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Copyright of E-Journal of Portuguese History is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Formal and informal trade were key elements in the establishment of global connections. Using data collected from Portuguese and Spanish archives, as well as the secondary literature, this article examines the early modern Southeast Asian Iberian communities of Macao and Manila, their weakness and resilience. Far from the centres of political decision-making they relied on their own resources and abilities to manage maritime connections with China, Japan and Spanish America through the voyages of the ‘Macao Ship’ and the ‘Manila Galleon’. The rarely mentioned intervention of the Macanese traders in the Manila Galleon route constitutes a central part of this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In December 1966, the city of Macau erupted in mass protests and rioting targeted at buildings and symbols of Portuguese rule—unrest that was countered by military force that left eight residents dead, hundreds wounded, and dozens in jail. In the aftermath of the violence, protests continued, as community leaders used Cultural Revolution rhetoric and tactics to try to force the Portuguese administration to accede to a series of escalating demands that included a written apology for its “crimes.” As the Macau governor tried to convince Lisbon to allow him to compromise, China’s central government and the Guangdong province government got involved, local residents refused to sell food to Portuguese residents, and thousands of Red Guards over the border in Guangdong province seemed poised to invade. This Macau version of Cultural Revolution ended with a historic scene: the Portuguese governor of Macau sitting at a table under an enormous portrait, signing a written apology to all Chinese residents of Macau, agreeing to close all of Kuomintang (KMT) agencies in Macau, and surrendering custody of seven KMT “spies” to mainland China. Through archival materials, newspaper reports and in-depth interviews, this article argues that the Macau 123 Incident was not simply a spillover of Cultural Revolution radicalism, but combined anti-colonial political grievances, anti-KMT political action, and Cultural Revolution-style political rhetoric and tactics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the transfer of the Portuguese administration to China, Macau kept its role as a bridge between East and West, inspired in the Portuguese settlement 500 years ago. The pragmatism of the Chinese central government, using the Lusophone specificities of this Special Administrative Region, supported the creation of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries, reviving the statute of the Portuguese language and culture in its own territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes research conducted on Portuguese language allegiance among the extant Macanese community in the Special Administrative Region of Macau (MSAR), formerly a territory under Portuguese administration until its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1999, and the diaspora which resulted from the migration of members of this unique community. A case study explains the use of Portuguese in the MSAR which continues to officially recognize the function of the language for communication in administration, education, and cultural discourse. The study aims to examine the allegiance of the Macanese in perpetuating this function, while drawing attention to the incidence of language switch namely to Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, as the preferred mediums of discourse. This predicament is compared to the Portuguese language allegiance among the diaspora represented by the ‘Casas de Macau' in each country with a Macanese community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the 1802 attempt by Great Britain to shore up its colonial possessions in South Asia by landing troops in the Portuguese colony of Macao during the Napoleonic Wars. Based on documents from the English East India Company, the article discusses British fears of an attempt by France to invade British colonies via Macao, the failed effort to land British troops there, and the strain this placed on relations between Great Britain and China, and trade relations among the European powers.

This study looks at the role that Macanese women had in bridging the gap between the colonial (1557-1999) and post-colonial period (1999-) of the former Portuguese enclave along the South China Sea. Using as a springboard the historical background that saw the birth of Macao itself, the focus then shifts to the literary production of a few women from Macao, collectively known as Macanese, who, despite their linguistic, national, and/or ethnic origin, succeeded in creating a body of work that in a sense responds to the needs of a people, the Macanese, at the dawn of a new era.