Cultural Mapping by
Heritage Management Programme Year 4
Fun or Fortune
Speaking of changes in Macau, people will think of Macau’s transformation from a small fishing village to Las Vegas in the east.
From ancient times to the present, Macau has various leisure and entertainment activities, which contain elements of Chinese and Western characteristics, even with gaming colors. With changes in society and the environment, leisure and entertainment activities have also changed over time. Some leisure activities have gradually improved, and some old leisure activity locations have been converted to other uses. For this theme, we chose locations such as Palácio de Pelota Basca, Dragons Cottages Cantonese Restaurant, Associação Promotora de Apreciadores de Grilos e Pássaros (Macau), and Guia Municipal Park.
Learn about the leisurely entertainment history of Macau, its relationship, and changes with the competition.
Guia Hill Ball Games Practive Court
Jai Alai started in Macao in 1974. At that time, Jai Alai, the Spanish sport introduced from the Philippines was warmly welcomed by young Macao people in the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, young people were often seen playing Jai Alai in some open spaces with the old building walls. Also, all the equipment is made by hand. In addition, Jai Alai is also Macao’s first ball betting event. However, due to poor social feedback and management of the company, the Palácio de Pelota Basca was rebuilt, and since then, Jai Alai has gradually disappeared in front of everyone. At present, there are not many venues in Macao where you can play Jai Alai, and the ball practice field in Guia Hill Municipal Park is one of them.
Guia Hill Municipal Park is located on Guia Hill, the highest hill in Macao, and the surrounding environment and facilities of the hill have been taken into the overall design and layout to create a multipurpose park. It offers visitors the most panoramic and scenic view of the city’s urban districts and outlying islands. A top Guia Hill stands Guia Fortress, with Guia Lighthouse and Chapel of Our Lady of Guia built inside it. The chapel features architectural elements typical of Portuguese convents of the 17th century. Both Guia Lighthouse and Chapel of Our Lady of Guia were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2005 as part of the Historic Centre of Macao. Other park facilities include Guia Hill Nature Information Station, fitness trails, recreation square, multipurpose sports ground, children’s playground and fitness equipment, etc.
As one of the existing places in Macao where you can play Jai Alai, although it is not a formal venue, the ball practice range of Guia Hill Municipal Park not only cites the proof that pelota still exists in Macao. It also shows the process of gradual localization of Jai Alai under the influence of Macao. Through the interview with former Macao Jai Alai player, Mr. Zhang Zhi-zhao, we learned that Jai Alai is not only a common memory of young people in Macao from the 1970s to the 1980s, but also an indispensable part of the development of Macao's gaming industry.
References:
Chen, H. Q. (1998). General History of Macao. Guang zhou: Guang dong jiao yu chu ban she.
Ping, C. Z. (2017, May). Macau Magazine.
Palácio de Pelota Basca
The Palácio de Pelota Basca was built in May 1974. The field is 55 meters long, 16 meters wide, and 16 meters high. It is a formal venue for the Jai Alai game. The rules of the game are also implemented in accordance with the official rules. The site of the Stadium is the current New Jai Alai Casino, which can accommodate up to 5,000 people. Regarding the game of Jai Alai, the competition is mainly divided into singles and doubles and played in a knockout manner. The player holds a banana-shaped racket and pulls the ball to the front wall on the field. The other player in the same field uses the racket to take the ball that bounced back, and then draw the ball to the front wall again, not holding the ball for too long between the line, otherwise it will be a foul. The players repeatedly draw and receive the ball. As long as one of them fails to receive the rebounded ball, the opponent can get a point, and the number of balls in a game determines the outcome. Singles matches are capped at five points per game, and doubles is increased to seven points. The competition mainly tests the reaction, position and arm strength of the players. It can be said that it is a very fast event. The players in the early events were mostly Spanish players, but in order to reduce operating costs, Philippine and local players were also hired.
The betting event of Jai Alai is in charge of " Sociedade de Pelota Basca de Macau, S.A.R.L", the company was established in 1971. Although the Jai Alai ball is very popular, but local residents generally believe that the results can be controlled by the players personally. So, the desire and amount of betting have been reduced, and the operating losses have begun to appear. At that time, compared with the income of other gaming projects in Macao, the Jai Alai was obviously not up to the standard, so the company reformed in 1986, hoping to reduce the company’s losses, but the subsequent business was still not ideal, and it was decided to stop all the Jai Alai games in August 1990. Afterwards, the venue was rebuilt, adding a variety of entertainment and consumer places and facilities to implement diversified operations. At the same time, the Jai Alai is gradually becoming localized. However, with the economic and social development of Macao, the number of venues for Jai Alai is declining and gradually becoming weaker.
References:
回力球在澳門興衰. (n.d.). Retrieved May 02, 2021, from https://www.macaumemory.mo/entries_33adc209aa8f4369a2d1bec959e3b65c
Chen, H. Q. (1998). General History of Macao. Guang zhou: Guang dong jiao yu chu ban she.
Ping, C. Z. (2017, May). Macau Magazine.
Cau Seng Tung Lok Se
Located on the Rua de Cinco de Outubro, this yellow tiled building is an outstanding representative of Macao's cricket fighting culture and is the current home of the Cau Seng Tung Lok Se (秋聲同樂社 in Chinese). The association was registered with the government in 1999 and became a recognized association afterward, known as the Macao Crickets and Birds Enthusiasts Promotion Association.
In 2005, the operation location of the association was relocated from Travessa do Patane.
Every year in late July, the association would organize a cricket fighting tournament that attracts many cricket fighting enthusiasts from Macao and different parts of Guangdong. Basically, all the matches are held at this building, except for the finals held in late September or early October. On the day of the finals, the association would book an entire hall in Macao's teahouses so that more cricket fighting enthusiasts can participate in this annual event.
In the last hundred years, the association has grown with the tradition of cricket fighting in Macao, through ups and downs, changing venues, and overcoming many difficulties to keep this event alive.
With the rise of new entertainment in the 21st century, the old cricket fighting activity is no longer appealing to the younger generation. The tradition is facing an unprecedented decline. The significant decrease in participants has made it difficult to maintain the annual tournament. The 2020 Cricket fighting tournament has been suspended, coinciding with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no definite answer as to whether the event will resume in the coming year for the association.
References:
何慶文, 馮嘉倫, 孔憲雄, & 劉志華. (1995). 澳門之蟀獵活動. 紅藍史地, 4, 73-79.
唐思. (1998). 澳門風物志. 中國友誼出版公司.
莊志豪. (2018). 澳門「秋聲」傳承鬥蟀文化. 澳門雜誌, 126, 54-61.
Dragons Restaurant
Macao Crickets and Birds Enthusiasts Promotion Association hosts the annual cricket fight competition from July to September every year. It gathers contestants from different places including Guangxi, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. It allows contestants to gather together to review their own Cricket raising level. The competition will be held in the preliminary and finals respectively. The preliminary matches will be held at the Macao Crickets and Birds Enthusiasts Promotion Association venue, and the final will be held in other locations. The Dragons Restaurant is a venue for Macao cricket competitions.
Dragons Restaurant is a Cantonese restaurant in Macao, located at Av Alm Lacerda Ctro Cml Chong Seng s/l AV, which has an extremely important position in the traffic on the peninsula.. It has been 30 years since it opened in Macao. Dragons Restaurant is a time-honored restaurant in the San Kio district. Almost residents of San Kio and Fai Chi Kei will come to eat here. Dragons Restaurant pays attention to the local human touch, and regularly launches various discounts to serve the citizens with affordable and high-quality meals.
References:
澳門「秋聲」傳承鬥蟀文化. (n.d.). Retrieved May 03, 2021, from
http://www.macauzine.net/?action-viewnews-itemid-1291.
罅些喇提督大馬路. (n.d.). Retrieved May 03, 2021, from https://ouzeon.life/alex/1-d21/
Camões
Garden
Camoes Garden is located at the Camoes Square which is a section of the Historic Centre of Macao. It is now open to the public as a garden. It welcomes many citizens who take a walk in the courtyard for entertainment and exercise every day.
According to the elderly in the garden, there are long-established active areas in the Camoes Garden. People may dance in a specific area, while others may play cards in another, and playing Chinese chess in the third area. With the renovation and expansion of the garden, those blocks of areas are also changing. The Chinese chess area that was originally integrated with the card game area in the garden has been moved to the Camoes Square, the playground outside the garden. It was built in recent decades. As chess lovers would like to smoke at the same time when they are playing chess, the forbidden of smoking in the garden becomes one of the reasons that the Chinese chess activities have been moved out of the Camoes Garden and later take a root in the exterior of the garden. It is said that there are two main parties of Chinese chess activities in the garden that are composed of different playmates. Though the original Chinese chess and card game areas in the garden have been partially preserved, most of the stone tables and chairs have been relocated when construction and renovation keep proceeding during these decades.
Nowadays, compared to the traditional way of playing Chinese chess, chess lovers in the park prefer a new way of playing (play under new rules). They call the traditional way of playing as “Ming Qi” (which means that all the chess on chessboard where shown at the very beginning of playing), and the new way as “An Qi” (which means that the chess were not shown). In the new way, the King (General) was the only “Ming Qi” (shown chess), all other chesses are “An Qi” (hidden/unshown chess), are placed upside down and put randomly in positions referring to the placement of traditional rule. The differences in between are, when playing the hidden chess which has not been turn back from upside down in “An Qi” has three choices: 1) turn the hidden chess into shown chess, and then walk as a shown chess referring to the traditional rules 2) walk as a hidden chess based on the traditional rules referring to its position, and then turn into shown chess, 3) turn into shown chess only. Besides, when using the shown chess in “An Qi”, the rules they rely on were almost the same as the traditional rules except for Guards and Elephants can go across points. According to an elderly who has been playing Chinese chess for decades in the park, the new way of playing Chinese (which is “An Qi”) has been existing for many years. It is just getting popular in recent years.
