This book explores how Macao was formed over the centuries. It puts forward substantial new research findings and new thinking, and covers a wide range of issues. It is a companion volume to Macao - Cultural Interaction and Literary Representations.

C.X. George Wei is Professor in the Department of History at the University of Macau, China.

Introduction Part 1: Faith and the Formation of Macao: Religions and Urban Development 1. Faith and Property: Pressures of Urban Development on Worship in Macao, the Mou Tai -Tin Hau Temple in CheokKa Chun, Macao 2. The Earth God Worship in Macao -- The Transformation of Communal Earth God Worship in Urban Setting Part 2: Western Footprints: The Missionaries in Macao and Their Contributions to the Formation of Macao 3. Darwinism, Freemasonry and Print Culture: The Construction of Identity of the Macanese Colonial Elites in the Late Nineteenth Century 4. The Holy House of Mercy and Its Impact on Macao's Women Part 3: The Impact of Global Forces: The Presence and Competition of Maritime Powers in and around Macao 5. Dutch Attacks against the Goa-Macao-Japan Route, 1603-1618 6. Early British Presence in China: The First Anglo-Portuguese Voyage to Macao 7. The Cushing Mission to Macao and US Imperial Expansion in Nineteenth-Century Asia Part 4: Cosmopolitanism: The Transnational and Transitional Politics, Society and Identity of Macao 8. Macao: An Early Modern Cosmopolis 9. Macao's Urban Identity Quest 1557-1999/2009: Spatialization of Territory 10. State, Market Force, and Building National Identity in China's Hong Kong and Macao 11. The Implications of the Special Administrative Regions for the International System: Macao as a Successful Case Study