Description
Book SynopsisDiaspora transformed the urban terrain of colonial societies, creating polyglot worlds out of neighborhoods, workplaces, recreational clubs, and public spheres. It was within these spaces that communities reimagined and reshaped their public identities vis-à-vis emerging government policies and perceptions from other communities. Through a century of Macanese activities in British Hong Kong, The Macanese Diaspora in British Hong Kong: A Century of Transimperial Drifting explores how mixed-race diasporic communities survived within unequal, racialized, and biased systems beyond the colonizer-colonized dichotomy. Originating from Portuguese Macau yet living outside the control of the empire, the Macanese freely associated with more than one identity and pledged allegiance to multiple communal, political, and civic affiliations. They drew on colorful imaginations of the Portuguese and British empires in responding to a spectrum of changes encompassing Macau’s woes, Hong Kong’s injustice, Portugal’s political transitions, global developments in print culture, and the rise of new nationalisms during the inter-war period.
Trade Review"This is a timely study of a significant ethnic and cultural group that has hitherto been largely overlooked in the history of what is described as ‘British Hong Kong'. [...] Dr Chan’s very broad and detailed range of research and her deft use of it in footnotes is very impressive."
- Stuart Braga,
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Vol. 62 (2022)
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Prologue: Between Empires
Drifting empires
Contesting the 'Macanese' identity
Cosmopolitan and transnational arenas
A kaleidoscope of Macanese experiences
1 Crossing Imperial Borders
The tightknit oligarchy
A clerk, a businessman and a newspaper editor
Channeling Macau’s woes into Hong Kong developments
2 Sandwiched in the Workplace
The roots of the Macanese as 'middle' people
D'Almada's plight
Grand-pre's poor performance
Port wine and new opportunities
3 Horseracing, Theater and Camões
Strictly male, strictly rich, strictly colored
Abraço fraternal (fraternal embrace) and Camoes
A stage for middle-class Macanese men
4 Macanese Publics Fight for the ‘Hongkong Man’
From Hong Kong to Lisbon to Shanghai
Globalizing colonial Hong Kong
The 'Hongkong man'
5 Uniting to Divide, Dividing to Unite
'Kowloon Macanese' vs. 'Hong Kong Macanese'
Nationalizing the 'Portuguese of the East'
Contesting Macanese patriotism
Por Deus e pela Pátria: Portuguese nationalism in Hong Kong
Printing and disseminating diasporic nationalism
Epilogue: A Place in the Sun
Being Macanese in wartime Hong Kong
Rethinking identity as response
Towards a world without labels
Appendix: Summary of Featured Macanese Individuals
Index
