, pp 94-95

The problem of Chinese thought in Brazil

Currently, Brazil considers China an ideal partner. The economic achievements of Chinese inspired the Brazilians. The Chinese social and political model is regarded with admiration. However, Brazilians are also apprehensive about China. Do not understand the Chinese culture. Do not understand their habits. Do not know about their philosophies, and ignore the concept of a millenary and ancient history. The Brazilians, therefore, has defiance ahead. If they want China as a partner in the future, need to understand their ways of thinking. On the other hand, the Brazilians have great difficulty in absorbing what does not come from Europe or the United States. The Brazilian society is usually receptive to foreigners, but at the same time, is very afraid to cultural innovations. This question applies to the Chinese case. The Brazilians alternate between admiration and rejection, curiosity and fear. What are the reasons for this behavior? And as the study of Chinese philosophy could help solve this problem? It is that we will see in our text. [Paper prepared for the CRVP International Conference “Philosophy Today”, 21-23, December, Xian, China.]

PACHECO, A.; SILVA, R. C. (2016) - “Each set has its own underside - the study of the faience with oriental influence from the Machado de Castro National Museum (Coimbra, Portugal)”.

Proceedings of the First International Conference of Portuguese Faience (16th-19th centuries), 2016

The Machado de Castro National Museum faience collection contains 80 plates with decorations showing oriental influence and another 21 from the latter end of the 17th century, where this influence is completely absent. Various authors have been including these objects in chronologically organized typological groups, assuming an evolution of the decorative themes during the 17th century. Based on the classification initially proposed by Reynaldo dos Santos, but adjusting it in conformity to the more recent research, five cycles of development where defined where the existing plates belonging to the sixteen hundreds were grouped according to their different decorative motifs. The study of this collection lead us to determine that to each decorative group/cycle corresponds an equal representation of specific motifs on the objects' underside. This practice that disappeared in the late 17th century was surely related to the observation of the motifs present on the undersides of the Chinese original porcelain. In this review we attempt to introduce and expand on this subject, wishing to contribute to a broader study of the topic which has not yet been tackled satisfactorily. A colecção de faiança do Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro inclui 80 pratos de decoração orientalizante e outros 21, dos finais do século XVII, onde esta influência está já completamente ausente. Vários autores têm vindo a integrar estes objectos em grupos tipológicos, ordenados cronologicamente, tendo como pressuposto uma evolução da temática decorativa ao longo do século XVII. Tendo em conta a classificação inicialmente proposta por Reynaldo dos Santos, mas com as adaptações que a investigação mais recente proporcionou, estabeleceram-se cinco ciclos evolutivos onde se agrupam os diferentes motivos decorativos presentes neste tipo de pratos seiscentistas. A análise deste lote permitiu constatar que a cada grupo/ciclo decorativo corresponde igual representação de motivos específicos no tardoz das peças. Este costume, que estava certamente relacionado com a observação dos motivos presentes nos tardozes dos originais chineses, em porcelana, desaparece nos exemplares datados dos finais do século XVII. Neste texto, procura-se apresentar e desenvolver esta matéria, esperando que possa ser um contributo para um estudo mais alargado desta temática que nunca foi satisfatoriamente abordada.