Macau is renowned across the globe for its expansive casino industry, but gaming played its part in local society long before iconic properties such as Wynn, MGM and Grand Lisboa sprouted skyward.
The image below shows a passport, now held by the Cultural Affairs Bureau’s Arquivo de Macau, that was issued to Macau businessman Kou Ho Neng by the Consul of Portugal on 5 November 1915 allowing him to enter Guangdong Province through Guangzhou and travel within the territory.
Kou was a pioneer of the city’s gaming industry. In 1911 he obtained a license for fan-tan and opened a fan-tan house under the name “Companhia Tak Seng” in Rua da Caldeira. Sixteen years later, in 1937, he set up a company named “Companhia Tai Heng” in partnership with Fu Tak Iam. Tai Heng promptly won the casino monopoly concession in Macau at a cost of MOP$1.8 million and remained holder of exclusive rights for over 20 years.
The document is also an example of multicultural Macau in the early 1900s, with Chinese printed on one side and Portuguese on the other. Correspondences between the consulate and the provincial government of Macau in the record were written in English.
WGM explored Macau’s rich and diverse history in our Nov/Dec 2013 issue in an article titled “Time Machine Macau”, which you can read here.
