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While China and Portugal shelved the Macao’s boundary issue, people’s anti-colonisation sentiment was strong in Guangdong Province (廣東) and Macao (Macau). Some even advocated for China to take back Macao. Their indignation climaxed with the May 29th Incident in 1922.

An African soldier of the Portuguese Macao government harassed a Chinese woman in public on 28 May 1922. Passers-by thus beat the soldier and many more joined in the beating. The police arrived and arrested three workers involved in the incident, an action that frustrated Macao civilians. That night, members from several local unions joined by cilivians and workers reached the police station at Rua da Caldeira (the former site of Jebsen Theatre), demanding the release of the three workers. The police opened fired when they clashed with the civilians during the former’s shift-changing on 29 May morning, killing 70 and injuring more than 130 of civilians. It was later known as the “May 29th Incident”.

The police suppression triggered strikes and representatives of Macao’s unions petitioned Sun Yat-sen (孫中山), the Extraordinary President of the Republic of China, in Guangzhou (廣州), and was promised a government intervention. However, the June 16th Incident changed the political situation in Guangzhou, leaving the promised intervention shelved. To appease the public, the Portuguese Macao government compensated the victims and pardoned most of the participants of the incident. Regulations on union activities and assembly, however, were also tightened.

How did the Government of the Republic of China in Guangzhou led by Sun Yat-sen handle the May 29th Incident?

See answer below.

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            The police station at Rua da Caldeira, the centre of the May 29th Incident in 1922,  was demolished after the incident.

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The Portuguese Macao police force and army was comprised of many Africans and Indians. The conduct of some of them aroused discontent among the Chinese civilians. The May 29th Incident in 1922, which inflicted over 200 casualties, was triggered by an African soldier harassing a Chinese woman. (Collection of Mr Lei Kun-min, Macao In Postcards, 19th & 20th Centuries, published by Macao Association for Historical Education, cited from “Macau Memory”, Macao Foundation)

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The coverage of the May 29th Incident by a local Guangzhou newspaper, reporting on the casualties, the unions’ petitions, and a large number of Chinese leaving Macao. The incident resulted in many Macao people returning to mainland China and led to a sharp decline in Macao’s population.

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There were over 100 unions in Macao consisting of more than 30,000 members in the early 1920s. The three leading unions were “Macao’s Federation of Unions”, “the Sixth Regiment” and “Workers’ Amity Union” with Macao’s Federation of Unions being the largest. On 1 May 1922, Macao’s Federation of Unions initiated the first International Workers’ Day parade in Macao. Henrique Monteiro Correia da Silva, the then Governor of Macao, commented that the parade held in Macao was more exhilarating than those in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

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On the day following the May 29th Incident, the Boletim Oficial da Província de Macau, Timor e Solor (《澳門政府憲報》) announced to dismiss unauthorised unions and list unions involved in strikes as illegal organisations.

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The Extraordinary President Sun Yat-sen and the First Lady Soong Ching-ling (宋慶齡). Sun was sworn in as the Extraordinary President in Guangzhou on 5 May 1921. When the May 29th Incident broke out the following year, Sun met with union representatives from Macao in Guangzhou and promised to negotiate with the Portuguese Macao government.

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Wu Tingfang (伍廷芳), the Foreign Minister and Finance Minister of the Government of the Republic of China in Guangzhou, and also the Governor of Guangdong Province (廣東). Wu made representations to the Portuguese embassy in Guangzhou regarding the May 29th Incident.

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Chen Jiongming (陳炯明) launched a military coup to drive Sun from Guangzhou in what later known as the June 16th Incident in 1922. Chen then seized Guangdong and shelved the talks with the Portuguese Macao government regarding the May 29th Incident.

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The Boletim Oficial da Província de Macau, Timor e Solor on 19 September 1922 announced that Portugal authorised the Macao Portuguese government to pardon most of the participants of the May 29th Incident, but not the organisers.

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Rodrigo José Rodrigues served as the Governor of Macao between January 1923 and October 1925. He handled the aftermath of the May 29th Incident in his early tenure.

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The strikes triggered by the May 29th Incident subsided by June 1922. The Guangdong authority negotiated with the Portuguese envoy in November, during which the Portuguese Macao government agreed to offer pension to the victims’ families and restore unions dismissed because of the May 29th Incident. When Rodrigo José Rodrigues took office, he oversaw the distribution of pension through local charities. The situation in Macao gradually returned to normal.

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The pension for the May 29th Incident was distributed by the Macau Holy House of Mercy to Kiang Wu Hospital, from where the victims and the bereaved of the May 29th Incident claimed the pension. The above is the correspondence from 8 March 1923 between the Macau Holy House of Mercy and Kiang Wu Hospital regarding the distribution of pension. (Provided by Kiang Wu Hospital Charitable Association, cited from “Macau Memory”, Macao Foundation)

How did the Government of the Republic of China in Guangzhou led by Sun Yat-sen handle the May 29th Incident?

The May 29th Incident not only aroused public anger in Macao but also inflamed anti-colonisation sentiment in Guangdong and radiated to the whole China. The Chinese people even petitioned Sun Yat-sen, the Extraordinary President of Government of the Republic of China in Guangzhou, to take back Macao and suspend the diplomatic relations with Portugal. After the incident, the Guangzhou authority deployed more troops and warships to garrison the Macao areas and halted shipping at the Border Gate and Macao’s Inner Harbour, which resulted in a shortage of necessities in Macao. Wu Tingfang made a representation to the Portuguese consul in Guangzhou on 4 June 1922 on matters including the removal of African troops in Macao, compensation for Chinese victims, and bans on gambling and opium in Macao. However, these demands became fruitless because Chen Jiongming, who commanded the Guangdong army, launched a military coup to drive Sun from Guangzhou on 16 June 1922. When Chen seized control of Guangdong, he shelved the negotiations with the Portuguese Macao government.

Photo courtesy of Mr. Alex Lou, Vice Chairman of The Heritage Society (pictures 1, 4, 8, and 9), Macao Foundation (pictures 2 and 10), Fotoe (pictures 5, 6, and 7), and misc. photo sources.

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