Lin Zexu, representative of Emperor of Qing Dynasty (Imperial Envoy), is best known for his efforts to quell the trade of opium in Guangdong province. In 1839, a year before the outbreak of the Opium War, this Qing official visited Macau very briefly, however his visit with Macau Portuguese officials, and especially the details of who these officials were, is not well documented in history. The latest novel by local author Joe Tang, The Curse of the Lost City, was written out of curiosity about this period of history.
Following on from his previously published books Assassin and The Ecstasy, Tang is again basing his fictional writing on real historical events in Macau. His latest novel is set in 1839 (the 19th year of the Qing dynasty’s Daoguang period), when Lin Zexu, along with the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Dang Tingzhen, entered Macau through the customs gate/border gate on the morning of September 3 to investigate the opium trade situation.
“The Opium War was an important event in Chinese history, and even internationally, so I was very interested in writing about it, because each period of history has its own unique characteristics,” notes Joe. “I think we have all heard of Lin Zexu, and the few hours he spent in Macau is a very interesting historical event, but how much information is actually available on what happened at that time?”


In The Curse of the Lost City, Joe uses Lin Zexu’s visit to Macau as the basis of a fictional story sprinkled with historical facts. In the introduction to his new book, Tang describes it as a “long-lost treasure chest of history” and a “journey into history”, which is both fascinating and challenging.
“It is an imaginary story based on a real historical event, set against a turbulent background. In the story, there is a conspiracy to assassinate a Minister of State. Of course, I have tried to strike a balance between history and fiction, as we all know that the assassination cannot be successful, otherwise history would have been very different. You can read it as if this 'assassination’ did or did not happen. There was a conspiracy of sorts, and there were all sorts of forces behind it, from state to state, and from the people to the people; there were all sorts of things going on.”
Before Hong Kong was occupied by the British, the Qing government stationed local officials in Macau, alongside the Portuguese authorities including the governor, officials and soldiers. There were also many British and other western merchants trading in Macau, especially in the highly profitable import and export of opium cigarettes. Against this backdrop, trade, politics and culture could easily have been the cause of complicated relationships. Lin Zexu’s visit to Macau took place in the very early period of the Opium War, and in the same month, the first exchange of fire between the British and the Chinese took place on the Guangdong side of the water.
“The causes and consequences of the Opium War have been told many times in history, in books and in film and television. I have always been curious, as a Macau resident, about Macau’s role.”
Joe explains that as he began his research, he found there were very few details in historical sources regarding the identity of the official Portuguese representative who met with Lin, and indeed no one seemed to know who he was. The meeting between the Portuguese and Chinese sides was politically important, and therefore, he believed the representative would likely have been a high-level official, “But it is not clear from history, from documents and archives, who this person was.”
Interestingly, after sifting through and comparing a great deal of historical information, Joe believes that he finally discovered the identity of the Portuguese official who met with Lin Zexu during this visit, the Procurador (head of the representatives of the Leal Senado) named José Baptista de Miranda e Lima.
“The more we found out, the more new information came to light, and the more curious we became about a man whose name was not recorded as being part of this important historical event, and the more stories there were behind it.”
Because of Macau’s special status at the time, Portugal and China had very close relations, and although there is a lot of information about Lin Zexu and the Opium War recorded in Chinese history, there is very little relating to the period just before the Opium War. Joe believes that there are likely some records in the Portuguese archives that he has not yet been able to investigate that may shed more light on the events of this time.
Tang has won many literary awards and his new novel The Curse of the Lost City has been selected as the Outstanding Work of Merit in the 13th Macau Literary Awards in the local category for middle-grade fiction. His other two novels, Assassin and The Ecstasy, both based on actual historical events in Macau, have been translated into English and Portuguese, and he hopes to publish a foreign language translation of The Curse of the Lost City in the future.