At the end of last year, Gusa Publishers Taiwan and Macau’s NEW GEN. Monthly magazine jointly published an illustration story book entitled The Fairy Tales from the World of Chaos – a memoire written by the people of Macau in this round of chaotic era. The book is co-authored by six Macau writers and painters (including two of my stories).
The origin of this project can be traced back to the Macau Arts Festival in 2015 and 2016, during which two illustration-musical theatre works The Bizarre Fairy Tales (2015) and The Fairy Tales from the World of Chaos (2016) were performed. Both of these performances are multidisciplinary compositions of Macau’s music, literature, illustration, animation and theatre. Each of them is comprised of three stories with related themes. As for the current publication of the book The Fairy Tales from the World of Chaos, five stories were included: The Dream Keeper (Story by Joe Tang; Illustration by Kun Lam), Work Hard (Story by Eric Chau; Illustration by Un Chi-Wai), Hungry Ghost (Story by Lei Chon; Illustration by Eric Fok), The Collector (Story by Joe Tang; Illustration by Kun Lam), Single-eyed Child (Story by Lei Chon; Illustration by Un Chi-Wai).
In the two times that I have participated in the production process of The Bizarre Fairy Tales and The Fairy Tales from the World of Chaos, I have chosen “memory” as the main creative theme. The stories of The Dream Keeper and The Collector are reflections of my own observations and reflections about “Macau” as a city.
Using a story-telling method that is typically found in fairy tales, I tried to retrace the memories of the city and the era through The Dream Keeper. And in The Collector, I turned the viewpoint back to the individual, who scrutinized the value and meaning of “memory”. The writing is a modern fable which explores the notion of society and humanity.
The reason why The Fairy Tales from the World of Chaos has successfully attracted a Taiwan publisher’s attention for its eventual publication are multiple. On one hand, it is thanks to the helpful introduction by Mr. Pan Lei, who is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Communication at the University of Macau as well as the editor-in-chief of the magazine “NEW GEN. Monthly”. On the other hand, this also proves that today’s Macau has its universal values in its cultural background that goes beyond regions and borders. That is why it has created resonance between publishers and readers beyond the region.
Published by this renowned Taiwan publishing brand and sold at Eslite Bookstores in Taiwan and Hong Kong, Kingstone Online Bookstore, Books.com as well as other online bookstores, this Macau publication is reaching a wider Chinese reader circle and is a very meaningful trial.
For me, the publication of The Fairy Tales from the World of Chaos is an interesting example of how a Macau theatre work has developed into a literary publication. After this, based on traditional Chinese books, more of these possibilities are exciting. For instance publications in other languages such as simplified Chinese, Portuguese, English, etc., or other cross-media platforms, or adaptation into animation films.
All of these should not be hard to imagine. Moreover, the original play included a good number of songs and musical compositions. All these elements are also leading to more different possibilities that are worthy of our expectations.
