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The transfer of sovereignty of Macau (; pt, Transferência da soberania de Macau) from
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
to the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
(PRC) occurred on 20 December 1999.
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...
was settled by Portuguese merchants in 1557, during the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...
and was subsequently under various degrees of Portuguese rule until 1999. Portugal's involvement in the region was formally recognised by the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
in 1749. The Portuguese governor
João Maria Ferreira do Amaral João Maria Ferreira do Amaral (4 March 1803 – 22 August 1849) was a Portuguese military officer and politician. While he was governor of Macau, he was assassinated by several Chinese men, triggering the Battle of Passaleão between Portuga ...
, emboldened by the First Opium War and the
Treaty of Nanking The Treaty of Nanjing was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese later termed the Unequal Treaties. In the ...
, attempted to annex the territory, expelling Qing authorities in 1846, but was assassinated. Mayers, William Frederick (1902).
Treaties Between the Empire of China and Foreign Powers
' (4th ed.). Shanghai: North-China Herald. pp. 156–157.
After the Second Opium War, the Portuguese government, along with a British representative, signed the 1887
Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking The Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking was a trade treaty between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Qing dynasty of China, signed on 1 December 1887. It is counted by the Chinese as among the unequal treaties in the aftermath of the Second Opium ...
that gave Portugal perpetual colonial rights to Macau on the condition that Portugal would cooperate in efforts to end the smuggling of opium. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and the transfer of China's seat to the PRC at the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
in 1971, then Foreign Minister
Huang Hua Huang Hua (; ; January 25, 1913 – November 24, 2010) was a senior Communist Chinese revolutionary, politician, and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister of China from 1976 to 1982, and concurrently as Vice Premier from 1980 to 1982. He was i ...
appealed to the UN
Special Committee on Decolonization The United Nations Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, or the Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24), is a committee of ...
to remove Macau (and Hong Kong) from its list of colonies, preferring bilateral negotiations ending in a return of the territory, rather than the
independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
of the territory as was implied by its inclusion on the list. On 25 April 1974, a group of left-wing Portuguese officers organized a coup d'état, overthrowing the right-wing dictatorship that had been in power for 48 years. The new government began to transition Portugal to a democratic system and was committed to decolonization. The government carried out decolonization policies, and proposed Macau's handover to China in 1978.''Naked Tropics: Essays on Empire and Other Rogues''
Kenneth Maxwell, Psychology Press, 2003
The Chinese government rejected this proposal, believing that an early transfer of Macau would impact relations with
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
. On 31 December 1975, the Portuguese government withdrew its remaining troops from Macau. On 8 February 1979, the Portuguese government decided to break off diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, and established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China the next day. Both Portugal and the People's Republic of China recognized Macau as Chinese territory. The colony remained under Portuguese rule until 20 December 1999, when it was transferred to China and became the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. This marked the end of nearly 600 years of the
European colonial era The historical phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Turks, and the Arabs. Colonialism in the modern sense began w ...
.


Negotiations

On 20 May 1986, the People's Republic of China, along with Portugal, officially announced that talks on Macanese affairs would take place in Beijing on 30 June 1986. The Portuguese delegation arrived in Beijing in June, and was welcomed by the Chinese delegation led by
Zhou Nan Zhou Nan () was a prominent Chinese politician and diplomat, and served as Director of the Xinhua News Agency in Hong Kong, Vice Minister of the People's Republic of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador to the United Nations. He ...
. The talks consisted of four sessions, all held in Beijing: * The first conference: 30 June – 1 July 1986 * The second conference: 9–10 September 1986 * The third conference: 21–22 October 1986 * The fourth conference: 18–23 March 1987 During the negotiations, Portuguese representatives offered to return Macau in 1985, but Chinese representatives rejected that year (as well rejecting previous requests for 1967, 1975, and 1977). China requested 1997, the same year as Hong Kong, but Portugal refused. 2004 was suggested by Portugal, as well as 2007 as that year would mark the 450th anniversary of Portugal renting Macau. However, China insisted for a year before 2000 as the
Sino-British Joint Liaison Group Sino-British Joint Liaison Group () or simply Joint Liaison Group was a meeting group formed in 1985 between the Governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the People's Republic of China after signing of Sino–B ...
in Hong Kong would be dissolved in 2000 as envisioned in 1986 (the Joint Liaison Group would be dissolved in 1999). Eventually the year 1999 was agreed upon. On 13 April 1987, the
Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau The Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau, or Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration, was a treaty between Portugal and the People's Republic of China over the status of Macau. The full name of the treaty is Joint Declaration of the Government of ...
by the governments of the People's Republic of China and the Portuguese Republic was formally signed by the Prime Ministers of both governments in Beijing.


Transition period (1987–1999)

The twelve years between the signing of the "Sino-Portuguese Declaration" on 13 April 1987 and the transfer of sovereignty on 20 December 1999 were known as "the transition". On 15 January 1988, the Chinese Foreign Affairs Department announced the Chinese members of the groups that would begin the talk on the issues of Macau during the transition. On 13 April, the "Draft of the Basic Law of the Macau Special Administrative Region Committee" was established during the seventh
National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2,9 ...
, and on 25 October, the committee convened the first conference, in which they passed the general outline of the draft and the steps, and decided to organise the "Draft of the Basic Law of Macau Special Administrative Region Information Committee". On 31 March 1993, the National People's Congress passed the resolution on the Basic Law of Macau, which marked the beginning of the latter part of the transition.


Transfer

In the afternoon of 19 December 1999, the 127th Portuguese Governor of Macau
Vasco Joaquim Rocha Vieira Vasco Joaquim Rocha Vieira, GCTE GCC GCIH ComA (; b. Lagoa, 16 August 1939), is a retired Portuguese Army officer who was last Governor of Macau. Background He is the son of João da Silva Vieira (b. Lagoa or Faro on 9 November 1913) ...
lowered the flags in Macau, which was the prelude of the ceremony for the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region. The official transfer of sovereignty was held at midnight on that day at the Cultural Centre of Macau Garden. The ceremony began in the evening and ended at dawn of 20 December. The evening of 19 December began with dragon and
lion dance F Lion dance () is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture and other Asian countries in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume to bring good luck and fortune. The lion dance is usually performed during the Chinese New Y ...
s. These were followed by a slideshow of historical events and features of Macau, which included a mixture of the religions and races of the East and the West, and the unique society of native Portuguese born in Macau. In the final performance, 442 children who represented the 442 years of Portuguese history in Macau were presented along with several international stars to perform the song "Praise for Peace".


Aftermath

After the transfer of the sovereignty of Macau to China, the Macau Special Administrative Region, the Legislative Assembly and the Judiciary were all put into practice accordingly under the regulation of the Basic Law. The introduction of the
Individual Visit Scheme The Individual Visit Scheme begun on 28 July 2003 allowing travelers from Mainland China to visit Hong Kong and Macau on an individual basis; prior to the Scheme, Mainland residents could only visit on business visas or on group tours. The outb ...
policy made it easier for Chinese mainland residents to travel back and forth. In 2005 alone, there were more than 10 million tourists from mainland China, which made up 60% of the total number of tourists in Macau. The income from the gambling houses in Macau reached almost US$5.6 billion. On 15 July 2005, the
Historic Centre of Macau The Historic Centre of Macao, pt, Centro Histórico de Macau, , is a collection of over twenty locations that witness the unique assimilation and co-existence of Chinese and Portuguese cultures in Macau, a former Portuguese colony. It represents ...
was listed as a
World Cultural Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
site. The increasing development of tourism became a major factor in the rapid development of the
economy of Macau The economy of Macau has remained one of the most open in the world since its handover to China in 1999. Apparel exports and gambling-related tourism are mainstays of the economy. Since Macau has little arable land and few natural resources, i ...
. For Portugal, the transfer of the sovereignty of Macau to China marked the end of the
Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...
and its
decolonisation Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence m ...
process and also the end of European imperialism in China and Asia.


Before and after handover


Unchanged after 20 December 1999

*
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
remains an official language. per Public signs are bilingual in Portuguese and
Traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...
, although signs may also include English. However, many schools teach in
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
in parallel with
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
and Portuguese. * The legal system remains separate from that of mainland China, broadly based on the
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...
system, with some Portuguese judges continuing to serve. * Macau retained the pataca as its currency, which remained the responsibility of the
Monetary Authority of Macau The Monetary Authority of Macao (; pt, Autoridade Monetária de Macau, AMCM) is the currency board and the de facto central bank of Macau. The regulatory institution was established on December 20, 1999, upon the transfer of sovereignty over ...
, and pegged to the
Hong Kong dollar The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cents or 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong ...
. However, the
Bank of China The Bank of China (BOC; ) is a Chinese majority state-owned commercial bank headquartered in Beijing and the fourth largest bank in the world. The Bank of China was founded in 1912 by the Republican government as China's central bank, repl ...
began issuing banknotes in 1995. * The border with the mainland, while now known as the boundary, continues to be patrolled as before, with separate immigration and customs controls. * Macau citizens are still required to apply for a Mainland Travel Permit, in order to visit mainland China. * Citizens of mainland China still do not have the
right of abode The right of abode is an individual's freedom from immigration control in a particular country. A person who has the right of abode in a country does not need permission from the government to enter the country and can live and work there withou ...
in Macau, except if they were born in Macau (before or after the establishment of the SAR). Instead, they had to apply for a permit to
visit Visit refer as go to see and spend time with socially. Visit may refer to: *State visit, a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country *Conjugal visit, in which a prisoner is permitted to spend several hours or days in private with a visit ...
or
settle Settle or SETTLE may refer to: Places * Settle, Kentucky, United States * Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England ** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district Music * Settle (band), an indie rock band from Pennsylvania * ''S ...
in Macau from the PRC government. * Macau continues to operate as a separate customs territory from mainland China. * Macau remains an individual member of various international organizations, such as
APEC The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
and
WTO The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
. * Macau continued to negotiate and maintain its own aviation bilateral treaties with foreign countries and territories. These include flights to
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
. * Macau remains an individual member of sporting organizations such as FIFA. However, the Sports and Olympic Committee of Macau, China, while a member of the
Olympic Council of Asia The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is a governing body of sports in Asia, currently with 45 member National Olympic Committees. The current Acting President is Raja Randhir Singh, substituting Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah. The headquarters ...
, is not a member of the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
. * Macau citizens continue to have easier access to many countries, including those in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and North America, with Macau SAR passport holders having visa-free access to 117 other countries and territories. * Foreign nationals, including Portuguese citizens, are allowed to hold high-level positions in the administration, except the office of
Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
; those who will apply for Chief Executive position will have to be naturalized as Chinese. This was in contrast to
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, where such positions were restricted to citizens of the SAR. * Members of the existing Legislative Assembly, who had been elected in 1996, remained in office until 2001, although those who had been appointed by the
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
were replaced by those appointed by the incoming Chief Executive. * Foreign nationals, including Portuguese citizens, are still allowed to stand for directly elected seats in the Legislative Assembly. This is in contrast to
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, where foreign nationals can only stand for
indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the old ...
seats in the Legislative Council. * Macau continues to have more political freedoms than
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
, with the holding of demonstrations and annual memorials to commemorate the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...
in
Senado Square The Senado Square, or Senate Square (; pt, Largo do Senado), is a paved town square in Sé, Macau, Sé, Macau, China, and part of the UNESCO Historic Centre of Macau World Heritage Site. It is an elongated triangular shaped square and connect ...
. However, pro-democracy politicians and academics from Hong Kong were refused entry. * Macau continues to have more freedom of the press than mainland China despite the growing influence of Beijing and Hong Kong journalists being refused entry. * Macau continues to have its own civic groups participating in the political system. These are separate from the Communist-led
United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political ...
on the mainland. * Macau also continues to have more religious freedoms, with the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau The Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau ( pt, 1=Diocese de Macau; ) is an exempt (i.e. an immediate subject of the Holy See and not part of any ecclesiastical province) Latin Rite diocese of the Catholic Church, in contrast with the Roman Catholic Di ...
remaining under the jurisdiction of the
Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...
, instead of the
Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association The Catholic Patriotic Association (), abbreviated CPA, is a state-sanctioned organization of Catholicism in the People's Republic of China. It was established in 1957 after a group of Chinese Catholics met in Beijing with officials from the C ...
on the mainland. However, the
Falun Gong Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...
spiritual practice has faced restrictions. * Macau continues to drive on the left unlike Mainland China, all of which has driven on the right since 1946, or Portugal and most other Portuguese colonies, which switched to the right in 1928.
Vehicle registration plates A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate (Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificatio ...
continued to follow the old Portuguese format, with white characters on a black plate. This had been discontinued in Portugal in 1992. * Macau-registered vehicles can travel to and from mainland China, but require special
cross-border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ...
plates, similar to those of
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
. * Macau retains a separate
international dialling code Country calling codes or country dial-in codes are telephone number prefixes for reaching telephone subscribers in the networks of the member countries or regions of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The codes are defined by the ...
(853) and
telephone numbering plan A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, re ...
from that of the
mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...
. Calls between Macau and the mainland still require international dialling. * Macau retains different technical standards from mainland China, such as British-style electrical plugs. However, Macau would later adopt the digital TV standard devised in mainland China, instead of DVB-T, replacing PAL-I for TV transmissions. * Macau retains a separate
ISO 3166 ISO 3166 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, special areas of geographical interest, and their principal subdivisions (e.g., ...
code, MO. It also retains a
top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in ...
,
.mo :''.mo can also refer to the file extension of binary files that have been compiled from .po files using GNU gettext.'' .mo is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Macau, China. The registry for this domain name is operated b ...
. However, the Chinese code CN-92 was also used. * Macau retains its own separate postal services, with Correios de Macau operating separately from
China Post China Post, legally the China Post Group Corporation ( zh, 中国邮政集团有限公司, Pinyin: ''Zhōngguó yóuzhèng jítuán yǒuxiàn gōngsī''), is the state-owned enterprise operating the official postal service of China, which pro ...
. Macau was not made part of the Chinese postcode system, nor did it introduce a postcode system of its own. * Portuguese-influenced place names remain unchanged, although their unrelated Chinese equivalents are already in use; for example, Avenida Almeida Ribeiro is known as San Ma Lou or "new road". * Portuguese monuments remain, although the statue of former Governor
João Maria Ferreira do Amaral João Maria Ferreira do Amaral (4 March 1803 – 22 August 1849) was a Portuguese military officer and politician. While he was governor of Macau, he was assassinated by several Chinese men, triggering the Battle of Passaleão between Portuga ...
was taken down in 1992. The statue is now located at the Bairro da Encarnação, Lisbon, Portugal, where it was placed in December 1999. * The floor on the ground level continues to be officially referred to by the Portuguese abbreviation R/C (''rés-do-chão'').


Changed after 20 December 1999

* The
Chief Executive of Macau The Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (; pt, Chefe do Executivo da Região Administrativa Especial de Macau) is the head of government of Macau, a special administrative region of China. The position replaced the o ...
became the
head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, ...
,
elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...
by a selection committee with 300 members, who mainly are elected from among professional sectors and business leaders in Macau. The
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
was appointed by
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
. * The former Governor's Palace is now known as the Government Headquarters. * The Court of Final Appeal became the highest court of appeal in Macau. This replaced the Superior Court of Justice, established in April 1993. Appeals to the Court of Appeal of the Judiciary District of Lisbon ceased in 1999. * All public offices now fly the flags of the
PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and the
Macau SAR Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...
. The Flag of Portugal now flies only outside the Portuguese Consulate-General and other Portuguese premises. * The People's Liberation Army established a garrison in Macau, the first military presence there since the Portuguese military garrison had been withdrawn following the Carnation Revolution in 1974. * The
Central People's Government The State Council, constitutionally synonymous with the Central People's Government since 1954 (particularly in relation to local governments), is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the p ...
is now formally represented in Macau by a Liaison Office. This has been established in 1987 as a branch of
Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...
, when Macau was under Portuguese administration. Before 1987, it was informally represented by the Nanguang trading company.Portuguese behavior towards the political transition and the regional integration of Macau in the Pearl River Region
Moisés Silva Fernandes, in ''Macau and Its Neighbours in Transition'', Rufino Ramos, José Rocha Dinis, D.Y.Yuan, Rex Wilson, University of Macau, Macau Foundation, 1997, page 48
* The Macau SAR Government is now formally represented in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
by the Office of the Government of the Macau Special Administrative Region. * Elsewhere, the Macau SAR Government is now represented by Macau Economic and Trade Offices in Lisbon (
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
),
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
(
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
),
Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
(
World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...
) and
Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...
(
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
). * The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China is represented in Macau by a Commissioner. * The
Municipalities of Macau A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
and the
Ilhas Tiswadi ( pt, Ilhas de Goa, lit=Islands of Goa, or simply ''Ilhas'') is a Tehsil, sub-district in the district of North Goa district, North Goa, situated in the Indian coastal state of Goa. It is the largest and populous island of Goa situat ...
, which had been retained provisionally following the transfer of sovereignty, were abolished and replaced by the
Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau The Municipal Affairs Bureau (; pt, Instituto para os Assuntos Municipais) of Macau is an administrative body without political powers responsible for providing certain civic services for the special administrative region and is the successor ...
with effect from 1 January 2002. * Portugal was now represented in Macau by the Portuguese Consulate-General, also accredited to
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
. This had responsibility for matters relating to Portuguese nationals. However, residents of Macau born after 3 October 1981 were no longer entitled to Portuguese nationality. * The Taipei Trade and Tourism Office, the ''de facto'' mission of
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, was renamed the Taipei Trade and Cultural Office, and was allowed to issue visas in 2002. It was later renamed the
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Macau The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Macau (TECO; ) is the representative office of the Republic of China in Macau. Its counterpart body in Taiwan is the Macau Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan. The office is located at Dynasty Pla ...
in 2011. * The words "República Portuguesa" no longer appear on postage stamps, which now display the words "Macau, China". The Portuguese coat of arms had already been removed from
Macanese pataca The Macanese pataca or Macau pataca (; pt, pataca de Macau; sign: $; abbreviation: P; ISO code: MOP) is the currency of the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It is subdivided into 100 ''avos'' (; ''sin'' ...
banknotes and coins issued since 1988. * The Macau Police badge now displays the Macau SAR emblem. * The Portuguese honours system was replaced by a
local system In mathematics, a local system (or a system of local coefficients) on a topological space ''X'' is a tool from algebraic topology which interpolates between cohomology with coefficients in a fixed abelian group ''A'', and general sheaf cohomology ...
, with the Grand Medal of Lotus Flower as the highest award. * Public holidays changed, with Macau SAR Establishment Day being introduced and Portuguese-inspired occasions, such as
Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. List January 1 January in Slovak Republic The day of creation of Slovak republic. A national holiday since 1993. Officially cal ...
and Freedom Day, being abolished. PRC National Day had been made a public holiday in 1981. * Macau's aircraft registration prefix changed from Portugal's CS to B, as used by mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. * The Portuguese national anthem '' A Portuguesa'', is no longer played after closedown on
television stations A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ear ...
. The Chinese national anthem, ''
March of the Volunteers The "March of the Volunteers" (), originally titled the "March of the Anti-Manchukuo Counter-Japan Volunteers", has been the official national anthem of the People's Republic of China since 1978. Unlike previous Chinese state anthems, it was ...
'', is now played instead. * A giant golden statue of a lotus, erected in a public space outside the Macau Forum named
Lotus Square The Lotus Square or Golden Lotus Square (; pt, Praça Flor de Lodão) is an open square in Sé, Macau, China. The area features the large bronze sculpture ''Lotus Flower In Full Bloom'' () and is somewhat akin to the Golden Bauhinia of neighbo ...
, was presented by the State Council of the People's Republic of China to commemorate the return of Macau to Chinese sovereignty. * The
University of Macau The University of Macau (UM; Portuguese: ''Universidade de Macau'', Chinese: 澳門大學) is an internationalised public comprehensive university in Macau. The UM campus is located in the east of Hengqin Island, Guangdong province in Mainland ...
was relocated to a new campus on Hengqin Island in 2009. This was under the jurisdiction of the Macau SAR government, which had leased a plot of land for M$1.2 billion until 2049.University of Macau Moves Over the China Border
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', 14 July 2013


See also

*
Handover of Hong Kong Sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China (PRC) at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony. Hong Kong was established as a special admini ...
* One country, two systems *
Handover Gifts Museum of Macao The Handover Gifts Museum of Macao (; pt, Museu das Ofertas sobre a Transferência de Soberania de Macau) is a museum to commemorate the transfer of sovereignty over Macau in Sé, Macau, Sé, Macau, China. History The construction of the muse ...
* Time Capsule (Macau)


References


Further reading

* Lai, Pauline Pou San.
Civil service training in the Macau Government
(Chapter 7). In: Podger, Andrew and John Wanna (editors).
Sharpening the Sword of State: Building Executive Capacities in the Public Services of Asia-Pacific
'.
ANU Press ANU Press (or Australian National University Press; originally ANU E Press) is an open-access scholarly publisher of books, textbooks and journals. It was established in 2004 to explore and enable new modes of scholarly publishing. In 2014, A ...
, 2016. (paperback), 9781760460730 (ebook)
HTML version of the chapter
* *


External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transfer Of Sovereignty Over Macau 1999 in Macau History of Macau Portuguese Macau 1999 in China 1999 in Portugal States and territories disestablished in 1999 China–Portugal relations Macau–Portugal relations Sovereignty December 1999 events in Asia Decolonization