4 - Macanese Publics Fight for the ‘Hongkong Man’

Summary

Abstract

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.

Keywords: cosmopolitanism, civil society, port-cities, Anglophone, Anglicization, modern Asia

In 1895, Hong Kong-born José Pedro Braga published The Rights of Aliens in Hongkong, a pioneering work against racial inequality in the British colony. He penned his respects for the spread of justice ‘throughout the length and breadth of the British Empire’ and called for equal employment opportunities for the ‘alien, native, or true-born Briton.’ Like many other local-born and -bred children of first-generation migrants, Braga saw British Hong Kong as a home and himself a loyal subject of the colonial administration. Their experience and pursuits reveal one of the most striking developments of Hong Kong in the late 1890s and early twentieth century: the emergence and propagation of a sense of belonging to the colony amongst non-British publics. Having naturalized as British subjects and received western education, this new generation of middle-class Macanese men and women cultivated a consciousness that was neither Portuguese nor British. They were Macanese in heritage and Anglophile in thought, yet they carried a visible affinity to colonial Hong Kong that brought them to a world beyond skin color. Together with like-minded Chinese and Eurasians, Macanese publics created an unprecedented alliance that pledged to make Hong Kong a better place. Through this arena, the Macanese found a voice that spoke not only for their people, but also fought for the silenced, less privileged population of the city.