Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms, Volume 38

Page Eight

...[four steps], and then they sit. When women meet, they stand facing each other, each gathering their skirts original: 攝其裙 (shè qí qún); this describes the act of a lady holding her dress to perform a curtsey, bending their legs and turning in a circular motion to the left and right, and then they sit. When friends or relatives meet on the road, they each remove their hats. When a man returns home with his family from an outing and has visiting relatives, the women must come out to sit and converse with them. When women go out for sightseeing, they are accompanied by their husbands, the head of the household, or relatives, walking hand-in-hand; there are also instances where one man walks with two women. This is a general summary of their ways. Their customs value wealth and despise poverty; if a family is wealthy and powerful, their poor brothers, uncles, or nephews do not dare enter their rooms, nor do they dare eat with them, so it is said. Note: This description covers the customs of various Western nations, not just Portugal. Since the "Macau foreigners" the Portuguese resided in China earliest, the Maritime Records (Hai Lu) places them at the head of all nations and attributes the customs of the entire continent to them.

Monograph of Macau Written by Zhang Rulin of Yincheng in the 16th year of the Qianlong reign [1751]

Western foreigners have resided in Macau in Xiangshan the district in Guangdong where Macau is located from the Wanli era 1572–1620 of the Ming dynasty until now, for nearly two hundred years, and all have raised children and grandchildren there. In ancient times, their country had a King Alexander original: 歷山王 (Lìshān Wáng), also known as Zhan...