Unlike in other countries on the route, the Olympic Torch met only with smiles today in Macau, its last leg before Mainland China. Runners have already finished carrying the torch through the city with not a single disruption from protesters. On the contrary, it was greatly cheered by flag-waving spectators who could barely contain their excitement as the flame toured the former Portuguese colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1999. Leocardo [pt] fully reports:

Photo from Tori birdie~'s Flickr photostream

Passavam 44 minutos das 15 horas quando o Chefe do Executivo Edmund Ho entregou a tocha olímpica ao primeiro transportador; Leong Hong Man, atleta de Wushu, era o primeiro a transportar a chama olímpica em Macau. Ainda na Doca dos Pescadores entrgou-a ao bilionário Stanley Ho, que apesar de ter dado apenas alguns passos, mostrou-se extremamente bem disposto e cheio de fervor patriótico, e afirmou que pelo seu país transportaria a tocha “até ao fim do mundo”.

It was 44 minutes past 3 pm when the Chief Executive Edmund Ho delivered the Olympic torch to the first runner; Leong Hong Man, a Wushu athlete, was the first to carry the torch in Macau. Still at the Doca dos Pescadores‘ wharf, he passed it to billionaire Stanley Ho, who despite having walked only a few steps, proved to be extremely well prepared and full of patriotic fervor, and said that for his country he would carry the torch “to the end of the world”.

Photo from Tori birdie~'s Flickr photostream

Entre as personalidades convidadas para transportar a tocha destacaram-se Costa Antunes, director dos Serviços de Turismo, Jorge Neto Valente, presidente da Associação dos Advogados de Macau ou Paula Carion, atleta de judo medalhada nos últimos Jogos Asiáticos. A cantora de Hong Kong Miriam Yeung, que esteve na base de uma polémica que levou ao afastamento do deputado José Pereira Coutinho, usou os seus 30 segundos para gritar “yeah! yeah!” enquanto sacudia o punho esquerdo.

Among the celebrities invited to carry the torch, the highlights were Costa Antunes, the Tourist Office's director, Jorge Neto Valente, Association of Macao Lawyers' president, or Paula Carion, prized judo athlete in the last Asian Games. Hong Kong singer Miriam Yeung, who was on the bottom of a controversy that led to the expulsion of Mr Jose Pereira Coutinho, used her 30 seconds to yell “yeah! Yeah!” while shaking her left fist.

Photo from H.L.Tam Flickr photostream

Foi um lugar comum. Todos sorriam para ficar bem na fotografia e mandavam adeuzinhos enquanto seguravam na tocha. O ar mais grave terá sido o de Leong Heng Teng, que levou a tocha de volta à Doca dos Pescadores e terminou a relay de Macau. Devido a uns atrasos “à portuguesa” (herança cultural?) a tocha nunca chegou a passar pelo Leal Senado. Não se sabe se desta vez os comerciantes da Av. Almeida Ribeiro alegaram transtorno para o comércio (sou tão mauzinho, não sou?) para que se dispensasse a passagem pela principal artéria do território.

It was commonplace. Everyone was laughing to look good in the pictures and waving bye-byes while holding the torch. The most serious air was Leong Heng Teng's, who led the torch back to the Doca dos Pescadores‘ wharf and finished Macau's relay. Due to some delays “a la Portuguese” (cultural heritage?), the torch never passed by the Leal Senado (Loyal Senate) building. It is not known whether this time Almeida Ribeiro Avenue traders claiming an inconvenience to business (I'm not that bad, am I?) meant the torch not passing through the main arterial road.

Photo from H.L.Tam Flickr photostream

Milhares de residentes saíram à rua, juntando-se a eles os turistas, muitos deles vindos da China Continental. A generalidade - mesmo os ocidentais - parece concordar com a ideia de que as reivindicações dos manifestantes deviam ser feita em sede própria, e longe, portanto, do evento da passagem da tocha olímpica. Um grupo de cristãos filipinos (Jesus Rocks?) juntou-se à festa para “abençoar os Jogos”, segundo eles.

Thousands of residents took to the streets, joined by tourists, many of them coming from Mainland China. The general public - even the Westerners - seems to agree with the idea that the demonstrators' demands should be made in their own places and, therefore, far away from the Olympic torch event. A group of Filipino Christians (Jesus Rocks?) joined the party to “bless the Games”, according to them.

Photo from H.L.Tam Flickr photostream

A tocha olímpica passou hoje por Macau pela primeira vez na História, e provavelmente a última, pelo menos em muitos anos. A passagem foi pacífica e sem qualquer tipo de incidentes semelhantes aos que aconteceram noutras etapas da passagem do fogo Olímpico, o que leva a questionar o tremendo aparato de segurança que se verificou. Aparentemente Macau não está na agenda dos apoiantes da causa tibetana, e os activistas de sofá ficaram em casa a ver pela TV.

The Olympic torch passed today through Macau for the first time in history, and probably for the last at least in many years. The transition was peaceful and without any incidents similar to those that occurred on the other Olympic torch legs, which leads us to question the tremendous security apparatus that was put in place. Apparently Macau is not on the agenda of the Tibetan cause supporters, and couch activists were at home watching it on television.

Photo from H.L.Tam Flickr photostream

The torch has now returned to Mainland China, where the relay continues on its way to Beijing for the Olympic Games from August 8-24.

It was a beautiful party
I was very pleased
I've still kept stubbornly
an old carnation for me
They have wilted your party
But they must have forgotten a seed
in some corner of the garden
(Song by Chico Buarque, to whom I beg forgiveness for my translation)

On April 25 1974, 34 years today, Portugal's 40-year fascist dictatorship, the longest in the history of Western Europe, came to an end with the Carnation Revolution, a leftist, military-led coup d'état. On that morning people went out to the streets despite the advice to stay at home, but instead of blood shed, bullets were swapped for flowers. There was a surprisingly peaceful overthrow of the dictatorship of Antônio de Oliveira Salazar and his successor, Marcelo Caetano, in which the population held red carnations and tucked them into the soldiers' rifle barrels. The second aim of the revolution was the cessation of the war in Africa.

With the too rapid independence for its African colonies, a violent civil war shook Angola, Mozambique was made independent the year after but only found peace in 1992 and East Timor was seized by force by Indonesia a year later. Other colonies, like Cape Verde, were left poor to despair. Despite the decolonization process being considered a shambles, the revolution enjoys popular support today and many Portuguese speaking bloggers, from these countries and around the world, dedicated a post to it.

Lusofolia [pt] publishes the video above, ‘Tanto Mar' is a song-homage composed by Brazilian Chico Buarque, which was later censored as Brazil was enduring its own dictatorship. The blogger says:

… tão distante já, é comovente relembrar daqui de longe o dia em que foram as mulheres que ofereceram flores aos homens. Um abraço a todos e a todas.

… it is so distant now, it is moving to remember from here, so far away, the day on which it was the women who offered flowers to men. A hug to all ladies and gentlemen.

CBugarim [pt], who was born under the Portuguese rule in Angola, says:

Festejo a Paz e o Progresso em Angola e o facto de a distância não me ter separado da minha Família e amigos mais queridos. Presto a minha homenagem a todos aqueles que pagaram com as suas vidas a factura da Liberdade e da Paz.

I'm cheering for the Peace and Progress in Angola and the fact that the distance has not separated me from my dearest family and friends. I pay my homage to all those who paid the bill of Freedom and Peace with their lives

From Maputo, Mozambique, Marta [pt] has been publishing April 25 inspired posts all day with poems, links to video and images, such as the one above.

From Macau, Leocardo [pt] explains the relationship society has with the historic day:

Em Macau o Dia de Cravos bateu com pouca força. É uma sociedade muito conservadora que se pela pelos santinhos, missas e procissões. Talvez seja por isso que alguma da beatada da metrópole se deu tão bem com os ares de cá. Talvez por isso não compreendam que afinal é o povo quem mais ordenha (ordena, bolas!). As actividades do 25/4 resumem-se ao feriado no Consulado, da Escola Portuguesa, e ao protocolo da praxe. Sempre presentes estão os habituais papa-eventos, que vão lá seja qual for o orador.

In Macau, the Carnations Day hit with little impact. It is a very conservative society which goes after little saint images, masses and processions. Perhaps it is why some of the church-blissful ones from the metropolis did so well with the airs over here. Perhaps that is why they don't understand that it actually is the people who do most milking (I mean who order!). The activities of the 25/4 holiday are held in the consulate, in the Portuguese School, and follow the usual protocol. There will be the usual party-goes, who will be there whoever the speaker is.

[Note: the blogger makes a very difficult to translate wordplay with ordenha/ordena, which sound very similar in Portuguese but the first means to milk an animal, and the second to order, to be in charge. The word Ordena was used in a then banned song by José Afonso, Grândola Vila Morena, broadcast on a radio station as a kind of password on the morning of April 25 to signalize to the troops that the day had come, as Brazilian blogger Elisabete Cunha [pt] quotes in a very elaborated post].

From East Timor, Frederico Duarte Carvalho [pt] suggests a book by Nuno Simas which shows how the US knew exactly what was going on in Portugal, unlike the popular belief:

Podem encontrar aqui os originais dos arquivos norte-americanos. O Nuno Simas, contudo, começa o livro com a defesa da versão oficial de que os EUA estavam a “leste” em relação ao golpe que preparava para o dia 25 de Abril de 1974 e, mais à frente, cita Henry Kissinger a queixar-se de que os EUA não tinham de andar a prever golpes pelo mundo fora. Dito assim, parece mesmo que nada se sabia…

You can find the original US archives here. Nuno Simas, however, starts the book defending the official version that the U.S. were “east” when time came to the coup that was being prepared for April 25, 1974, and later, cites Henry Kissinger complaining that the U.S. did not have to to anticipate coups by the outside world. Putting it like this, it seems that they knew nothing…

From Portugal, Alder Pinoca [pt] publishes the image above, says that he remembers little of the sheer happiness around from the day in his childhood and asks when the promised ‘Freedom Day' will actually come:

E diziam que a liberdade estava a passar por ali e que tinha vindo para ficar porque a defenderiam.
Era o 25 de Abril de 1974. Tantas palavras promissoras eu ouvi, a tantas alegrias eu assisti.
E agora, hoje, neste momento, onde estará a liberdade e a alegria que guardei no cofre das minhas memórias de criança?
É isto a liberdade? É isto a democracia? A justiça?
O 25 de Abril, sempre! É isto?

And they said that freedom was coming through and that it was there to stay because they would defend it.
It was April 25, 1974. So many promising words I heard, I watched so much joy.
And now, today, today, where is the freedom and joy that I kept safe in my childhood memories?
Is this freedom? Is this democracy? Justice?
April 25, always! Is that all?

On the other hand, also from Portugal, Tiago R Cardoso [pt] laments that the young generation of today do not appreciate April 25 and do not know how to protest when they need to do so:

A actual juventude está afastada do 25 de Abril, dá-lhe pouca importância, acha que a liberdade e todos estes direitos que tem caíram do céu, quando são fruto de anos de lutas, de acumular de frustrações e injustiça, que culminou na a revolta contra “o estado a que chegamos” […] “O 25 de Abril não é monopólio de uma geração nem de uma força política”, quem me dera que muitos ouvissem e entendessem..

The youth of today is far away from April 25, they give it little attention, they believe that freedom and all the rights that they have have dropped from the sky, whereas they are the result of years of struggles, accumulated frustration and injustice, which culminated in the revolt against “the state we have reached” […] “April 25 is not the monopoly of a generation or a political force,” I wish many people would hear and understand this.

You can read an article by Mozambican author Mia Couto about the revolution here.

Taiwan has a long history of diasporas and colonization. Even the so-called ‘aboriginal people’ in Taiwan drifted there several thousands years ago. About four hundreds years ago, many Han Chinese from China migrated to Taiwan and changed the aboriginal culture.

For example, Siraya, one group of the aboriginal people, has its own religion, A-Li-Tsu. The historied religious building is very simple. After sinicization, their religious buildings look more like the religious buildings for Groundskeeper God in Han’s culture.

Japan had colonized Taiwan from 1895 to the end of WWII. In 1949, the government of Republic of China lost its former territory following the Chinese civil war and moved to Taiwan. Therefore, it is not surprising that we can saw Japanese-style Buddha statue in a Han’s religious building (photo # 1), which was rebuilt after 1949.

Photo# 1 Japanese-style Buddha statue in a Han’s religious building (Photo courtesy of yueh-feng)

In the 17th century, the Spanish and Dutch ruled Taiwan shortly, and the exposure to the western culture seems to influence the decorations in traditional Han’s religious building–the sculpture in photo # 2 shows a western man wearing a suit in a Han's temple.

Photo# 2 A western-man decoration in a Han's temple (Photo courtesy of sunny)

The Spanish and Dutch also brought Christianity to Taiwan, and Christianity is one of the major religions in Taiwan. Photo # 3 shows a church with Torii, a traditional Japanese gate commonly found at the entry of to a Shinto shrine.

Photo# 3 A torii in the property of a church (Photo courtesy of little fox)

There is another flavor added to the religious buildings in Taiwan: modern. Decades ago, some fishermen picked up several damaged god statues and set up a temple for them. However, where they set up this temple became a park and the government asked them to move the temple. Because they do not have other place to set up the temple, they can only move the temple when the policemen came. At the end, the government decided to let the temple stay, but due to the possibility of flooding, the temple is designed to be able to be raised up when needed (along the four pillars around the temple).

After reading this article, do you think multi-culturalism observed in Taiwan is a salad bowl or soups?