The University of Macau (UM) Library held on last Tuesday a preservation ceremony for a rare Portuguese manuscript titled ‘Official Report of the Embassy of King John V of Portugal to Emperor Yongzheng in 1725-1728’.

The manuscript, donated by the University of Macau Development Foundation, details the arrival of the Portuguese ambassador Alexandre Metelo de Sousa e Menezes in Beijing via Macao to visit the Yongzheng Emperor and is of great significance to the study of early Sino-Portuguese relations.

Items displayed during the ceremony included a photocopy of the manuscript, a high-definition photocopy of the letter from King John V of Portugal to Emperor Yongzheng on March 29, 1725, as well as a video from the Ajuda Library on a similar document of the 1727 embassy to Emperor Yongzheng and the Qianlong Emperor’s letter and gift lists to Joseph I of Portugal in 1753.