Ofício do assistente do magistrado do distrito de Xiangshan, Cha, ao procurador de Macau, sobre a situação social em Macau
This is a Qing dynasty imperial edict, dated 14 May 1776 (fourteenth day of the fifth month in the forty-first year of the Qianlong reign), issued by the Magistrate of Xiangshan County to foreign community leaders—specifically named as Tomás (Tunluóduō) and others—resident in Macau. The document add...
Saved in:
| Format: | Manuscripts |
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| Published: |
1776-06-29
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| Subjects: |
Chinese Wet-Nurses in Macau
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Chinese–Foreign Population Surveillance
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Enforcement of Prohibitions in Macau
;
Macau Foreign Community Governance
;
Qing Dynasty Imperial Edict
;
Roman Catholic Conversion
;
Tomás Tunluóduō
;
Unauthorized Construction in Macau
;
Xiangshan County magistrate
;
Manuscripts
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| Online Access: | https://macau-legacy.usj.edu.mo/docs/WKCFVPT6/viewer_WKCFVPT6.html |
| Summary: | This is a Qing dynasty imperial edict, dated 14 May 1776 (fourteenth day of the fifth month in the forty-first year of the Qianlong reign), issued by the Magistrate of Xiangshan County to foreign community leaders—specifically named as Tomás (Tunluóduō) and others—resident in Macau. The document addresses governance challenges arising from the mixed Chinese–foreign population in Macau, emphasising heightened surveillance and enforcement of existing prohibitions. It identifies three principal concerns: the conversion of Han Chinese subjects to Roman Catholicism, the employment of Chinese women as wet-nurses in foreign households—characterised as morally unrestrained and economically motivated—and the unauthorised construction of temporary dwellings harbouring vagrants and other undesirable persons. The edict mandates that foreign community leaders conduct prompt, thorough, and systematic investigations into these infractions and immediately report violations to the Xiangshan County yamen for prosecution under the Great Qing Code. Failure to report, or acts of concealment or complicity, is explicitly warned to incur official censure and disciplinary consequences. As an administrative instrument of local Qing authority, the edict reflects contemporary legal, religious, and social regulatory frameworks governing Sino-foreign interaction in Macau during the late eighteenth century, and serves as a primary source for examining colonial-era jurisdictional boundaries, cross-cultural governance, and state responses to demographic and religious change. |
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