The Macanese Community

The Macanese community is a special community within the communities of Macau residents.  It is formed under the historical conditions of Macau.  According to common understandings, Macanese are Portuguese national citizen with Portuguese blood who were born in Macau, including mixed bloods between Portuguese and Chinese or other ethnicities and all Portuguese who have lived in Macau for generations.  It is estimated that there are around 10,000 Macanese in Macau.  They all know Portuguese, and are able to speak Cantonese, but only a few of them can read Chinese.  The Macanese regard Portugal as their motherland, and received Portuguese education and are influenced by the Portuguese culture for a long period.  Most of them are Catholics, and the European way of life is well preserved within them.  Meanwhile, they have lived in Macau for generations, and so they also regard Macau as their homeland.  They are also deeply influenced by the Chinese traditional customs and culture.  

In Macau, the role of the Macanese is much higher than most of the ordinary Chinese.  Because of their proficiency in Portuguese, they are able to get well paid jobs or jobs in the Government.  However, most of the Macancese live in harmony with the Chinese population, and have Chinese relatives and friends as well.  

The Macanese community, therefore, has a unique culture under these conditions.  Patuá or Patois in some essays written by the Macanese, was the 'native' language spoken by the Macanese population.  Patuá is a form of the Creole Portuguese.  There is no official or serious survey on the language, but it is estimated that the number of speakers remain a few in Macau and is on decline.  It is also estimated that several old women in Hong Kong speak the language and possibly the language is spoken amongst a few of the Macanese population in the United States.  Apart from the language, the Macanese cuisine, a mixture of traditional Portuguese, Indian, Malay and Cantonese cuisine, is a specialty of Macau.  The Macanese community also achieved a great success on literature and historical research.  Well known ones include the historian Luís Gonzaga Gomes, the newspaper editor Francisco H. Fernandes, and the novelist and poet José dos Santos Ferreira (Adé).

Some Macanese have emigrated to other countries, mainly because of the lack of confidence on Macau's future.  At present, there are organised Macanese communities in Portugal, Brazil, Hong Kong, the United States, Canada and Australia.  The organisations in these foreign countries are uniformly named Casa de Macau.  In addition, there is a sizable amount of Macanese emigrated to the United Kingdom.

Luís Gonzaga Gomes

The social organisations of the Macanese community can be divided into non-governmental ones and political ones.  The non-governmental organisations can be sub-divided into charities and cultural organisations.  The well-known ones are the Holy House of Mercy, Clube de Macau, Associaçao dos Macaenses de Macau and APIM.  The Holy House of Mercy has a history of more than 400 years, and is a Portuguese and Macanese charity.  The Clube de Macau was founded in 1896 and is a society for the upper class of the Macanese population.  The APIM was established in 1871 and is an organisation to motivate education within the Macanese community.

The Holy House of Mercy

Macanese political organisations were mainly formed after the Portuguese Carnation Revolution in 1974.  Most of these organisations are simply the branches of the political parties in continental Portugal.   For example, UNAMACAU is linked to the Social Democrats.  In recent years, these organisations have been administered by the Macanese themselves, or have become lower key.

There were new changes in the Macanese organisations before the handover in 1999.  Macau Sempre (Always Macau), a political group, was founded in 1996, on the occasion of the Legislative Assembly elections.  However, none of the candidates won a seat in the direct election, and the Governor Vasco Rocha Vieira had to appoint Macanese members instead in order to achieve a political balance.  In the same year, the Associaçao dos Macaenses de Macau was founded.  The association composes of mid-level officials and ordinary Macanese.