Na Tcha Temple

Here is a question that will stop you in your tracks. What happens when you place a tiny Chinese temple right next to the grandest European church ruin in all of Asia? You get one of the most powerful symbols of Macao's identity, and you are standing in front of it right now. Welcome to the Na Tcha Temple. Built in 1888 during a plague epidemic, this modest shrine is dedicated to Na Tcha, one of the most beloved child deities in Chinese mythology. Na Tcha is a warrior boy, fierce and fearless, a protector spirit who fights demons and shields communities from disaster. When plague swept through Macao, local residents built this temple hoping his fiery spirit would drive the sickness away. Now turn around. Right behind you towers the massive stone facade of the Ruins of St. Paul's, that iconic seventeenth-century Jesuit masterpiece. The contrast could not be more dramatic. On one side, a soaring European baroque wall covered in Christian carvings. On the other, a humble Chinese shrine barely ten metres wide, with incense coils hanging from the ceiling and offerings of fruit on the altar. This is Macao in miniature. For over four hundred years, Portuguese...