Life.Culture.Discovery.

Rediscovering Macau: a timeless love affair with a city of hidden charms

A decades-long fascination with Macau has endured for historian Jason Wordie, who finds little of what matters to him has changed, post-Covid

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Jason Wordie in Macau in the mid-1990s. Photo: courtesy Jason Wordie

Published: 2:01pm, 4 Feb 2026

How does one even begin to describe a permanent yet intermittent love affair between a person and a place that has stretched on for decades? And do places cherished, somehow, in their own way, love one back? I think they do. Macau has been a much-loved constant in my life since my initial visit, aged not quite 22, back in 1988. From the very first day, I was strangely, mesmerisingly hooked by the place.

That first night – spent at the gently crumbling Bela Vista Hotel – epitomised that conundrum. Perched high above the southern end of the Praia Grande, that gracious old building, built atop the 17th century fort of Bom Parto, commanded, back then, an uninterrupted view across to Taipa and the Chinese islands beyond. A small, colonnaded veranda off my room overlooked the gently curving, banyan-lined Avenida da República, which stretched along the seafront to the very end of peninsular Macau. But the room itself! While clean and serviceable – that must be conceded – worn-out bedsprings made sleep a challenge, aged bathroom fittings were cracked and stained, and brown water flowed from the taps. But none of that mattered, somehow. I was immediately beguiled.

The Bela Vista Hotel in 1989. Photo: SCMP Archives

Yet many times since, I have asked myself just what it was that attracted me so strongly. After all, Macau’s charms are both obvious and hidden; the place keeps to itself quite as much as it chooses to reveal to the world, and the city’s less appealing aspects are among the most readily apparent. Nevertheless, from that first youthful encounter, my now lifelong fascination with all that was unique and special about Macau – history, buildings, people, language, food – began in earnest, and remains immensely rewarding.

Not everyone understood what attracted me; to many in Hong Kong – then and now – Macau offered nothing more stimulating than a weekend’s worth of gambling, prostitutes and inexpensive Portuguese wine. When he learned about my regular visits, my then-boss, an avuncular British Army major, delivered a kind warning. After that, I kept my new enthusiasm carefully quiet until, eventually, I went to Hong Kong University to study history. There, my Macau research interests emerged from the shadows and, before long, broadened to include Hong Kong’s local Portuguese community – descendants of 19th century migrants from Macau, whose multifaceted legacy to Hong Kong endures.

The interior of the Bela Vista. Photo: SCMP Archives

In 1996, a partially completed manuscript about Macau’s lesser-known Portuguese monuments, mostly written by former HKU vice-chancellor Lindsay Ride, was passed to me by his widow, May. Pulling together The Voices of Macao Stones for publication opened up unexpected and enriching connections with personalities from an earlier Macau. Among many others, Monsignor Manuel Teixeira, aged doyen of Macau studies, was unfailingly helpful; an evocative watercolour of the Ruins of Saint Paul’s by White Russian refugee painter George Smirnoff, chosen for the book’s cover, led to his daughters becoming close personal friends.

Rediscovering Macau: a timeless love affair with a city of hidden charms

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A decades-long fascination with Macau has endured for historian Jason Wordie, who finds little of what matters to him has changed, post-Covid

A decades-long fascination with Macau has endured for historian Jason Wordie, who finds little of what matters to him has changed, post-Covid