On China's Doorstep, Macau Weaves An Identity As Integration Looms

Theatre director and playwright Miguel de Senna Fernandes, a Macaau native, creates works in Patua, a 'critically endangered' language that blends Portuguese, Cantonese and other influences (Credit: AFP)

Seated in the audience at Macau's Dom Pedro V Theatre in the 1970s, 16-year-old Miguel de Senna Fernandes understood not a word of the "strange language" spoken on stage -- but right away he was mesmerised.

That day sparked his lifelong love for Patua, a creole language from Macau's 442-year colonial history that mixes Portuguese, Cantonese and other influences, now rarely spoken and classified by UNESCO as "critically endangered".