Macanese Publics Fight for the ‘Hongkong Man’
Moving away from the dominant anti-colonial discourses in early twentieth-century Asia, the Macanese activities in Hong Kong reveal an alternative development linked to the emergence of multiracial associations and the rise of an Anglophone public sphere. Some local-born, English-educated Macanese participated in the construction of an early civil society rooted on a shared perception of the British colony as a ‘home’ and a permanent settlement. Nevertheless, this Anglicized identity did not represent the entire generation of Macanese youth who were born and raised in Hong Kong. While the pursuits of J.P. Braga, Leo d’Almada e Castro and Clotilde Barretto demonstrate the propagation of a more local strand among the Macanese, Montalto de Jesus opted to move in the Portuguese sphere.