João Maria Ferreira do Amaral Statue, Lisbon

Not a film location per se but I was just in Lisbon, Portugal and took the chance to visit a remnant from Macau that has popped up in a few films over the years. The remnant is the statue of João Maria Ferreira do Amaral, the Macau Governor between 1846 and 1849. His tenure ended by his assassination by a group of Chinese following do Amaral's rather confrontational stance against the Chinese in and around Macau. You can read more about him over at wiki, but suffice to say his historical legacy is one of the reasons why this statue is now in Lisbon and not in Macau. The statue was initially installed on Praça de Ferreira do Amaral in June 1940. It depicts the one armed do Amaral swinging a sword (looks more like a stick to be honest) down at unseen aggressors. 

The statue used to sit atop a large stone column in the centre of Praça de Ferreira do Amaral and it was in this location where we can see it in several movies featured on the blog including Narazumono.

There's a brief glimpse in Asia-Pol Secret Service as well.

And there is another brief scene in Challenge of the Tiger.

So what happened? Well, do Amaral was such a hated figure to the Chinese (understadable) that the CCP demanded the statue's removal from Macau prior to the handover in 1999. The Portuguese authorities acquiesced in November 1991 and the monument was dismantled. The statue was shipped back to Lisbon (does anyone know what happened to the plinth?) and now sits in a park - Jardim da Alameda da Encarnação - attached to a suburban housing estate right next to Lisbon airport (you can walk there, as I did, from Terminal 1 in about 10 minutes - what can I say, I was flying Easyjet and my return flight was delayed for 2 hours).

The statue may have gone but the area in Macau where it once stood - Praça de Ferreira do Amaral - still bares his name.

Narazumono - Ken Takakura (1964) - Praça de Ferreira do Amaral, Macau

After realising they have a common enemy, the two hitmen walk along the seafront to plot some revenge. They stop near to the Praça de Ferreira do Amaral which used to contain the controversial statue of the highly disregarded (by the Chinese) former Governor of Macau, João Maria Ferreira do Amaral. He was infamous for levying taxes on the local Chinese and antagonising the Qing Govt and met his fate one day whilst travelling on an alms mission over the border. He and his fellow traveller were jumped by some bandits on the other side and Ferreira do Amaral was decapitated.

The statue you see in the background was moved from Macau in 1992 at the request of the CCP and now stands in a public garden, Jardim da Encarnação, back in Lisbon, albeit on a slightly diminished plinth. Note that the view in the background is missing the Ponte Governador Nobre de Carvalho. This is because it wouldn't be opened for another 10 years.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Lisboa Hotel, Macau

Continuing with a whistle-stop tour of Macau, we now see the regal Rolls Royce rolling past the very famous Lisboa Hotel and Casino. This was Stanley Ho's centrepiece of his gambling monopoly in Macau and I have to admit I find the garish colours and circular-styling quite appealing. This casino is still around although since the Ho clan lost their monopoly, Macau has just grown into a huge gambling territory with casinos and resort hotels popping up all over the place (though largely centred on a piece of reclaimed land between Taipa and Coloane called The Cotai Strip).

I have actually been in this casino back in 1996. It was interesting to see the various games such as fan tan and big/small, but the thing you really have to watch out for is that almost every floor is saturated with young Chinese prostitutes all doing the rounds. They rent rooms for the day and then head downstairs to ply their trade. Not the most salubrious of places to spend your time for many reasons. Just to the left of this shot is the location of Ho's new Grand Lisboa stands. It wins the prize for being the most gaudy, over-the-top, garish piece of architecture ever seen and truly ruins the Macau cityscape.

What we can see in the above picture though is the old statue of Joao Maria Ferreira do Amaral which stood at the centre of the roundabout in front of the hotel. Ferreira do Amaral was a bit of a thorn in the side of the Chinese and it's common knowledge that the statue was eventually removed (and shipped back to Portugal) so as not to piss off the Chinese when they retook Macau in 1999.

To be honest, the modern version of the roundabout is a complete mess as you can see courtesy of Streetview below (yes, that gold thing on the left is the Grand Lisboa...)