In order to encourage the development of original academic research on Macao’s culture and on the exchanges between Macao, Mainland China and other countries, the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) has set up the Academic Research Grant programme in 1988, and has been continuously improving the awarding process of the Grant. Over the past three decades, the Bureau has awarded grants to around 160 research projects, which resulted in the publication of several monographs, with the aim of promoting cultural exchange between Macao, Mainland China and other countries. After an evaluation process, four research projects by local and overseas scholars received the 2020 Academic Research Grant.
In order to ensure the integrity and impartiality of the selection process and in accordance with the Academic Research Grant Regulations, IC has charged the Institute for Social and Cultural Research of the Macau University of Science and Technology to organize a panel of experts in order to carry out an anonymous review of the applications and to provide academic comments to the Selection Panel. The Selection Panel was composed by the Vice President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Leong Wai Man; the Chair Professor of the Macau University of Science and Technology, Tang Kaijian; the Distinguished Professor of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Macau, Zhu Shoutong; the editor-in-chief of South China Quarterly of the University of Macau, Tian Weiping; and the Acting Head of the Division of Research and Publications of IC, Ng Mei Kun. After seeking advice from professionals and in-depth discussion, the Panel selected four research projects out of the 27 applications for this year’s Grant, namely:
1. “Catalogue of Macao Shipping 1700–1833” by Paul Arthur Van Dyke, a PhD degree holder in History from the University of Southern California and now a professor at the Sun Yat-sen University. The project will present the data of more than 1,000 ships that travelled to and from Macao between 1700 and 1833, and further reveal the history of Macao’s foreign trade, as well as more detailed and reliable information about the interconnection between Macao and abroad.
2. “Studies on Immigrants in Macao after 1999” by Zhou Daming, a PhD degree holder in Ethnology from the Sun Yat-sen University and now a professor at the same university. This project will focus on the social interaction and inter-ethnic relations among the immigrant communities in Macao after China resumed its administration over the region in 1999, as well as on the implementation of the Greater Bay Area development plan, environmental changes at international level in order to study the relationship between the immigrants and the city’s development during different periods of time.
3. “Studies on Macao’s Public Finance in Modern Times (1844–1911)” by Zhao Xinliang, a PhD holder in History from the University of Macau and now an assistant researcher at the Guangzhou Encyclopedia Research Centre. The project will delve into the changes and development of the Portuguese administration’s financial systems in Macao during the city’s transformation between 1844 and 1911, and their relations with the city’s cultural exchanges with Mainland China and other countries.
4. “Macau, do oceano aos arquivos. Documentação sobre Macau e as suas rotas marítimas do século XIX em arquivos no oceano Índico” (Macao, from the Ocean to Archives — Literature about Macao and its Shipping Routes in the 19th Century in the Archives of Indian Ocean Countries) by Pedro Manuel Sobral Pombo, a PhD degree holder in Anthropology from the ISCTE, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa and now an assistant professor at the Goa University in India. Based on the archives of certain Indian Ocean countries, as well as certain documents and traces about Macao’s indentured labourers (known as coolies) and the shipping routes in the 19th century, the project will investigate the trafficking of Macao’s coolies and the shipping routes in that period.
For details of the Academic Research Grant Regulations and the list of the grantees, please visit IC’s website at www.icm.gov.mo. For enquiries, please contact IC through tel. no. 85986738 during office hours or by email to bolsa.depub@icm.gov.mo.
