Commentary by Swallow Xu*

It’s only accidental if the header conforms to the ‘I can’t breathe’ protests in USA now and before (for sure I lament any loss of life and condemn any form of brutality), but when wearing a facemask in summer, my gut feeling is: Ouch, I can’t breathe! 

Though by now virtually everywhere in the world seems to have integrated this little guy into our everyday life, the sultry summer in Macau makes it annoying. I hail all citizens’ sticking to wearing facemasks in such heat but would like to advise taking precautions on using it when doing exercise or in any physical endeavours – I find it particularly unbearable when climbing stairs on going uphill across part of Macau’s somewhat hilly terrain with a facemask on. 

In Zhuhai schools reopened around the middle of May and it’s said pupils could take off facemasks once entering the classroom. Lesson hard learnt. In April a few facemask-related tragedies claimed a few young lives in some provinces in the mainland and the Education Ministry in Beijing has since issued guidelines on wearing/not wearing facemasks. Primary and secondary school pupils can be exempted from wearing facemasks at school provided that a school meets the following three conditions: 1) located in a low-risk area; 2) ensures that everyone entering the campus is healthy; 3) has sound campus-based virus prevention and control measures. One thing is very sure: in P.E. (sports) class, no N95 facemasks are allowed and in low risk areas, pupils don’t need to wear facemasks. 

But Macau seems to be lacking such guidelines. I heard a friend complaining about her children’s overwhelming dance class with masks on. And I know a major secondary school requires facemask as a must on the campus including in P.E. classes. With the sultry weather and improved anti-virus situation, I hope the local education authorities can adjust facemask-wearing measures based on actuality before any accident happens. I also hope sooner than later we can get rid of the facemask and breathe freely – even though sometimes I can’t help imaging ‘will one day facemasks become part of the fashion world, forever stuck on our face and we must carry them like a trendy lipstick?’; even though it’s reported that “Israeli researchers have come up with a brilliant new prototype of a self-cleaning facemask which can kill pathogens–such as COVID-19–simply by drawing power from a smartphone charger.” Just let us breathe. 

Walking across Harriett Low’s Macau

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the inscription of the Macau Historical Centre as a World Heritage site, the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) has launched an open call for World Heritage-inspired short stories in Chinese until May 31. By coincidence, these days I’m reading Everything in Style – Harriett Low’s Macau, written by Rosmarie W. N. Lamas with excerpts from the journal of Harriett Low, a young American woman who lived in Macau from 1829 to 1833 accompanying her aunt thus becoming one of the first two American women to come to China. She made the acquaintance of many of the well-known residents of Macau, including English painter George Chinnery who created a portrait of her, lovely and introspective. With COVID-19 still around, the city quiets and slows down, so does the pace of residents. 

All these together give me a great chance and create in me a perfect mood to walk at leisure – before I always had to rush and run – across the historical part of Macau, from Leal Senado, through Rua de S. Domingos, up to S. Lázaro area, across the backstreets and straight to Praça do Tap Seac. It’s like strolling through an architectural museum, a historical archive where time freezes, allowing one to admire its old charm with inner eyes. Here, any building you bump into could have centuries old stories to tell. Walking amidst it is like conversing with Harriett Low’s Macau 200 years ago. Though there’s no longer a campo (field) when you walk past Rua do Campo, S. Lázaro is more or less the same. And whenever I look up from Tap Seac, the Guia Lighthouse, East Asia’s first Western-style lighthouse is always there on top of the hill, guiding us, just as it has guided countless merchant vessels over the centuries. Perhaps it also guided many mainlanders to illegally swim or catch a boat into Macau looking for a better life before the 1990s in the last century – as I was told by a senior citizen with her bitter stories which today just trigger my laughter.  

*The author is a Macau-based translator and travel writer