濠鏡縈情 Tender Love to Macao

舊氹仔村簡介

 

  龍環是氹仔的舊稱，濠鏡的另一小城，它印記着昔日小漁村風貌，歐陸小鎮的休閒情調。現在遺留在氹仔舊城區的不同建築濃縮着氹仔濃厚的歷史，呈現出澳門以外另一個閒靜之城的生活足跡。

 

  十九世紀前，這個荒蕪小島人口稀少。據早期的記載，氹仔東北邊的卓家村是海島上最早的居民區，早在嘉慶年間，卓家村就有由沙田而改裝而成的養魚塘。當時居住在卓家村的人多為農民和漁民，他們日出而做日落而歸的生活與大自然的關係十分密切。1722年，卓家村的村民便在村中建

廟，廟裡供奉著負管航海安全的天后和保佑生意順利的關帝。漁農共存的村落生活一直延續至上世紀中期。

 

  從氹仔舊城區相繼出現的天后宮，北帝廟，三婆廟等的建廟年份可以推斷出氹仔居民中心從卓家村擴大至現時的氹仔舊城區。18世紀時，氹仔為香山賊前哨站，常有海盜盤踞在氹仔，民飽受海賊侵擾之苦。島上居民力量薄弱，對海盜的反抗能力有限。朝廷政府曾招募了當地二百多名居民當志願軍與海盜對峙，戰爭多年，雙方各有所傷，死難者中包括從氹仔招募的志願軍。後來朝廷表彰犧牲的烈士，并給家人發撫卹金，當時的居民為了悼念死者，同時又希望漁民的守護神媽祖娘娘可以繼續守護他們，於是使用撫恤金把創建于乾隆年間的天后宮建成較具範圍的廟宇。鴉片戰爭前後，氹仔又淪為澳門鴉片走私接駁存放的地方，引起海盜覬覦，搶劫事件時有發生，居民為了震攝海賊，於是集資修建三婆廟。廟內有一個木質神轎，廟宇看守人介紹說，過去當氹仔發生一些不如意的事情，如病疫，天災等，住在氹仔的居民就會舉行請神儀式，把神像放到神轎之上，抬到氹仔大街小巷巡遊，以求消災解難。氹仔現今風調雨順，因此已超過三十年沒巡遊過了。現時遺留的廟宇足跡可展示出昔日居民的宗教信仰。

 

  1842年鴉片戰爭之後，葡國人開始逐漸混入氹仔。五年後，他們在氹仔島西沙嘴建了氹仔炮台并插上了葡萄牙的國旗，預示著澳葡政府正式踏足氹仔。澳葡政府逐漸在氹仔推行與澳門相同的殖民地制度，建立了離島第一座教堂－－嘉模聖母堂，圍繞著它的公共教育教育建築相繼出現，葡式的宗教文化格局在氹仔形成。但由於當時居住在氹仔的葡國人主要為政府高官或士兵，與當地居民的溝通有限，而且由於交通不變，對當地的發展有限，居民農漁結合的生活如常。

 

  二十世紀起，炮業開始在氹仔興起並且風靡一時。當時氹仔有許多出名的炮竹場如廣興隆，益隆等。除了在炮竹場製炮外，炮竹場的工人還喜歡將一些沒危險性的工作帶回家裡，一家老小一起製炮，可謂是全民製炮風潮。時至今日，仍能聽到許多氹仔的老街坊回憶當時在炮竹場裡的工作的情景。除此之外，當時氹仔還有造船業；還有許多商鋪售賣土特產，如鹹魚，蝦醬，蠔油等，還有售賣小吃的，如鹹切酥，雞仔餅等。

 

  自上世紀七十年代開始，嘉樂庇大橋落成，離島與市區交通已連成一體，澳門人口不斷增加，離島的發展仍是大勢所趨，經過近三十年極速發展和房屋，交通運輸建設，昔日氹仔原始面貌日漸逝去，現在能保留下來的少之又少，街坊的生活受到了很大變化，舊日氹仔面貌和生活片段都隨著時間一點點的在消逝。

 

 

Indroduction of Old Taipa Village

 

  Lung Wan (龍環) is the old name of Taipa, which is a remote island of Hou Keng (濠鏡) or Macao. Here, the look of fishing village and the relaxing sentiment of European town can still be found. The history of the island was enriched with various architectures and collective memory left over in the old Taipa village, demonstrating the trace of a quiet and relaxing village beyond Macao.

 

  Before the 19th century, there were only few residents on the isolated island. As seen in some earlier recordings, Cheok Ka village at the northeast of Taipa is the oldest residential area of the island. During the reign of Emperor Jiaqing, there were fish ponds adapted from sand fields in the village. At that time, most of the people living in the village are farmers and fishermen, who shared a very close relationship with nature. In 1722, the villagers built temples worshipping Tin Hau (goddess of the sea) and Kuan Tai (god of business). The fishing and farming life in the village lasted till the middle of the 20th century.

 

  Later on, the residential center of Taipa was expanded to today’s Taipa old village area, which can be told from the built year of various religious institutions such as Tin Hau Temple, Pak Tai Temple and Sam Po Temple. In the 18th century, Taipa used to be the outpost for Xiangshan pirates. People were suffering from the pirates settling in Taipa. Residents on the island were not strong enough to defeat the pirates. The government of Qing Dynasty recruited 200 residents as volunteers to fight against the pirates. After years of wars, many volunteers sacrificed. The Government honored the martyrs and distributed pensions to their families. In order to memorize the victims and with hope of Mazu or Tin Hau to bless the residents of Taipa, people used the pensions to build a larger temple based on the Tin Hau Temple which was built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. Around the Opium War, Taipa became the “warehouse” for the opium trade, which was again coveted by the pirates. Many robberies happened time to time on the island. Therefore, people built Sam Po Temple by using the money raised among residents to deterrence the pirates. There is a wooden sedan inside the temple. In the past, when there were something unpleasant happened such as diseases and natural disasters, people live in Taipa would invite the god by placing the god statue in the sedan and parade around alleys of Taipa to scare away evil spirits. Today, “luck” seems to be with Taipa, and the invitation ceremony has not been held for over 30 years. The temples left today can reveal the belief of people on the island.

 

  After 1842 when the Opium War ended, Portuguese started to move to Taipa. They built the Taipa Fort and raised Portugal flag in Taipa, heralding the era of Portuguese governance of the island. The Portuguese had been carrying out the same colonial policy as in Macao. Our Lady of Carmel Church, the first church of the island was built with some public institutions, such as schools, and residential houses surrounded. The religious and cultural pattern of Portuguese was formed. However, since most of the Portuguese lived in Taipa were government officials and soldiers who may not be able to communicate with local residents; also, because of inconvenient transportation, the farming and fishing lifestyle of Taipa residents still remained.

 

  Since the 20th century, firecracker industry started to be developed in Taipa and later became the major industry of the island. There were many well-known firecarcker factories in Taipa at that time, for example, Kwong Heng Long and Iec Long. Workers at these factories used to bring some firecracker works back to home; even children participated in firecracker making. You can still hear many old neighbors talking about their memory about the time when they worked in the factories. Besides, shipbuilding industry could be found on the island at that time; and many shops selling local-produced food such as salty fish, shrimp paste and oyster oil, and street food shops selling salty cake and ham cookies.

 

  Since the 1970s when Nobre de Carvalho Bridge linked the island with Macao peninsula, the lifestyle of people living in Taipa has been changed. It is not easy to find those traces telling the story of Taipa. Time flies, the old Taipa and the past lifestyle of the people living here have been gradually vanishing.