Macau's Flânerie, a Story Yet Untold

"Walking is a way of reading a city. It subverts traditional learning and cognition, bringing us into the flow of the city and making us a part of it."

This is what editor Kwong Chi-yeung wrote on the first page of "Walking is Not About Romance," a graduation project from the University of Macau's Communication Department. Well, this sentence sounds like something I'd write on Xiaohongshu. The graduation thesis "Macau Urban Flânerie" by Cai Beini and Wu Zeyu, master's students in Design at the Macau University of Science and Technology, states in its preface: "'Urban Flânerie' advocates a detective-like perspective for observing and interpreting urban design. No matter where you go, even without knowing the local history, you can find interesting entry points from clues and piece together the city's story." Both of these recently published student works use "walking" as a keyword, attempting to understand the city through walking. Although their approaches differ slightly, both strive to find breakthroughs beyond Macau's well-known history.

University of Macau Communication Department's graduation project "Walking is Not About Romance"

"Walking is Not About Romance" discusses industrial history and immigration history, from the shipbuilding and garment industries that withered with the times to returned overseas Chinese and foreign workers. "Macau Urban Flânerie" focuses on the urban fabric and the perception of the city's image. Macau is a small place, so the routes inevitably overlap. However, the most significant difference between these two books is that one tells human stories and the other talks about architecture. Their respective focuses also distinguish the narratives for different audiences: those who have heard stories in the streets and alleys will recall their impressions of the streets when they hear the new concept of Citywalk; while "flânerie" in the architectural environment still has certain barriers, not only because the history in the book reads a bit distantly, but also because this graduation project lies between creativity and academia, requiring entry into the book's context to be "qualified" for flânerie.

"Macau Urban Flânerie" by Cai Beini and Wu Zeyu, master's students in Design at the Macau University of Science and Technology.

Alright, let's set aside the trendy "walking" for a moment. Another book, "Macau City Guide," was published in 2023, but this series is positioned as a "travel guide," and its audience and creators are evident from the title: "From Nine Local Professional Young Women – Discovering Macau." Good heavens, I'm not saying this title looks too much like an internet "hit," cramming all core keywords into the shortest possible sentence. In terms of content, it prioritizes design over text. These short shares seem to be the product of integrating online posts (they put a lot of effort into the design, and I hadn't seen the content in the book online before). The challenge with travel guides is that the content needs constant updates, so the team released a second edition the following year after the first one in 2022. The QR code on the "Basic Info" page of the 2023 Macau guide, ranging from the "Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre" to "Macau Public Toilets," is what I find most interesting about this book: nobody relies on travel guides for information anymore, but the creative team still printed the information they thought tourists would need.

Although this QR code may expire someday, it still serves as a testament to the times, as do the toilets.

"Macau City Guide"

At first, I contemptuously flipped through the recommendations in these two books, thinking they were worthless. Now, of course, it's not that exaggerated; there are indeed some recommended restaurants I haven't been to (what's the big deal?). More important than what they said is their identity: as the title says, "local professional young women." Their friends are potential readers of this book, and even their friends' recommendations can help this small travel guide go further. Well, in this sense, walking is still a keyword under tourism.

The graffiti observed in the urban spaces is a recent hallmark of the revitalization of Macau's inner harbor old district. Recently, the "Macau Street Art Guide" published by the Center for Architecture and Urban Planning features distinctive graffiti from Macau's Patane, Barra, Northern District, and Central District, even quoting urbanist Henri Lefebvre's famous saying in the preface: "The street is a place where urban space converses... Speech escapes rules and institutions, engraving itself on walls." Frankly, this graffiti is far from the rebellious and free graffiti found in European streets; it clearly appears to be exquisite artworks created for aesthetic purposes. Regardless of the criticisms and dissatisfactions that arose when these paintings first appeared, they have indeed become a part of the streetscape—or, rather, a part of popular photo opportunities.

"Macau Street Art Guide" published by the Center for Architecture and Urban Planning

Another travel guide-like book is "Window Forest Macau," published in March 2022. When it first came out, I specifically gave a copy to a friend and had to wait for a reprint to buy one myself. "Window Forest Macau" is the only one of these books that includes other languages (which I now realize is very important!). According to the official website, "ENGEKI QUEST is a flaneur-style walking project to explore a city." This exploratory walking experience lies between a leisurely stroll and tourism. Participants can be locals (who get to know their city from a different perspective) or tourists (an adventure in an unfamiliar place!). Although I haven't seen other works in this series from different cities, I really like how "Window Forest Macau" balances knowledge and entertainment.

"Window Forest Macau"

Perhaps because the author is Japanese, the book frequently discusses the history between Macau and Japan, such as in I-Lin Garden. If one were not to approach it from the perspective of "walking," but rather to focus on popularizing history, "A Journey Through Time in the Small City: A Macao History Reader" is (possibly) the most accessible Macau history book I have read. This popular science history book, written for young people, endeavors to present rigorous historical knowledge in a relaxed and lively manner. While there are certainly many such books in Chinese history, it's hard to visit all the places mentioned in them in one go; the advantage of a small city lies here: everywhere you go is a historical site.

"A Journey Through Time in the Small City: A Macao History Reader"

During the Chinese New Year, I happened to encounter a tour group on Rua de Horta e Costa. The guide stood in front of a signboard and introduced Macau's history. I eavesdropped, and felt like I didn't understand anything even after listening, much like a short video script. ("Because Macau has cultural exchange between East and West, it became a World Heritage site." Guangzhou also has East-West exchange, so why is Macau more special?) This is also a question worth pondering: listening to a guide is certainly more efficient than reading a book, but how much will one remember after a one-day tour? For independent travelers, history is usually not the core of their visit; the enjoyment of shopping or sightseeing is often enough.

These books were all published after 2022. Regarding the topic of "walking," the earliest seems to be "Slow Walk Macau," published in 2013, which discusses Macau's environmental theatre from 1993-2013. The book includes a manual that categorizes performance venues into five types: public spaces, idle spaces, heritage buildings, cultural and artistic spaces, and disappearing landscapes. Honestly, I haven't walked through it according to the book (I thought I would), partly because these theatrical works are increasingly distant from current popular topics, and partly because the spaces mentioned in the book are now used for other purposes and can no longer be understood from the perspective of environmental theatre. The Barra Shipyard, also known as the Maritime Workshop, and also the "Macau Contemporary Art Centre," is now used by MGM for cafes and bars. Flipping through the manual, it states, "In June 2013, the Macau Marine and Water Bureau announced that it had reached a consensus with the Cultural Affairs Bureau that parts of the shipyard would be used for cultural and creative displays." Now, who cares about the disappearing coastline?

"Slow Walk Macau: Twenty Years of Environmental Theatre" published by the Macao Theatre Culture Association

Before these temporary landscapes disappeared, "Enclosed Landscape" captured the temporary scenes behind fences. Although this photo collection is not directly related to "walking," I have a particular fondness for such fleeting observations. The wildlands and spaces enclosed by hoardings are usually located outside the Macau Peninsula. Generally speaking, where there are no buildings, there are no landscapes; however, in this photo collection, the trees and sky behind the hoardings become more precious in the concrete jungle, and the landscape becomes unified and pure. Although research indicates that these hoardings significantly affect pedestrians' perception of walking, there is still scenery beyond the visible space.

"Enclosed Landscape" is a photo collection by Macanese photographer Alan Ieon (Yeung Chun Wing)

Returning to the study of walking in Macau, I tend not to use the term "flânerie" to define walking in Macau, because "Hong Kong Flânerie" has already provided a complete interpretation of the concept of "flânerie" (of course, flânerie in different regions has its own unique characteristics). In comparison, the stories Macau prefers to tell are also different from Hong Kong, winding around (the more famous ones) historical events. If lesser-known stories were told, their appeal might be doubted. The potential readers of "flânerie" are likely independent travelers and people interested in cities, so theoretically, they have greater autonomy to explore spaces beyond tourist attractions. However, due to a lack of prior knowledge, even if they enter non-tourist living spaces, they still cannot recognize the special features of these places. This is why we need books like those on flânerie.

"Walking is Not About Romance" hopes to show people "the overlooked XXX of Macau," hoping people can walk through the city with the book. Every creator shoulders the mission of "telling Macau's story well," because these stories are unseen, so I want to emphasize the significance of walking. Walking cannot be just walking; you see what you don't understand, so I will explain it to you, and after that, you will understand why Macau is Macau, making the journey worthwhile. Unfortunately, not many people care about these stories as much as they care about beautiful scenery and photos, so a flash of insight after reading a book is less appealing than finding a perfect pose from a live photo.

Thanks, Carlos I

Readers interested in historical/urban spatial changes are not as numerous as one might imagine, and on the other hand, the publicly available information is narrower than the boundaries of curiosity. This was another realization I had during my Macau Studies course last year—the course content wasn't particularly difficult, but every historical fact required flipping through several books in the library to confirm.

I suddenly remembered that around Chinese New Year, I was holding "Macau Tudigong" looking for Tudigong statues in Taipa Old Village. The one on Rua da Felicidade no longer had incense offerings, yet passing tourists would still clasp their hands and pray as they walked by. They didn't care what this deity was worshipped for before, they just felt that since there was a deity here, it should be respected. I later shared the information from the book on social media, and someone asked where they could buy it. Only then did I realize that the first edition only printed 350 copies, and it was probably already sold out.

"Macau Tudigong"

At this point, books, as carriers of knowledge, reveal their limitations. Where they are published, sold, and by whom they are discovered and cherished—the journey for a book (or even the aforementioned student graduation projects) to reach readers is long and arduous. However, I don't believe putting all information online is the correct choice; internet servers are not as reliable as paper, and social media accounts are controlled by platforms. Content that is carefully written and repeatedly read in hand, from the moment I buy it, that book will be connected to my footsteps. Even if I can't carry it through the streets and alleys, it will at least stand alongside the street scenes in my mind.

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