Macau stories told once again in book form

Two authors of a book filled with stories about Macau said they chose Macau because of its historical richness and because of one author’s connection with the city.

The authors, Christopher Chu and Maggie Hoi, who together wrote Macau’s Historical Witnesses, which features stories about Macau’s popular landmarks, spoke about the parts of Macau covered in the book during a book presentation session at the Sofitel Macau yesterday.

Chu and Hoi drew connections between their audience and nearby locations. They picked a few locations close to the Sofitel, and also a more distant location, the Mount Fortress, where in 1622 the Portuguese defended Macau against Dutch invasion.

Chu’s got the idea for the book from a story of his friend, who had a poor relationship with their mother before Covid-19. When lockdown arrived, the friend lived in the same residence with the mother for weeks. Instead of having arguments every day, they worked together and compiled a collection of the mother’s recipes.

American citizen and Hong Kong resident, Chu decided to do the same thing whenever he came to Macau to visit Hoi, his wife, during Covid-19 quarantine. Coincidentally, when he was in Macau, he stayed at the Sofitel and looked out of the windows at the scene of old Macau, drawing connections between places and stories.

While preparing to write, he talked with many people and discovered “dots” that were later connected. “That’s an interesting coincidence,” he concluded.