Diaspora exhibition traveling to Portugal

An exhibition titled “Shanghai Portuguese Refugees in Macau (1937-1964),” organized by the Macao Archives, will be shown in Portugal at the Macau Scientific and Cultural Center in Lisbon and then at the Alfredo Pimenta Municipal Archives of the Municipality of Guimarães.
In total the exhibition will spend almost 11 months in Portugal from this month until September 2017.
The relocation of the exhibition marks the next stage in the cooperation agreement established between the MSAR and the Macau Scientific and Cultural Center of Portugal’s Ministry of Education and Science, which aims to provide a platform for Chinese and Portuguese cultural exchange.
The exhibition showcases a selection of over 100 records that illustrate the historical background of the Macau diaspora around the world. It also documents the social inclusion of the Macanese refugees in Shanghai, as well as the Portuguese refugees who later traveled to Macau during this time period.
According to a statement from the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the exhibition is “a manifestation of the friendly cooperation and resource sharing between the cultural institutions in Portugal and Macau, and a new impulse to Chinese and Portuguese cultural exchange.”
Since the mid-nineteenth century, Macanese groups have migrated to different parts of the world, with Hong Kong and Shanghai being major recipient cities of this diaspora.
However, starting from 1937 amid a variety of factors such as the Japanese invasion of China and the Chinese civil war, the Macanese were forced to leave Shanghai to seek shelter in Macau. Others later departed for other countries such as the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Portugal, Angola and Mozambique.
The exhibition’s opening ceremony will be held in Lisbon October 11 at 6 p.m. (local time), and will remain open to the public until January 29, 2017. It will then relocate to the Alfredo Pimenta Municipal Archives from March 3 until September 1 next year.