''Nam Van'' is a collection of short stories by the Macanese author

Henrique de Senna Fernandes Henrique de Senna Fernandes (October 15, 1923, Macao – October 4, 2010, Macao) was a Macanese writer. Born in 1923 as one of 11 siblings to an old Macanese family, who settled in Macau over 250 years ago, he studied law at the University of Coimb ...

. It was first published in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

in 1978. Taking its name from

Praia Grande Praia Grande () is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Baixada Santista. The population is 330,845 (2020 est.) in an area of 149.25 km². Population history History Although t ...

also known as Nam Van in Chinese, written in

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, the collection is an attempt to sketch out aspects of the identity of the Macanese, the mixed race community considered by the Chinese and the Portuguese to be the sons of the soil. In Senna Fernandes's stories, this group is depicted as inextricably in-between, in-between the Portuguese and the Chinese, in between a seemingly idyllic past and a fast approaching present that will see the territory transformed and their place within it rendered fragile, The stories contained include: *"A-Chan, A Tancareira" (which was written whilst the author was a student at the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coi ...

in Portugal) *"Um Encontro Imprevisto" (Chance Encounter) *"Chá com Essência de Cereja" (Tea with Essence of Cherry) Several of these stories have appeared in English translation by David Brookshaw in the collection ''Visions of China: Short Stories from Macau''

Further reading