MSLF
sponsored the Macau and the Maritime Silk Route International Conference with
the UNESCO Center, and the Macau Center for Maritime Silk Route Studies. The
conference took place in Macau from 12-14 March 1999.
During
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Macau was considered to be one of the
most important ports in a commercial network that included a vast territory.
This network became an important cultural and commercial link between the West
and China, connecting such geographically distant regions such as Korea and
Japan with the countries of the Mediterranean, via Africa and India, as well
as with the Americas, via Manila. This role as an intermediary between distant
peoples and cultures, which has distinguished Macau historically, will continue
to be an important topic of study and discussion among academics after the transfer
of administrative control to China at the end of this year.
Macau
and the Maritime Silk Route International Conference
Approximately
eighty scholars from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, the U.S., and Japan took
part in the conference, presenting papers on such topics as the historic role
of Macau in the maritime silk route, commerce and contacts between China and
other countries, cultural exchange between East and West, and perspectives on
Macau's future foreign relations after 1999. A booklet is available of the abstracts
of each paper in both Chinese and English.
History
on the Maritime Silk Route
Macau:
March 1999
