Author: Aubrey Minshew , Museum Specialist, Truhlsen - Marmor Museum of the Eye®
This year’s special exhibition at the Truhlsen-Marmor Museum of the Eye ® , West Meets East: Eye Medicine in the Asia-Pacific , covers an extremely broad geographic area. The term “Asia-Pacific” is more of an economic and political grouping than a cultural one — an umbrella term used to encapsulate all of the countries in continental Asia as well as the island nations of the Pacific Rim, such as the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji. The nations and regions of the Asia-Pacific all have their own unique histories, traditional systems of medicine, and relationships with European imperial powers.
Many of the Asia-Pacific nations in the West Meets East show, such as China and Japan, are well known to most Americans. Others are less known, for example, Sri Lanka, the island nation off the southeastern coast of India. In this edition of Eye Witness, we’re going to dive into the fascinating history of another lesser-known region in the West Meets East show: Macao.
Macao’s location in southeastern China
Macao (also spelled Macau) is located on a peninsula in southern China, surrounded by the South China Sea and about an hour south of Hong Kong by ferry. While Macao is governed by the People’s Republic of China, it holds the status of “special administrative region” (SAR). SARs, like Macao and Hong Kong, are not usually considered to be part of mainland China and have the highest level of autonomy offered to Chinese provinces. Both Macao and Hong Kong became SARs in the mid-1990s when control of their governments was transferred from a former European imperial power to China. For Hong Kong, this meant a transfer of power from the United Kingdom, and for Macao, this meant a transfer of power from Portugal.
When we talk about European trade and colonialism in Asia, we usually think of the British Empire, but Portugal was actually the first European nation to reach Asia by sea in the 1500s and the first to set up a trading colony in China. Portuguese explorer and trader Jorge Álvares (d. 1521) was the first European to reach China by sea. He arrived in 1513 and established a trading colony called Tamão near modern-day Hong Kong. It existed until 1521, when the Ming Dynasty rulers forced the traders out, leading to several decades of conflict that ended with the Portuguese acquiring a permanent lease on the Macao peninsula in 1557.
Statue commemorating Jorge Álvares in central Macao
From the 1500s until the late 1840s, Macao was the primary European trading port on the South China Sea. It was a hub of trade between several different European nations and China, as well as a needed stop along the trade route to Japan. Macao slowly began to lose its premier status after the British gained control of Hong Kong, which occurred after the First Opium War (1832–1842). However, even with this competition, Macao endured through the 20th century and was effectively shielded during the Second World War. At that time, Portugal was nominally neutral, so when the Japanese Imperial Army occupied Hong Kong, Macao was spared.
After WWII, Macao’s status in trade began to wane. It saw an influx of refugees fleeing the Chinese Civil War in the north and its economy turned toward manufacturing and tourism with legalized casino gambling. Finally, after 442 years of colonial control and several decades of negotiations, Portugal formally turned over the colony of Macao to the Chinese government in 1999. Today, Macao is mostly known for its status as a tourist and gambling mecca, bringing in almost double the gambling income of Las Vegas.
The Grand Lisboa – a 47-floor hotel and casino and the tallest building in Macao
This heady mixture of Portuguese and Chinese influences created a unique Macanese culture. Though about 80% of people living in Macao speak Cantonese, you can see Traditional Chinese (the script to render Cantonese) and Portuguese on all the street signs. Buddhism is the primary religion, but there is still a practicing Roman Catholic minority and a robust system of Catholic churches and schools left behind by the Portuguese. Both the architecture and the food are a blend of traditional Portuguese and modern Chinese. While Macao’s skyline is dotted with modern, high-rise casino hotels, the historic city center still features 17th century Portuguese churches, barracks, and theaters. Chinese-influenced egg tarts and pork buns are eaten regularly along with Portuguese salt cod, called bacalhau , and Portuguese chicken dishes, like galinha à portuguesa and pato de cabidela.
Left to right: The Ruins of St. Paul’s in the Historic Center of Macau, galinha à portuguesa (chicken pieces in Portuguese sauce), and Macanese egg tarts with their distinctive caramelized tops
This mixture of cultures can also be seen clearly in medicine. During the early colonial period, European traders brought physicians to treat themselves and native peoples. In 1827, British physician Thomas R. Colledge (1796–1879) established the Colledge Ophthalmic Infirmary — one of the first Western hospitals ever opened in China. The eye hospital also functioned as a Christian mission. Dr. Colledge wrote, “When moral and religious instruction shall be united with the healing art, who can say where the influence of such a union shall end?” A drawing of the infirmary is included in the West Meets East exhibit, showing Western-style hospital buildings alongside drawings of people in traditional Chinese clothing. This drawing is a great illustration of the mixture of cultures during the mission hospital time period in Macao.
Drawing of Colledge Ophthalmic Infirmary, Muoa, from the museum’s collection, c1830. The Harriet and J. William Rosenthal, MD, Collection
Today, Macao has both Western-style hospitals and traditional Chinese clinics. It also has a growing pharmaceutical industry which, according to the Chinese government, is helping traditional Chinese medicines be manufactured and sold overseas — once again connecting Macao with international trade.
Macao’s skyline at night, including the Grand Lisboa (center)
Through relatively unknown to many Americans, Macao today is famous as the densely populated, glittering “Las Vegas of the East.” If we look at its history, it’s not only a fascinating pocket of Portuguese influence in Asia but also demonstrates how Eastern and Western medicine came to co-exist in the Asia-Pacific.
Learn more about both traditional medical systems of the Asia-Pacific region and their interactions with the West in our new special exhibition, West Meets East: Eye Medicine in the Asia-Pacific . West Meets East opens on May 21, 2025, and will be open until May 2026. Learn more at aao.org/museum/special-exhibitions .
All content on the Academy’s website is protected by copyright law and the Terms of Service . This content may not be reproduced, copied, or put into any artificial intelligence program, including large language and generative AI models, without permission from the Academy.
All content on the Academy\'s website is protected by copyright law and the Terms of Service . This content may not be reproduced, copied, or put into any artificial intelligence program, including large language and generative AI models, without permission from the Academy.
Loading comments…