An industrial heritage of Macau : a cultural mapping of the disappearing shipbuilding industrial heritage of Lai Chi Vun Village

Abstract

There is a long history with more than 150 years of shipbuilding industry in Macau, along with the production of incense, firecrackers and matches, shipbuilding is one of the four main traditional manufacturing industries in Macau. Even within the sun-setting shipbuilding industries, the scope has eliminated traditional wooden-hull boats and is now limited to modern metal-hull boats. Lai Chi Vun Village is the last place in Macau where signs of Macau’s shipbuilding industry in the present and of the past are still present. The shipbuilding industry flourished in Macau between the 1970s and the early 1990s. At the early stage the shipyards were mainly located in Macau inner harbour, however, as the development and reclamation of land near inner harbour, Macau Government required all shipyards moved to Lai Chi Vun Village of Coloane. Therefore, Lai Chi Vun Village formed a unique industrial heritage landscape, and last place retained a complete industrial heritage of traditional wooden shipbuilding techniques in the Pearl River delta zone. The purpose of this dissertation is therefore to study the active and relic shipyards of Lai Chi Vun Village with the objective of documenting the heritage elements to establish the village as an industrial cultural landscape worthy of conservation. The objective of the research is to provide as complete as possible for the picture of the relationship between a traditional shipbuilding industry and its associated area. It is hoped that this research will provide a framework for future conservation studies regarding the shipyards, past owners and workers. The site is important as Lai Chi Vun Village contains one of the few industrial heritage sites which remain in the Pearl River Delta area.