An Extended Urban History Review of Macao and Hong Kong through the End of the 20th Century

Macao and Hong Kong were founded as port cities for the China trade around 1557 and 1842, respectively. This paper discusses the rich but understudied urban history of these two cities. The paper adopts an evolutionary perspective and uses three research vectors: (i) the nature of the relations betw...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of Culture
Main Author: Carlos J. L. Balsas
Format: Articles
Published: Instituto Cultural de Macau 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40063/3988
_version_ 1877196269721485312
author Carlos J. L. Balsas
author_autocomplete Carlos J. L. Balsas
author_browse Carlos J. L. Balsas
author_facet Carlos J. L. Balsas
Carlos J. L. Balsas
author_sort Carlos J. L. Balsas
container_title Review of Culture
container_title_str Review of Culture
container_volume 63
container_volume_str 63
description Macao and Hong Kong were founded as port cities for the China trade around 1557 and 1842, respectively. This paper discusses the rich but understudied urban history of these two cities. The paper adopts an evolutionary perspective and uses three research vectors: (i) the nature of the relations between the cities and their respective hinterlands, (ii) the role and character of mercantile elites, and (iii) their urban morphology. The argument is that what enabled these two cities to survive as colonial cities on the South China Sea was their ability to adapt to or transform their environments, and to establish social, cultural, economic and political dynamics with China and with other neighbouring countries. One of the key findings is that the urban history of these cities is crucial to understanding their current roles in the local, regional and global urban hierarchy.
first_indexed 2026-09-11T02:57:01Z
format Articles
genre Articles
genre_facet Articles
hierarchy_browse Review of Culture{{{_ID_}}}zotero-coll-76L3BRGH
hierarchy_parent_id zotero-coll-76L3BRGH
hierarchy_parent_title Review of Culture
hierarchy_sequence 0000
hierarchy_top_id zotero-coll-WX87PJHD
hierarchy_top_title News
hierarchytype Default
id zotero-V5F7ZD4K
institution zotero_group
issn 1682-1106
last_indexed 2026-09-11T02:57:01Z
latest_content_date 2026-09-11T02:57:01Z
publishDate 2020
publishDateRange 2020
publishDateSort 2020
publishPlace Macau
publisher Instituto Cultural de Macau
publisherStr Instituto Cultural de Macau
record_format zotero
spelling An Extended Urban History Review of Macao and Hong Kong through the End of the 20th Century
Macao and Hong Kong were founded as port cities for the China trade around 1557 and 1842, respectively. This paper discusses the rich but understudied urban history of these two cities. The paper adopts an evolutionary perspective and uses three research vectors: (i) the nature of the relations between the cities and their respective hinterlands, (ii) the role and character of mercantile elites, and (iii) their urban morphology. The argument is that what enabled these two cities to survive as colonial cities on the South China Sea was their ability to adapt to or transform their environments, and to establish social, cultural, economic and political dynamics with China and with other neighbouring countries. One of the key findings is that the urban history of these cities is crucial to understanding their current roles in the local, regional and global urban hierarchy.
Instituto Cultural de Macau
Macau
Review of Culture
Articles
2020
Asia.
Colonial urban history
Hong Kong
Macao
Port city development
Carlos J. L. Balsas
spellingShingle An Extended Urban History Review of Macao and Hong Kong through the End of the 20th Century
Carlos J. L. Balsas
Asia.
Colonial urban history
Hong Kong
Macao
Port city development
title An Extended Urban History Review of Macao and Hong Kong through the End of the 20th Century
title_autocomplete An Extended Urban History Review of Macao and Hong Kong through the End of the 20th Century
title_full An Extended Urban History Review of Macao and Hong Kong through the End of the 20th Century
title_fullStr An Extended Urban History Review of Macao and Hong Kong through the End of the 20th Century
title_full_unstemmed An Extended Urban History Review of Macao and Hong Kong through the End of the 20th Century
title_short An Extended Urban History Review of Macao and Hong Kong through the End of the 20th Century
title_sort an extended urban history review of macao and hong kong through the end of the 20th century
topic Asia.
Colonial urban history
Hong Kong
Macao
Port city development
topic_autocomplete Asia.
Colonial urban history
Hong Kong
Macao
Port city development
topic_facet Asia.
Colonial urban history
Hong Kong
Macao
Port city development
url https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40063/3988
zotero_collection_key 76L3BRGH