World Expo

Macau Pavilion

130 X 194 cm     ac     2010/8/1

One hundred years ago, a scholar from Macau named Zheng GuanYing came to Shanghai, and wrote in an article that one day
he hoped a world event could be held in Pudong – a prediction of the now current Shanghai World Expo.
The Macau Pavilion is shaped like a rabbit lantern, a popular symbol from ancient times. In Chinese mythology, the jade rabbit is a guide to Nantianmen, the door leading to a fairyland. It is 19.99 meters high, symbolizing Macau’s return to a prosperous and developed Chinese mainland in 1999.
In this work, Dr. Chen paints the rabbit as a Mid-Autumn lantern on the upper left, and a Mid-Autumn Moon and astronaut on the upper right. The rest of the work depicts some of Macau’s past 400 years of historical changes — a harmonious coexistence between the new and the old, the East and the West. We see screens from Senado Square, Ma Temple (A-Ma Temple), international casino complexes, folk dancers performing at the Drunken Dragon Festival, Portuguese merchant ships, and the beautiful evening atmosphere bursting with fireworks. Macau attracts an estimated 30 million tourists each year on account of its status as an international hub of urban excitement and East-West exchange.