In the 16th century, the country of the heaven’s son Ming Dynasty had been on the verge of decline. Under such a circumstance, Portuguese who had been shown along the coast of Southeast Asia occupied the Malacca Kingdom with their force, which was a tributary state to China for a long time, resulting in disturbances in the tributary trading system whose summit was Ming Dynasty. Although Portugal with its entry to the Sea of Southeast Sea wanted to keep a tributary relations for the stable and organizational trading activities with China, the government of Ming Dynasty could not overcome its suspicion and fear against Portugal as they had not experienced such a situation, resulting in forming conflicts for a long time. Macao – The process to form residences of Portuguese in Macao can be said to be a course to expand the understanding and trust on the counterpart while the government of Ming Dynasty with no power to control the counterpart were reducing the suspicion and fear against Portugal. Although Ming Dynasty could not embrace Portugal as one of the tributary states, it allowed their stay in Macao as the land of the heaven’s government. Although gateways were installed to control the access of Portuguese to the inland, their trading was never blocked. Although Portuguese did not give up the construction of walls under the justification of protecting their living foundations from the external invaders such as the Dutch, they served for the government of Ming Dynasty which allowed them to have their safety and Christian missionary works until they were perished. The Portuguese residents in Macao with Catholic churches and Western buildings in the Iberian style together with Chinese colors can be said to be cultural heritages which came from the contacts and conflicts between China and Portugal.

• 최낙민(한국해양대학교 국제해양문제연구소 HK교수)