Feature by Stefan Hammond*
Tod Browning’s 1931 film Dracula introduced Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi as the titular undead nobleman. Early in this seminal monochrome epic, Count Dracula transforms into a bat. The transmogrification of the evil protagonist into a creature associated with demons and darkness jibes with Western beliefs.
These detriments aren’t universal. In Chinese culture, bats are auspicious. The winged creatures symbolise good fortune, happiness, and prosperity, and often appear as stylized depictions in art, on clothing, and festive decorations.
Lugosi (born Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary) never made it to Macau. Fortunately, 16 species of bats did, according to Hong Kong Bat Radar – a comprehensive local bat information platform with scientifically accurate information (https://hkbatradar.com/en/macau_checklist/).
Coin bats
Even casual visitors to Macau know the classic pawn shop sign, but did you know that it’s a stylized bat carrying a coin?
“In Chinese culture...since the 14th century, bats have been regarded as lucky animals, and their images have appeared frequently in Chinese art,” writes Isabella Hu for the UK’s John Moore Museum. “In addition, in Buddhism, five bats symbolize a wish for the Five Blessings: longevity, wealth, good health, virtue, and a peaceful death.”
Stylized bats appear as motifs on Chinese fabric, carved into wooden doorways, and – uniquely in Macau – on coinage. You can pass along your wish for the Five Blessings with every five-pataca coin you spend.
Mammals, like us
Bats (known as Chiroptera, derived from the Greek words for “hand” and “wing”) fly around like birds, but they’re winged mammals, and the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats devour insects like mosquitoes and contribute to ecosystems across the globe. Their droppings, known as guano (a Spanish word derived from Quechua, an indigenous language family that originated in central Peru, then spread to other countries of the Andes) offer a high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium and are prized as a fertiliser.
How precious is guano? From 1865 to 1879, Spain fought a series of coastal and naval battles with its former colonies of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia over the precious bat extract. Wikipedia: “The conflict began with Spain’s seizure of the guano-rich Chincha Islands in one of a series of attempts by Spain, under Isabella II, to reassert its influence over its former South American colonies.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chincha_Islands_War
Rugby bats
Macau may not rank highly as a global sports powerhouse, but the RAEM boasts one of the world’s few sports teams named after Chiroptera.
The Macau national rugby union team, nicknamed the Bats, represents Macau in international rugby union. The Macau Bats normally organize two Mini-Rugby Festivals per season, in January and May, with the participation of teams from Hong Kong (https://www.asiarugby.com/unions/macau/).
Bat conservation
There are several bat conservation and research organisations and a partial list is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bat_conservation_and_research_groups
One of the better known ones is Texas-based Bat Conservation International (BCI). “In many Western cultures, people can be fearful of bats, and bats are often used in movies and television to represent sinister or evil elements,” writes Paul Hormick for BCI. “In China things couldn’t be more different. The association of bats with good luck dates back two millennia to the Han Dynasty (206 BCE—220 CE).”
“Over the centuries, depictions of bats have become extremely stylized, so much so that a bat adorning a teacup or gown might look more like a boomerang in a Star Wars movie than a bat,” he writes. “Westerners are familiar with depictions of dragons in Chinese art, but bats might be even more common.”
Bat Appreciation Week: 2026
Bat Appreciation Week champions these often-misunderstood creatures annually and runs from October 24-31, 2026. This week-long observance educates the public on bat conservation, debunks myths, and highlights their crucial ecological contributions.
More information at:
https://nationaltoday.com/bat-appreciation-week/
https://batweek.org/
*Hong Kong-based journalist, writer and movie critic
March 2007 photo of neon sign featuring the legendarily auspicious bat (“pinfuk” in Cantonese) at Veng Fung Pawn Shop in Macau – Photo courtesy of cdip150/Wikimedia Commons
2010s file photo of Macau’s 50 avos (cents) coin featuring the proverbially propitious bat. – Photo: Stefan Hammond
