The Last Macanese Migration – Part 1

This is a revised draft of a book chapter that will be divided into three parts for brevity. Substantial changes were made to correct errors and for clarity.

The end of World War II in September 1945, and the return of many Macanese from their refugee exile in Macau, led to a resumption of conflicts in mainland China between the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists directed by Mao Zedong. The civil war resulted in one of the largest movement of people ever into Hong Kong.  According to researchers at the University of Hong Kong and the United Nations, the colony’s population grew from 600,000 in 1945, to 1.8 million in 1947, to 3 million by 1961, to over 4 million in 1974, over a six fold increase since the war.[1]

Although these movements were attempts to flee the conflict in China, many migrants also provided cheap labor and changed the post-war economy in Asia.[2] In Hong Kong the surge of humanity placed great pressure on the government to find refugee housing, while safeguarding the health of the local population and continue to provide services to the young and elderly.[3] In the absence of a timely response, a massive resettlement program was organized in the 1950s by international relief agencies and local organizations to provide food, shelter, and medical aid to thousands who resettled on Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon peninsula, and on 200 outer islands that made up the colony.[4] The inability to meet the demand in the first years resulted in numerous protests, while makeshift shanty towns suffered from fires, landslides during the rainy season, cholera outbreaks, and increased crime.[5]

The influx of Chinese only added to the fears of the Macanese and others who survived the war. The Japanese invasion and the evacuation to Macau caused many young members of the community to question their futures in Asia, especially whether the benefits enjoyed by their parents would continue for them and their children after the war.[6] That seemed unlikely due to the erosion of  trust among non-British citizens in the Hong Kong government since the early 20th century.[7] As a result, many young Portuguese prepared to leave the colony for the Americas, the British Commonwealth, and Western Europe, enticed by films, the promise of political freedom, and new opportunities offered by the expanding post-war economy. Continued instability in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Macau marked the beginning of the next movement of Macanese.

The migration focused on the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, and Portugal beginning in late 1945. It continued as social unrest following the Communist revolution of 1949 pushed China’s development, then settled after a normalization of relations with the west begun by Richard Nixon’s talks with Mao in 1974. The last phase began in early 1982 when Deng Xiaoping attempted to clarify the future relation of Hong Kong and Macau to China by suggesting the concept of “one country, two systems”, in which both territories would be designated as “Special Administrative Regions” to take advantage of their traditional contacts with the west, and were granted relative autonomy until 2049.[8] As a result, Hong Kong, the surrounding territories on the Kowloon peninsula, and several local islands were returned to China in June 1997. Macau and the islands of Taipa and Coloane were transferred in December 1999.  

Hong Kong, Macau, and the Macanese

Since the “handovers” of Hong Kong and Macau to China, a significant reorganization of resources has taken place in both SARs. Shortly after the two-system strategy was introduced in early 2000, China began using Hong Kong as a commercial conduit to English speaking countries, due to its previous ties to England. International banking corporations, many already with offices in Hong Kong, were invited to begin new relations with their Chinese counterparts.[9] Following its own history, Macau was projected by China to be an international gaming center and as the gateway to Latin countries, specifically among Portuguese and Spanish speaking countries. In 2003 a new organization designed for this purpose was created called “The Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries”, also known as the “Macao Forum”. Through 2018, China has invested over $147 billion in this organization. [10]

Over the next two decades, Hong Kong grew into the third largest financial center in the world (behind London and New York) and an international model of stability and commerce, despite a series of protests in 2014 and 2019 that began slowing the local economy.[11] In Macau, following the expiration of gaming concessions in 2002 for Stanley Ho and others, China invited American, Australian, and Chinese companies to build new casinos on the islands of Taipa and Macau.[12] Six lavish gaming and entertainment venues opened between 2004 and 2010, and the construction of more than thirty others continues to this day.[13]

Gaming revenues in Macau have since overtaken traditional venues in the United States, with current proceeds reported as five times greater than Las Vegas.[14] While corruption scandals in 2013 in Macau and the 2020 Covid-19 virus delayed growth, China also added Macau and Hong Kong to a new initiative-project called “The Greater Bay Area (GBA)”, a large economic zone that currently includes the cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and the provinces of Guangdong, Hengquin, and Zhuhai, focusing on technology, environmental industries, research, and higher education.[15]

Next time: Part 2 – The Institutionalization of the Macanese Diaspora

[1] Fan Shan Ching, “The Population of Hong Kong”, The Committee for International Coordination of National Research in Demography, Joint Study by the University of Hong Kong and the United Nations, 1974:2-3.

[2] Glen Peterson, “The Uneven Development of the International Refugee Regime in Postwar Asia: Evidence from China, Hong Kong and Indonesia”, Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol. 25, No. 3, Oxford University Press, 2011:335. Peterson observed that the major effort to absorb the refugees seemed to be “conditioned by earlier colonial strategies involving the use of contract labour and the transnational relocation of ‘surplus populations’ for the development of plantation agriculture and frontier territories.”

[3] Tai-Loc Lui, Stephen W.K. Chiu, Ray Yep, Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Hong Kong, New York, 2019.

[4] See Ke-Che Yip, “The Transition to Decolonization: The Search for a Health Policy in Post-War Hong Kong: 1945-1985”, Chapter 2, Public Health and National Reconstruction in Post-War Asia, Liping Bu and Ke Che Yip (eds.): 2015.

[5] The 1953 Shek Kip Mei Fire, for example, left more than 50,000 refugees homeless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt8USmzvKbo . See also Ke-Che Yip, “The Transition to Decolonization: The Search for a Health Policy in Post-War Hong Kong: 1945-1985”, op. cit.  

[6] Such fears were mentioned repeatedly during several interviews by the author with Macanese immigrants in San Francisco and Los Angeles from 2012 through 2017.

[7] “J.P. Braga and ‘The Rights of Aliens’ in Colonial Hong Kong”, Roy Eric Xavier, Working Paper, the Portuguese and Macanese Studies Project, ISSI, U.C. Berkeley, 2018. “The Sum of All Fears: The Evacuation of British Subjects from Pre-War Hong Kong”, Roy Eric Xavier, Working Paper, the Portuguese and Macanese Studies Project, ISSI, U.C. Berkeley, 2019.

[8] Arnaldo M.A. Gonçalves, “Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions: The Downfall of The “One Country, Two Systems” Policy, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 9 • No. 10 • October 2019:11-25.

[9] These relationships have become an important part of global finance and commerce. The German broadcasting company, Deutsche Welle reported in May 2019 that “Foreign companies need Hong Kong too. The territory is a base for over 1,500 multinational companies who use it as an easy way into the China market — 60% of foreign investment comes through Hong Kong.” Hong Kong critical to China but uncertainty reigns, https://www.dw.com/en/hong-kong-critical-to-china-but-uncertainty-reigns/a-50041265.

[10] The countries served are Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and East Timor, as well as the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe. The purpose is to reach over 200 million Portuguese speakers, mostly in Brazil and Portugal, for “co-operation — including intergovernmental co-operation — in trade; investment and entrepreneurship …” The Forum’s mission currently does not include an estimated 45 million cultural Portuguese in many other countries that are not part of the current strategy.

[11] Mark Yeandle, Mike Wardle, The Global Financial Centres, Index 26, Long Finance & Global Financial Centres, September 2019.

[12] James Fallows, “Macau’s Big Gamble”, The Atlantic, September 2007. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/09/macau-s-big-gamble/306131/ The Lui family of Hong Kong was able to gain controlling interest in 2005 of Galaxy Entertainment, which currently operates six casinos in the territory.

[13] Mingjie Shengand Chaolin Gu, “Economic growth and development in Macau (1999–2016): The role of the booming gaming industry”, Cities, Volume 75, May 2018: 72-80.

[14] “Las Vegas vs. Macau: Which Is the Capital of Casino Gambling?”, Business Matters, 16 May 2019.  https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/business/las-vegas-vs-macau-which-is-the-capital-of-casino-gambling/

The current global downturn begun by the Covid-19 virus has led to a 88% drop in Macau’s gaming revenues in comparison to 2018, but is expected to recover by 2021. https://asiatimes.com/2020/03/macau-casino-takings-plunge-a-record-88/.   https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2020-03-24/macau-how-a-densely-populated-chinese-territory-is-keeping-coronavirus-at-bay

[15] According to the research firm Colliers International, the purpose of the GBA is to “encourage the flow of young, talented workers into the tech sector as well as more general research and development activities, distinguishing itself from (competing regions in Asia) by forming a mega region around one dominant hi-tech productivity cluster. Rosanna Tang and Sean Ellison, Colliers International, Greater Bay Area: A 2030 Outlook, 2019. The GBA includes the new Hengquin campus of the University of Macau, a $2 billion teaching and research institution opened in 2013.