After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the whole Chinese public strongly demanded the recovery of Hong Kong and Macao (Macau). The Guangdong (廣東) provincial government even proposed to recover Macao by force. However, under the leadership of the Kuomintang of China (中國國民黨), the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China shelved the recovery plan considering the overall situation and the “integration of Hong Kong and Macao”. Despite this, the Guangdong provincial government continued to request it to negotiate with Portugal for Macao’s recovery. With the government’s army steadily losing ground in the Chinese Civil War, the Portuguese Macao government feared that the People’s Liberation Army of the Chinese Communist Party (中國共產黨) would take the opening to recover Macao. However, the newly established government of the People’s Republic of China decided to maintain Hong Kong and Macao, the two international cities in the country, as gateways to the West under the strategy of “long-term planning and full utilisation” when the current domestic situation was not yet stable.

Economically, Macao underwent a depression when it was unable to develop its newly reclaimed land after the war. The Portuguese Macao government implemented the “Macao Prosperity Plan” in 1947, approving funds to facilitate Macao’s transportation and infrastructure development, as well as the improvement of the urban environment. Despite these improvement projects, large areas of newly reclaimed land such as Areia Preta and Zona de Aterros do Porto Exterior remained undeveloped. Meanwhile, Macao turned itself into a postwar gold trading port, which became an important source of its revenue.

Educationally, many schools in Macao started to gradually return to mainland China after the war. However, the Chinese Civil War triggered another influx of refugees to Macao. Against this background, trade unions, charities, religious organisations, and authorities ran schools to contribute to the vigorous postwar education development. The increasing number of schools and students was also conducive to Macao’s future development.