Do you know which was the earliest newspaper in Macao? The answer is A Abelha da China, which dates back to almost 200 years ago. Years ago, we could only read these historic foreign language newspapers in Senado Library. Recently, however, we can easily access such newspapers through the ‘Database of Foreign Language Periodicals Collection’ using computers in the Multimedia Rooms of Macao Public Library branches.
The ‘Database of Foreign Language Periodicals Collection’ contains some 60,000 pages from 16 Portuguese and British newspapers in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as the Chinese-Portuguese bilingual newspaper Echo Macaense, Portuguese newspaper A Voz de Macau, Notícias de Macau and O Clarim, which are clear and readable after processing. Readers can not only search for information with the name, year or date of the newspaper, but also look into the details on each page by zooming in, thereby gaining a glimpse into the news over the past two centuries from the news reports as well as the daily life of Macao residents from the advertisements. Data can also be downloaded, allowing general readers and researchers to keep the data for reference.
The database can be searched by name, year and date of the periodicals
Pages of A Abelha da China on 24 October 1822
*Note: Multimedia Rooms are available in all Macao Public Library branches, except for the Wong Ieng Kuan Children’s Library in Areia Preta Urban Park. Readers who use the database are required to abide by the Regulations Governing the Use of Multimedia Room and Internet Service.
