Questioning neutrality: Sino-Portuguese relations during the war and the post-war periods, 1937-1949

Thesis

This thesis is a study of neutrality and collaboration during the Second World War in East Asia. It analyses the relations between China and Portugal during the conflict and the immediate post-war period, with a particular focus on the enclave of Macau, the only foreign-administered territory in China not to be occupied by Japan. It argues that the practice of Portuguese neutrality in East Asia was marked by great ambivalence and used by different actors for their own, often conflicting, ends. In social history terms, Macau was part of the war, with comparable experiences to other cities in China, including a massive refugee influx, as well as everyday experiences of hunger, popular mobilisation for relief, and urban crime. Wartime Macau was marked by multiple layers of collaboration involving Chinese, Portuguese, British, Japanese, and others. This thesis also argues that wartime issues left unsolved had an impact on Sino-Portuguese relations after the war. Its dealings with a small European imperial power reveal China’s attempts and difficulties to exercise its regained sovereignty and new international status.

Authors: Ferreira Santos Lopes, H

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-j5nmbmgxr
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Macau; Portugal; Second Sino-Japanese War; Second World War; China
• Subjects: History