There is something ironic about Christianity in Macau. This irony is typified by the crest as seen in the photo. The photo is of the crest of the Hotel Lisboa in Macau.
When Macau was under Portuguese administration, Stanley Ho held the gambling monopoly for over 40 years. The Lisboa Hotel housed within it the largest gambling casino in Macau-the Casino Lisboa, which continues to be one of the iconic structures in the city that represent Macau.
Although the new American casinos that have come to Macau in the last ten years have dwarfed it, the Lisboa remains a symbol of the city. And the crest of the Hotel Lisboa is a symbol of the hotel and its relationship to the history of Macau. If one looks closely, one notices a Christian cross in the middle of the crest.
Why is it there? After having first landed on the coast of China in the 's, the Portuguese laid claim to a small area of land that they called Macau. Because they were successful at fending off pirates in the sea around Macau, the Chinese saw no need to expel them and allowed them to stay. The Portuguese initially came to Macau as a stopover in their colonial route which stretched from their interests in Angola and Mozambique in Africa, to Goa in India, from the Malaccas in present-day Malaysia to Nagasaki in Japan.
Macau then became for the Catholic church its stepping stone to move into China with the Gospel. The design of Portuguese ships had a large cross erected at the bow of the ship to indicate that they were sailing under the auspices of the Christian king of Portugal and under the protection of the Christian God. This design came to be symbolic of Portugal and Portuguese history. So the cross in the middle of the crest of the Hotel Lisboa is actually the cross at the bow of a Portuguese sailing ship, symbolizing Portuguese history in Macau.
