Macau: The Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to the Present (New Perspectives in Asian Studies, 195)

by Jonathan Porter

Release Date: September, 1996

Edition: Hardcover

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A Terrific Book on Macau

This is a fantastic book on Macau. I was using this book as one source for a paper I was writing on Macau for a university class. I became fascinated with Macau ever since a visit there, and this book really does justice to Macau's past. I was surprised at how interesting Macau: The Imaginary City is. The book is jam-packed with interesting historical anecdotes about the colorful people who have lived in the colony as well as the culture, historic events, and geography of the enclave. In addition, the book is always fascinating and never boring because Porter is such a good writer. This book is a must for anyone interested in the city. After reading it, I'd like to visit the city again.

The "Imaginary City" creates reality in Macau

"Macau:The Imaginary City" is a beautiful tapestry woven from the histories of "gray-brown fortress walls","great churches", "European and Chinese commercial buildings", "19th century European residential and commercial building", and the current modern buildings which "stand in contrast to the fortress walls; yet echo their starkness" as they seem to complete a circle "as modern fortresses of money not of artillery". Anyone considering a trip to Hong Kong must include in the itinerary a trip to the Macau of Jonathan Porter, and a copy of "Macau: The Imaginary City". This is not a history text book but rather a collection of historical and cultural fabrics with which Porter weaves his tapestry. The book prepared me for my recent visit in June 99, and my second reading, since arriving home, has added to my appreciation and understanding of a city which was a doorway for Europeans and Chinese to peer into each others' world perspectives. And in a history of more than four hundred years, elements of each synthesized which gives Macau it wonderful uniqueness today.