1 Introduction 1 -- 2 An Anomaly in Colonization and Decolonization 9 -- The Age of Discovery 9 -- The Encounter of Two Civilizations 17 -- Problematic Sovereignty and Colonial Ideology 22 -- The Assertion of 'Perpetual Occupation' 26 -- Opium-Trafficking and Slave Trade 30 -- A Poetic Desire for Decolonization 33 -- Anachronistic Decolonization and a 'Pre-Postcolonial' Era 35 -- A Resurgent Symbol: The Bank of China Building 38 -- An Unprecedented Nostalgia 39 -- A Punctum in History 41 -- 3 'City of the Name of God of Macau in China, There is -- None More Loyal' 47 -- The Toponymy of Macau 47 -- The Propagation of Christianity 50 -- The Partition of the World 53 -- Rites Controversy 54 -- Ancestor Worship and Chinese Reactions to Christianity 62 -- Christianity, Gunboats and Cannons 66 -- Autonomization of the Chinese Church 73 -- An Oasis of Catholicism 74 -- 4 The Rendezvous of a Virgin Trio 81 -- Religious Culture in Macau 81 -- The Facade of the Church of the Mother of God 83 -- Ma Zu Ge or the Temple of the Goddess of the Sea 100 -- Guan Yin Tang or the Temple of the Goddess of Mercy 116 -- Two 'Civilizing' Forces 121 -- 5 Colonial Stereotypes, Transgressive Punishment and Cultural -- Anthropophagy 127 -- The 'Twain' Meet 127 -- Western Literary Stereotypes of Macau 129 -- The Evocation of the Child/Mistress Imagery 142 -- The Punishment of the Western Intruder 144 -- Cannibalism, Carnivalism and the Mastication of the Barbarian Other 146 -- The Intrigue of Miscegenation and the Manipulation of -- Chinese Myths 149 -- The Monkey King's Ordeal 152 -- The Ultimate Victor 155 -- Satiric Elements and a Return to the Centre 156 -- A Field of 'Wheat' and 'Weeds' 157 -- 6 Midway Sojourners, Macanese Moments and Stoical Settlers 161 -- The River and the Sea 161 -- City of Threshold and Exile 163 -- Peninsular Affectivity 169 -- A Flaneur's Amor 173 -- A Macanese Dilemma 177 -- A Bohemian's Adventure 180 -- City of Anchorage and Endurance 182 -- A Return from Exile 190 -- Rootlessness and Rootedness 192 -- 7 Conclusion 197.

Contents: Introduction -- The Imaginary City - Departures; 1 -- Two Worlds - Origins: Portugal and China; 2 -- Boundaries - On the Periphery; 3 -- Memories - The Architecture of History; 4 -- Transitions - Crossing the Threshold; 5 -- Moments - The Culture of Everyday Life; 6 -- Images - Spiritual Topography; Conclusion -- Illusions - Epilogue