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Macau 1870s
Since the 5th century, merchant ships traveling between Southeast Asia and Guangzhou used Haojingao as a way stop for refuge, fresh water, and food. Members of the southern Song Dynasty and some 50,000 followers were the first recorded inhabitants of the area, seeking refuge in Macau from invading Mongols in 1277. They were able to defend their settlements and establish themselves there. Mong Há has long been the center of Chinese life in Macau and the site of what may be the region's oldest temple, a shrine devoted to the Buddhist Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy).
The Hoklo Boat people were the first to show commercial interest in Macau as a trading center for the southern provinces. During the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1643), fishermen migrated to Macau from various parts of Guangdong and Fujian provinces and built the A-Ma Temple in which they prayed for safety on the sea.
Portuguese traders had landed in Ningbo and Swatow at the beginning of the 16th century, but were forced to abandon their trading-posts there. In 1535, the Portuguese obtained the right to anchor ships in Macau harbours and carry out trading activities. In around 1552-1553, the Portuguese obtained permission to go ashore and erect storage sheds, in order to dry out goods drenched by sea water, and establish a settlement as a reward for defeating pirates and to serve as middlemen for trade between China and Japan and between both nations and Europe.In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau. Fortifications and a church were the first buildings to be constructed there, but no ground rent was demanded by the Chinese government until 1582 Following the Opium War (1839-42), Portugal occupied Taipa and Coloane in 1851 and 1864 respectively. In 1887, Portugal and the Qing government signed the Sino - Portuguese Draft Minutes and the Beijing Treaty, in which China ceded to Portugal the right to "perpetual occupation and government of Macau"; conversely, Portugal pledged to seek China's approval before transferring Macau to another country.
In 1938, Portuguese troops occupied the island of Hengqin, which had already been settled by Portuguese missionaries. Hengqin was taken by the Japanese in 1941 and reverted to China in the end of World War II. In World war II, Macau was not occupied by Japanese troops . After the leftist military coup of 1974, the now democratic Portuguese government was determined to relinquish all its overseas possessions, but the People's Republic of China did not favor Macau's immediate return to Chinese sovereignty and asked Portugal to continue to administer it. In 1976, Lisbon redefined Macau as a "Chinese territory under Portuguese administration," and granted it a large measure of administrative, financial and economic autonomy. The Chinese Government stated on many occasions that Macau has always been Chinese territory and the issue left by history should be settled through negotiations when conditions were ripe. The status of Macau since reverting to People's Republic of China sovereignty on 20 December 1999 is defined in the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, Macau's constitution promulgated by China's National People's Congress in 1993. The Joint Declaration and the Basic Law specify that Macau's social and economic system, lifestyle, rights, and freedoms are to remain unchanged for at least 50 years.
Under the principle of "one country, two systems" articulated in the Basic Law of Macau
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Macau : The Imaginary City : Culture and Society, 1577 to Present
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