In 15 years of the Macau SAR, little progress has been made with regard to the renewal and transformation of former Iec Long Fireworks Factory in Taipa, a project with great cultural value, and which simultaneously protects the unique heritage that remains of that industrial era in Macau. The progress that has been made in relation to the preservation of Macau’s patrimonial heritage has stemmed from an awareness of the population, who at times knew how to mobilize themselves to at least avoid, its “non-destruction”.
In the case of Iec Long, that was what happened in 2002, when the possibility of a project to build a more than 30-storey tower in the area arose, according to architect Francisco Vizeu Pinheiro.
“At the time when the intention to build a tower near Carmo church, in front of Iec Long was announced, there was a strong reaction from the population, with appeals to Edmund Ho, the Chief Executive in office at the time. That land was exchanged for another plot and the tower was not built,” he explains.
The Association of Macau Heritage Ambassadors (AEPM), founded on August 1, 2004 and currently with over 800 members, is one of the organizations that exists to advise the Government on how to protect heritage. The association suggests that Iec Long should be included in the tour itineraries promoted by Macau tourism. Nero Ka Hou Lio, director of AEPM, is however not optimistic that it will happen any time soon.
“We think it is very difficult to deal with the situation because part of the factory is private property; probably more than one family has property rights which makes it very complicated,” he says.
Testimony of an era
Iec Long Fireworks Factory, established in 1928, “is the largest and best preserved historic industrial complex, a heritage relic that has survived into the 21st century,” according to experts. The complex was constructed on over of 30 thousand square meters of land and is now almost the only evidence that remains of a specific period in Macau’s history.
“It is a representative legacy of traditional industries that played a significant role in Macau’s economy from 1880 to 1980. Therefore, it has architectural and aesthetic, historic, social and educational value,” explains architect Francisco Vizeu Pinheiro, who advocates for the preservation of industrial areas to take pressure off the historical centre and promote more sustainable urban development.
In the 1960’s, the number of plants in operation in the city and on Taipa Island increased, after the ban on manufacturing and public possession of firecrackers was enacted in China and Hong Kong. The ban was for public safety reasons, and also followed riots in the summer of 1967 in Hong Kong, triggered by a left wing movement influenced by events on the mainland, which was then living through the first years of the Cultural Revolution.
“Entire families, but particularly women and children, took part in the industrial production process in bulk for export, and many lost their lives in fires or explosions,” he notes, in a document made in conjunction with other experts and presented in 2010 at a conference in Japan entitled “Preserving Macao’s Industrial Heritage for a Sustainable Urban Future”.
The human tragedies of fireworks manufacturing at that time are to some extent recalled in the short film Iec Long by filmmaking duo João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata, the directors behind The Last Time I Saw Macau. The 30-minute short, which had its debut in December in Portugal, at Porto/Post/Doc Film Festival, reveals “the ruins of a former fireworks factory populated by ghosts and past memories of their workers,” according to the filmmakers.
“When we visited Iec Long Fireworks Factory for the first time in 2011, the factory was in ruins and being used for ‘war games’, a sort of ‘paintball’. This is how it appears in The Last Time I Saw Macau, as the scene of a murder mystery,” the filmmakers explain. “During our research we found some reports by former employees of the fireworks factories. From these reports we built a fictional character, a hypothetical worker at the Iec Long Fireworks Factory, called Teng Man Cheang, whose memories guided us in developing a broader puzzle in which the narrative defies reality,” they elaborate.
Iec Long, green zone
For architect Vizeu Pinheiro the preservation of this heritage is important for various reasons: first, because “the population density has significantly increased in the centre of Taipa and this area is needed as part of a zone of green spaces, a kind of Central Park [New York], providing air regeneration, leisure and cultural space for residents and visitors, and increasing the tourism carrying capacity of the city.”
Iec Long also plays an important role in “urban sustainability, filling in the gaps and breaks in the urban fabric of Taipa, serving as a buffer zone between the apartment towers of residential areas and casinos, areas of high density, and the old village centre and Taipa Houses Museum.”
Vizeu Pinheiro points out “the traditional tourist areas such as the Ruins of St. Paul or A-Ma Temple are saturated.” More “diversification spaces” are needed and “the factory is located in a strategic place that can be useful for welcoming tourists and residents.”
The areas of Taipa and Coloane have “very little heritage listed or protected areas, and over time there has been increasing talk of Iec Long as an important part of the heritage,” says the architect.
Vizeu Pinheiro and other experts advocate for the transformation of Iec Long into a park intended for creative and artistic industries, similar to what has been done in other places, such as Taipei, where industrial areas were turned into the Huashan creative park 1914, or in Beijing where the 798 Art Zone was created. These cultural areas “are now attraction areas for tourists,” Vizeu Pinheiro points out.
The Association of Heritage Ambassadors would like the Iec Long factory to include a museum, also featuring the contents of the former Kuan Iec fireworks factory, built in the 1950s, in the Inner Harbour area, says Nero Ka Hou Lio, director of AEPM. Last year the Cultural Affairs Bureau announced the initiation of a collection of valuables that were inside the building, including furniture, prior to demolition of the building that is “in an advanced state of structural degradation.”
The eternally uncertain future of Iec Long
A draft proposal for the renewal of the old factory was announced by the Government in 2007, but a lack of agreement between the owners of private lots included in the project area hindered progress. In 2012 the president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Ung Vai Meng, said the government would work with the relevant departments in order to ensure “the recovery of the factory in order to enhance local culture for the benefit of the population,” once the issue of property rights has been clarified.
In an e-mail dated December 9, 2014, the Cultural Affairs Bureau said it had reached a settlement with the owner of the Iec Long Fireworks Factory, “carrying out the structural restoration of the most important buildings or those in need of immediate repair, to prevent their ruin.” Currently, “the works are underway and there are still no decisions on its use in the future,” the Government concluded in their short answer.
Architects and the population have for many years been trying to protect this heritage.
“The Cultural Institute has expressed interest in protecting and developing this area,” says Vizeu Pinheiro who believes that “something will be done.”
The current list of protected heritage in Macau, in force since 1992 and revised at the time of classification of the Historic Centre of Macau as a World Heritage Site in 2005, includes 128 properties, mostly churches, temples, forts, colonial architecture buildings and Chinese architecture, but industrial heritage in Macau is not yet recognized as a historical legacy to be protected.
The new Cultural Heritage Protection Act has been in force since March last year and the inventory of new properties to be included in the protection list has been made since then. A new heritage list should include ten more items in addition to those who already recorded as protected heritage, the Secretary-General of the Cultural Heritage Council (CPC), Cheong Cheok Kio announced in December. Architect Francisco Vizeu Pinheiro hopes that Iec Long Fireworks Factory will be included in this additional list of protected heritage.
