From the creation and circulation of textual knowledge about China, we move on to the circulation of Chinese material culture, which Marília dos Santos Lopes examines in her study, that covers a long period that extends from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Here, once again, a very positive image of China stands out, along with the crucial role of the Portuguese at the early stage. While Loureiro explores a Dutch travellers accounts, Lopes transports us to the Portuguese and (especially) Holy Roman Empire court circles. Thus, leading us through the world of Iberian and German elites, who were avid consumers of Chinese commodities, particular emphasis is given by Lopes to porcelain. Fascination, curiosity, changes in patterns of taste and consumption, forms of appropriation and instrumentaliza- tion of objects, specifically as strategies for affirming status and power, forms of exhibition, in addition to the conceptual issues related to the importance of the history of objects (i.e. the “power of things”)in historical analysis and the relation- ship between global history and material culture, constitute a comprehensive set of topics and issues addressed by the author. The third section, entitled “Macau, Networks and Archival Materials”，focuses mainly on Macau and the networks of interpreters, Jesuits and knowledge, both scientific and academic, in addition to documents and archival materiais, whether real or forged. In her study, Elsa Penalva presents, in Portuguese, a case study on Macau and the networks of interpreters (the so-called jurubaças or línguas} pursu- ing a topic that she has explored extensively in recent years. In an essay that takes us back to the gongsi and afíiliations already analysed by Gipouloux in this volume, Penalva focuses on the case of two interpreters working in Macau, namely Simâo Coelho and his father Miguel Monteiro. Both belonged to a lineage of interpreters from Fujian. They were associated with Portuguese merchants and Jesuits who had settled in Macau, and involved in the Portuguese-Sino-Japanese mercantile networks operating between Goa and Japan. In a universe where the Fujianese gained prominence, Penalva also considers other actors, such as the traders and/ or pirate leaders Li Dan 李旦，Li Guozhu 李阈助 and Zheng Zhilong 喷K芝青鼠 showing their connections with Macau. Focusing on the years between 1612 and 1632, Penalva addresses both the phase of reinforcement of Chinese regulatory pressure on Macau (reflected in the 1616 and 1617 regulations), and negative perceptions of Fujianese individuais involved with foreigners, as well as the phase that followed, which was marked by the growing influence, and a more favourable image, of the group of interpreters from Fujian. Prominently, they achieved a significant role in the mediation between Macaiís Senate and the authorities in Canton and Peking. Simâo Coelho, a central figure in this chapter, is a telling example of this evolution. Metamor- phizing from being an outlaw, he became an important intermediary, participating by 1623 in the military aid of Macau to the Ming dynasty, and soon thereafter 15
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