Message
Macao’s role as an important gateway over the long history of convergence and integration between Chinese and Western cultures has shaped the city's encompassing personality and cultural landscape, and the encounter of Chinese and Portuguese cultures in Macao has laid a vital foundation for its development into a city featuring the coexistence of diverse cultures.
Thanks to the successful implementation the “One Country, Two Systems” principle, Macao was bestowed with the new mission of developing itself as “One Centre, One Platform, and One Base”, the SAR Government has been proactively advancing the “1+4” adequate economic diversification strategy by reinforcing the synergy among the cultural, sports, education and tourism industries. By hosting a variety of cultural and sports events, the Government endeavours to transform Macao into “a city of events” in an effort to showcase its unique cultural image to the world.
Since its successful inception in 2018, the “Encounter in Macao – Arts and Cultural Festival between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries” has converged several artistic and cultural highlights from different regions in multiple ways, providing an opportunity for broader and deeper cultural and artistic exchange between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries and giving play to Macao’s role as “a base for exchange and cooperation where Chinese culture is the mainstream and diverse cultures coexist”. Through constant exploration, this annual cultural festival has now developed into an icon of a “cultural Macao” and a signature cultural event of international influence across the Greater Bay Area.
I wish the 5th “Encounter in Macao – Arts and Cultural Festival between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries” fruitful results and hope that all participating artists from different countries and Macao will continue to uphold the spirit of mutual exchange, promoting the friendship ties and cultural exchange between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries.
Ao Ieong U
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR Government
Preface
Macao is a window to the world for the Chinese culture and is also an important hub where various cultures encounter and integrate. The city shares a profound historical bond with the Portuguese-speaking countries and the Lusophone culture, and its urban fabric, architectural relics, ethnic composition and lifestyles all bear traces of the exchange and reciprocity of different civilisations. Since the debut of the “Encounter in Macao – Arts and Cultural Festival between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries” in 2018, Macao has aimed to deepen the Sino-Portuguese cultural and artistic encounter, in which people from these countries gather and enjoy themselves in music and dance, fully highlighting the city’s appeal arising from the harmonious fusion of diverse cultures.
The 5th “Encounter in Macao – Arts and Cultural Festival between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries” this year will uphold the mission of intensifying mutual learning among cultures, embracing heritage and innovation, and enhancing pluralistic dialogues and bonds among people in order to further extend the connotations and outreach of the “theme park”. The event will be complemented with the Lusofonia Festival to vividly showcase the artistic and cultural flavours of Macao, China and the Portuguese-speaking countries through a variety of eclectic activities, including the Annual Arts Exhibition between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries, a film festival, a picture book fair, a traditional music and dance performance in the community, a fado concert and a wine-tasting workshop, all in the hope of creating a splendid artistic and cultural park for the public.
The 26th Lusofonia Festival will focus on promoting Portuguese culture; craftsmen and chefs are invited to extensively showcase the culture of the Portuguese-speaking countries through azulejo making, ceramics and authentic gastronomy. Themed “Dresses Galore in Films”, the China and Portuguese-speaking Countries Film Festival will invite the audience to be immersed in a colourful cinematic world dazzling with diverse clothes. Fado singer Camané will cooperate with the Macao Chinese Orchestra to present a mellow crossover concert, showcasing the unique, harmonious fusion of Chinese and Portuguese sounds.
Moreover, dynamic cultural exchanges and free-spirited cultural performances will be held in local historic landscapes full of stories and memories, such as the Annual Arts Exhibition between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries at historic sites including the Taipa Houses, the Lai Chi Vun Shipyards and the Former Iec Long Firecracker Factory, the Chinese and Portuguese Picture Book Fair featuring bilingual cultural exchange, Traditional Music and Dance Performance in the Community and a wine tasting workshop. These programmes portray the appeal of Macao as a city where East meets West and the past converses with the present.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by the Chinese Government. In Macao, an important place on the Maritime Silk Road, I truly look forward to meet more friends and enjoy the splendid Sino-Portuguese artistic feast together. We will further the construction of Macao as a Sino-Portuguese cultural exchange centre, make possible more wonderful cultural encounters and exchanges between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, and pursue the Maritime Silk Road legend.
Leong Wai Man
The President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government
ABOUT THIS FESTIVAL
Sino-Portuguese Cultural Encounter in the Treasure Land
Launched in 2018, the grand cultural event “Encounter in Macao – Arts and Cultural Festival between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries” has now developed into an important platform for international art and cultural exchange in the city and constantly furthers the city’s construction as a “Cultural Exchange Centre between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries” through the annual exchange. Embracing its fifth edition this year, the Arts and Cultural Festival between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries will, based on the increasingly mature event organization, further leverage Macao’s advantages as a hub of cultural exchange, gather different artistic forces and expand the scale of the event in an effort to deepen the Sino-Portuguese cultural encounter and enrich the cultural tourism experience in Macao.
During the 5th Arts and Cultural Festival between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries, a variety of activities, including an annual arts exhibition, a picture book fair, a traditional music and dance performance in the community, a film festival, and a wine tasting workshop, will be held at several local featured neighbourhoods and famous architectural sites, including the Taipa Houses, Carmo Hall, Former Iec Long Firecracker Factory, Largo Eduardo Marques in Coloane, and the Ruins of St. Pauls. The Lusofonia Festival, a unique popular festival, will, once again, be held in parallel with the 5th Encounter in Macau, in order to showcase artistic creations and cultural customs of Macau, China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries. On a musical level, there will also be a concert that will combine Portuguese Fado and traditional Chinese music, showing the harmony of the cultural encounter between the Chinese people and the Portuguese people.
A total of 70 sessions of activities in seven series will be presented during the Festival, spreading the splendid flowers of art across local streets and alleys that stand as a testimony to the Sino-Portuguese cultural encounter. Let us explore the treasure land that Macao is, immerse ourselves in the various artistic and cultural delights brought by the Festival, and experience together the beauty of the encounter of civilisations and cemented bonds between people.