O Governador Ferreira do Amaral e Zhiliang Uma reflexão sobre heróis criados em Macau, a partir de experiência pedagógica com alunos chineses

This paper is the result of a pedagogical experience, carried out with Chinese students of Portuguese History. By approaching the theme of nineteenth-century Liberalism, we analyze the new political situation resulting from the outcome of the civil war, in 1834, namely the relationship between the Government of Lisbon and its eastern colony. In this context, Macau assumed administrative autonomy from 1848 onwards. We identified well-known personalities in Macau, but not in Portuguese historiography: João Maria Ferreira do Amaral and “Mi Shen, known as Zhiliang”. Amaral became Governor of Macao (1846), in a period of upheaval that was more affected in the region of the Pearl River and in China, with the outcome of the first Opium War (1842). Amaral's political activities explain his assassination by Zhiliang (1849). Two heroes were born simultaneously: the victim and the vigilante. Our study focused on the speeches that were produced about both heroes, in Portuguese and Chinese.