Institutions in Macao, mainland China and Portugal are jointly translating the first account by a Chinese of a long stay in Portugal and other parts of Europe, which was written in the late 18th century, Hoje Macau reports.

The institutions are the University of Macau, the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences and the Observatório da China, which is aPortuguese think-tank, according to a report the newspaper carried last week.

The report says the Macao Foundation is backing the translation of the account from 18th century Cantonese into modern Chinese, Portuguese and English, and the publication of the translations in print and electronically.

The author was a castaway rescued by a Portuguese ship and taken to Europe, where he lived for 15 years before going to Macao, the report quotes Observatório da China President Rui Lourido as saying.

The Macao Foundation is also backing the expansion by the think-tank of an electronic library containing works on Macao and mainland China published between the 16th and 19th centuries, which together run to over 200,000 pages, and which are accessible without charge, Hoje Macau reports.