Camilo de Almeida Pessanha was born in Coimbra on 7 September 1867. His parents were Francisco António de Almeida Pessanha and Maria do Espírito Santo Duarte Nunes Pereira. He studied law at the university of Coimbra. After finishing his studies he went to Macao, a Portuguese town in China. He worked as a teacher there. Pessanha became interested in Chinese culture. He learned Chinese. He died in Macao on 1 March 1926. His death may have been caused by the poet's opium habit.