Sandwiched in the Workplace

According to Ronald Robinson’s ‘theory of collaboration,’ non-European mediating elites helped regulate and maintain imperialism. This chapter argues that not all collaborators were crucial to the rise and decline of colonies. A peek into the circumstances of Macanese employment in Hong Kong shows a more practical aspect of how early colonial establishments were built through the services of migrant workers, who toiled in lower- and middle-ranking administrative positions in the public and private offices. Reassessing existing claims that Macanese workers were victims of racial prejudice, the careers of three Macanese men reveal the normative reasons behind their stagnant careers, as well as an alternative understanding of the terms of collaboration between colonial governments and their subjects from the migrant perspective.

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.

Epilogue: A Place in the Sun

As the Second World War unfolded in Hong Kong, it created various crises that intensified pre-existing racial tensions in the colony. In exchange for the liberties and safety of being ‘neutral’ or third nationals, Anglicized Macanese rushed to revoke their British status in favor of Portuguese certificates. Some sought refuge in Macau, where they would live, perhaps for the first time ever, side-by-side with Macanese subjects who were different in terms of cultural and political orientation. Despite acquiring Portuguese status, three Anglophile Macanese—Eddie Gosano, Leo d’Almada e Castro and Clotilde Barretto—continued to work for the British government, risking their lives for the BAAG. The Epilogue ends with the aftermath of the war and a reappraisal of the resilience of identity.

Uniting to Divide, Dividing to Unite

In line with the global obsession with nationalism, two pro-Portuguese Macanese embarked on a mission to counter the Anglicization of the Hong Kong Macanese by urging them to reconcile with their Portuguese roots. Lisbello de Jesus Xavier started the project by instigating a war-of-words with Club Lusitano over the colony’s Portuguese-language newspapers. The divide further widened as more and more Macanese moved to Kowloon during the 1900s, where more class- and gender-inclusive Portuguese institutions would emerge, one after the other. During the late 1920s, Januário de Almeida would construct an unprecedented nationalistic and inter-port platform for all Macanese through the Liga Portuguesa de Hongkong. This chapter explores the ways the Macanese renegotiated their relationship to the Portuguese empire.

Crossing Imperial Borders

The lives of a Macanese clerk, a businessman and a newspaper editor reveal the dynamic and continuous relationship between Macau and Hong Kong. Owing to the lack of exciting opportunities in the Portuguese enclave, aspiring Macanese men braved their first move to British Hong Kong in 1842, pulled by pre-existing employment, partnerships and unfulfilled dreams. The arrival of the Macanese caused a domino effect, prompting Catholic missionaries to transfer their headquarters to Hong Kong where they would set up churches and schools that catered to a growing population. As against common perceptions of Macau as a ‘prelude’ to Hong Kong’s acquisition, this chapter shows how Macanese migrants created an unprecedented meeting point between the Portuguese and British imperial spheres.

Prologue: Between Empires

The colonial histories of mixed-race diasporic communities have often been linked to narratives of policy discrimination, strategic collaboration and collective resistance. Deviating from these themes, the experience of the Macanese diaspora in British Hong Kong offers us an opportunity to observe the constructions of race, class and culture as more nuanced than the colonizer–colonized polarity usually allows. Through the lenses of transimperial migration, identity contestation and cosmopolitanism and transnationalism, the collective biographies of middle-class Macanese individuals in this book combine to demonstrate the resilience of mixed-race diasporic communities in the face of normative reality and uncover the liberties they exercised on foreign soil in the search for wider opportunities, a better life, social status and power.

Horseracing, Theater and Camões

In 1866, Hong Kong’s middle-class Macanese founded Club Lusitano Ltd., the largest Portuguese gentlemen’s club in southern China. Modeled after British clubs yet boasting selective Portuguese characteristics, the club carved a space for the Macanese to elevate their presence in Hong Kong. It allowed Macanese men who worked as clerks and small business owners in the daytime to transcend the glass ceilings they encountered in the workplace. While showcasing the Portuguese flag, playing the Hino da Carta anthem and commemorating the legendary Portuguese poet Camões emerged as ways to legitimize Club Lusitano’s Portugueseness, inviting British government officials and prominent non-Macanese businessmen to lavish celebrations mirroring Portugal’s festivals opened new doors through which to enter the social worlds of respectable Europeans, businessmen and colonial officials.