Representação (cópia) dos cristãos chineses de Macau a [D. João IV], rei de Portugal, sobre várias queixas contra os portugueses: proibição de exercerem cargos públicos e de se ausentarem de Macau; falta de pagamento às dívidas; obrigação de fazerem sentinelas, etc. Pedem para gozar os mesmos privilégios dos cristãos da Índia
This abstract describes a formal petition dated 1644, originating from Chinese Christian residents of Macau and addressed to the Portuguese monarch. The document is preserved in the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (AHU) in Lisbon, bearing archival identifiers including ‘India’ and ‘1644’ on its first...
Saved in:
| Format: | Manuscripts |
|---|---|
| Published: |
1644-02-24
|
| Subjects: |
Bilingual petition
;
Chinese Christian Petitioners
;
Chinese Subjects under Portuguese Rule
;
D. João V
;
Discriminatory Judicial Treatment
;
Juridical Status of Converts
;
Macau
;
Macau Chinese Christians
;
Macau Confraternity of Our Lady
;
National Library of Rio de Janeiro Manuscripts
;
Portuguese Colonial Administration
;
Santa Casa da Misericórdia
;
Systemic Legal Inequities
;
administrative injustice
;
civic exclusion
;
colonial governance Macau
;
economic marginalisation
;
maritime employment prohibition
;
subsistence deprivation
;
Manuscripts
|
| Online Access: | https://macau-legacy.usj.edu.mo/docs/9HBIJSCX/viewer_9HBIJSCX.html |
| Summary: | This abstract describes a formal petition dated 1644, originating from Chinese Christian residents of Macau and addressed to the Portuguese monarch. The document is preserved in the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (AHU) in Lisbon, bearing archival identifiers including ‘India’ and ‘1644’ on its first page and a marginal note indicating dispatch under cover of a letter dated 24 January (year unspecified but contextually consistent with 1644). The petitioners—self-identified as loyal vassals and members of the Confraternity of Jesus—detail longstanding civic contributions, particularly their foundational role in administering the Santa Casa da Misericórdia and maintaining its hospital. They enumerate six principal grievances: restrictions on coastal trade; compulsory unpaid watch duty in Canton despite reliance on manual labour; enforced abandonment of the *capa* garment used to conceal poverty; non-enforcement of debts owed by Portuguese creditors; unlawful diversion of legacies to the royal exchequer; and verbal and physical abuse that undermines Christian conversion efforts. The petition requests reinstatement of qualified Chinese Christians to governance roles within the Santa Casa, liberty of emigration, judicial redress through formal *devassa*, enforcement of widow’s guardianship rights under the *Ordenações do Reino*, and extension of privileges equivalent to those granted to Christians in Portuguese India and Ceylon. An administrative endorsement directs transmission to the Viceroy of India, stressing urgency due to Macau’s current state of being ‘combattida por inimigos’. Obs.: No mesmo documento um despacho de 1644-03-01, aconselhando o vice-rei da Índia a conceder os favores pedidos. |
|---|