The Macao Special Administrative Region clinched a decade-long accord with a Brazilian university publisher on Tuesday to release 20 Chinese classics in Portuguese, together with a new bilingual collection showcasing Chinese culture to Portuguese-speaking populations.
Both developments came at the end of the two-day International Forum on Mutual Learning among Civilizations in the Macao SAR, which was attended by some 300 representatives of governments, global organizations and scholars from more than 20 countries and regions.
The publishing deal was signed by the Macao SAR’s Culture and Sports Bureau and Brazil’s São Paulo State University Press Foundation at the closing ceremony.
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Deland Leong Wai-man – director of the SAR’s Culture and Sports Bureau — said the project is aimed at broadening the readership of Chinese classics in Portuguese-speaking countries and regions, and promoting cultural exchange.
She called the initiative a “concrete step” by the Macao authorities in positioning the city as a key gateway for the country’s high-level opening-up and a platform for Chinese and Western societies to exchange ideas and learn from each other.
Macao will continue to develop the forum and further deepen dialogue across cultures and people-to-people exchanges, Leong said.
The pact will be managed and carried out by the Chinese-Portuguese Bilingual Teaching and Training Centre at the University of Macau, with the works to be produced in batches.
The closing ceremony also saw the launch of a new title, Anthology of the Special Column: Glimpse into Chinese Culture, which features selections from Um Vislumbre da Cultura Chinesa, or Glimpse into Chinese Culture — a Portuguese-language column jointly initiated in 2023 by Macao Daily News and Portugal’s Diário de Notícias.
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Running to two volumes, the bilingual anthology features about 150 articles in Chinese and another 150 in Portuguese.
“The publication looks back on the project’s outcomes at the three-year mark and reflects Macao’s role as a cultural bridge between China and the Portuguese-speaking world,” said Lam Fat-iam – president of the Association of Publication of Cultural Education of Macao which planned and published the title.
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“We hope the book will give the Portuguese-speaking world a window into Chinese culture and a new chapter in the Macao SAR’s efforts to promote cultural exchange between China and the wider world,” he said.
According to Lam, the column had published 160 issues as of last month, covering traditional Chinese festivals and folk customs, literature and the arts, intangible cultural heritage, regional cultures, and Macao’s history and culture.
Participants of the forum also took part in about 40 dialogue sessions that touched on topics like the contemporary relevance of cross-cultural mutual learning, China’s ties with Portuguese-speaking countries and regions, and the implications of artificial intelligence on the ways societies interact.
Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com
