Sovereignty on the Edge: Macao and the Question of Chineseness

How do the concepts and practices of sovereignty shape Chineseness? This book explores this question ethnographically, using Macau, a city in southern China that was once under Portuguese colonial rule, as an example. When the Portuguese Macanese government was preparing to hand Macau over to China, 95% of its residents identified themselves as Chinese. At this time, the Portuguese Macanese government launched a campaign to persuade Macanese people that they had a "unique cultural identity" different from other Chinese people, which was in fact a legacy of Portuguese rule.

By re-examining the meaning of Portuguese rule in Macau, the author not only challenges the existing definition of sovereignty but also the existing concept of Chineseness as a shared subjectivity among global Chinese people. Various stories about sovereignty and Chineseness and their interrelationships circulated widely in Macau in the 1990s. This book explores how these stories affected the lives of Macau residents and how they lead readers to think more deeply about the relationship between sovereignty, subjectivity, and culture, while also pointing out that in some cases, such reflections are not worthwhile.