Life and death: reconstructing Macau's society in the 19th century through historic cemetery walks

Abstract

After experiencing changes and adapting to them, Macau establishes a unique identity of harmonious coexistence of different cultures, religions, people and life styles. And this unique identity became one of the major characters that fulfill the criteria for inscribing into UNESCO’s World Heritage List. World heritage site: The Historic Centre of Macau is a brand name in Macau’s tourism now.

But not every building is lucky to have adequate respect. Cemetery of St. Michael the Archangel, located inside the historic centre of Macau and closed to St. Paul’s ruins, as well as many other heritage sites, is an example. The values of historic cemeteries are underestimated.

In order to protect the container of history – cemeteries, conservation must be done. There is no doubt about that. However, interpretation of the cemeteries is equally important. With better interpretations of the cemeteries and people buried inside, we can reconstruct the society in 19th century, and even more. The routes suggested in Chapter 4 only served as examples. Visitor can imagine a society which all these historic figures were living. They interacted with each other. They influenced each other. And they changed the society. If there was no cemeteries, or if we did not have good conservation of the cemeteries, how can we provide this interpretation of society in a particular period of time?

Proposing a historic walk is one of the best ways to have better interpretations to the cemeteries. Through the historic cemetery walk, the values of each cemetery can be appreciated by visitor and it can also bring the cemeteries life. The rich contents of the cemeteries are always waiting for us to find out.