(25th Anniversary of Macau’s Return to the Motherland) Exclusive Interview with Historical Narrator Lam Fat Chin: A three-dimensional presentation of Macau’s past, present and future

China News Service, Macau, December 18th: Exclusive interview with historical chronicler Lam Fat Chin: A three-dimensional presentation of Macau’s past, present and future

China News Service reporter Liu Yueqing Zhu He Zheng Jiawei

Walking along the ancient Fulong New Street in Macau, yellow walls and red windows come into view. Through the bustling crowd, you can enter the Cultural Center located at No. 9 Furong Lane. The red floor tiles with Lingnan characteristics, the Xiguan-style sliding doors, the exquisite oyster shell windows… The smell of fireworks and the sense of history are intertwined here, making this place quite hidden in the city.

Stepping into it, the scent of books is mixed with the unique humidity of southern China, exuding the heavy atmosphere of a century-old building. The Cultural Office, established in 2014, is a collection of publishing houses, bookstores and cultural spaces. One of its founders, Lin Faqin, president of the Macau Cultural and Educational Publishing Association, held up a small creative book \”Macau Bounce\” for a China News Service reporter Make an introduction.

On December 17, Lin Faqin, President of the Macao Cultural and Educational Publishing Association and President of the Macao Oral History Association, was interviewed by a reporter from China News Service at the Cultural Office and talked about the \”three-dimensional Macao\” in his eyes. Photo by China News Service reporter Zhu He

This panoramic three-dimensional book is compiled by Lin Faqin and drawn by Hong Kong illustrator Liu Sijie. It is distributed in the mainland and Macau in the form of \”one book, two numbers\”, and will be released in English and Macau soon. Portuguese version. With only more than 3,000 words, the book \”restores\” representative historical and cultural attractions such as Ruins of St. Paul\’s, A-Ma Temple, and Longhuan Portuguese Rhymes. When readers read it, they feel like they are wandering through the ancient sites and feel the charm of multiculturalism. This is the creative publishing achievement of the Cultural Institute in recent years, and it is also a model of cooperation between the Macao publishing industry and Guangdong and Hong Kong.

Presenting the style of Macau in a three-dimensional way is what Lin Faqin has been doing for 25 years. When Macao returned to China in 1999, Lin Faqin, who was studying at Jinan University, interviewed his Macao classmates as a special reporter for a local newspaper and recorded the happy moments. “Everyone was very excited and they hung up the five-star red flag and the flag of the Macao Special Administrative Region in the dormitory. \”; After graduation, he returned to Macau to teach, and he began to record the stories of ordinary people.

Nowadays, another well-known identity of Lin Faqin is the president of the Macao Oral History Association. This non-governmental organization founded in 2008 focuses on preserving public memory and exploring the historical development trajectory from the smallest details. At that time, an elderly person interviewed passed away, which made LinFaqin felt an unprecedented sense of urgency, and he determined to treat oral history research as a \”must fight\”.

From Macanese cuisine to traditional wood crafts, from garment workers to street vendors, from Taipa Old Street to temple culture… For more than ten years, Lin Faqin has been racing against time, and has led recordings and music with the students of the association. Video equipment traveled through the streets of Macau, interviewed nearly a thousand people, collected the memories of those who experienced it, and made a lot of exploration and recording of the historical details of Macau\’s multicultural interweaving.

As the president of the Macau Oral History Association, Lam Fa-chin and the students of the association brought audio and video equipment to the streets of Macau, interviewing nearly a thousand people, and gaining an understanding of the interweaving of Macau\’s diverse cultures. A lot of historical details have been explored and recorded. Photo by China News Service reporter Zhu He

In November 1949, an archway was erected on New Avenida in Macau to celebrate the founding of New China. For more than 20 years since then, building archways and going out with family to watch them have become important ways for Macao compatriots to celebrate the birthday of their motherland.

Lin Faqin interviewed 16 old Macao residents who participated in the design and production of the National Day archway. In addition to professional art workers, workers, teachers, students and other groups also participated. \”To express our love and attachment to the motherland is the original intention of everyone to build the archway,\” he said. \”This is not a matter of one person, but a collective expression of generations of Macao compatriots yearning for the motherland.\”

In addition to describing the history and cultural features, Lin Faqin believes that themes that show the new changes in Macau\’s reality are also worthy of writing, and an indispensable one is the increasingly in-depth \”two-way rush\” with the mainland. He went to the mainland to participate in a book expo, and the copyright trade was booming, and they jointly planned relevant books for Macao youth to pursue their dreams of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area… He said that the cooperation between the cultural circles of the two places now is not only the exchange of ideas and culture, but also a witness to the lives of the people. The degree of change and integration is deepening.

“Building Macao into an ‘exchange and cooperation base with Chinese culture as the mainstream and multicultural coexistence’ is not a slogan, it is our new cultural mission.” Lin Faqin said that relying on the mainland’s high-quality publishing resources, in Telling Macao’s story to the world in the process of “bringing in” and “going out” is an important task currently being done by the Macao Cultural and Educational Publishing Association.

“It is ordinary individuals who participate in and create the past, present and future of Macao.” Over the past 25 years, he has bought a house, gotten married, and had children. In the eyes of Lin Faqin, Macao has become more and more three-dimensional, and he also looks forward to it.Can strive to leave more important oral records. (End)