The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government will organize an Academic Research Lecture in the Cultural Affairs Bureau Auditorium (Edifício do Instituto Cultural, Tap Seac Square, Macao) at 6:30pm on May 9 (Friday). Dr. Zhao Lifeng, Associate Professor of the Research Centre for the History of Hong Kong and Macao, Jinan University, will give a lecture on “Struggling to Survive Adversity – The Development and Popularization of the Gaming Industry in Macao (1847-1911)”.

Dr. Zhao will present in the lecture his in-depth analysis of the relationship between Macao’s gambling industry established after the Opium War and the licensing system; the three key periods in the development of Macao’s gambling industry and its interaction and competition with Guangdong and Hong Kong during the late Qing Dynasty.

Zhao Lifeng obtained a PhD in History from Jinan University and a Post-PhD in History from Fudan University. He is now an associate professor at Jinan University's Research Centre for the History of Hong Kong and Macao under the Research Institute of the Chinese History and Culture, where he supervises M.A. students.

Zhao has published extensively on Macao, including Chinese Documents on Macao Problems during Ming and Qing Dynasties, Life in Macao after the Opium War – Extract on Macao Data from Modern Newspapers and Chinese Data in Macao Gazette. His PhD thesis, Research on Guangdong and Macao’s Surname Lottery of the Late Qing Dynasty, was granted the second prize in Macao’s 1st Excellence in Social Sciences Research Award. Zhao is currently the Chair of Macao History and Culture Research Association, and one of the editors of The China Grand Encyclopaedia, a significant publishing project in China’s 11th Five-year Development Plan, and editor of the New Macao Chronicle. His academic research covers late Qing history, Hong Kong and Macao history and Chinese cultural history. This research topic was awarded a grant in the Academic Research Grant programme of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government.

The lecture will be given in Mandarin with Cantonese, Portuguese and English simultaneous interpretation. Entrance is free. For further details, please contact Ms. Chu of the Macao Historical Archives of the Cultural Affairs Bureau at 5986542.