關於澳門（Macau）

澳門行政區劃分。圖片來源：Wiki

「中華人民共和國澳門特別行政區」俗稱澳門，是位於太平洋、南中國海沿岸的港口城市，地處珠江口西岸，北回歸線以南的低緯度地區。北部與廣東珠海拱北的相連接，西部隔西江支流、內港及夾馬口水道與灣仔和橫琴，隔伶仃洋東望即是香港的大嶼山，南面與萬山群島相望。人口為六十五萬零九百人，為台灣的36分之一；面積為115.3平方公里，為台灣的314分之一。雖然表面上看來面積有115.3平方公里，但實際可居住區域僅有30.5平方公里，是世界上人口密度極高的幾個區域之一。

澳門古稱濠鏡澳，意指盛產蠔且水域如鏡的港灣。居民組成95%為漢人、2%為葡萄牙人，其餘為不同種族。

歷史上最早對澳門的記載可以回溯到秦朝，到明朝時（1553年），葡萄牙人開始在澳門建立根據地；到1887年（鴉片戰爭後），葡萄牙迫使清政府簽訂《中葡和好通商條約》，規定中國同意葡國「永居管理澳門」，但未經中國同意葡萄牙永不得將澳門轉讓他國。

在葡萄牙1974年4月25日的康乃馨革命，推翻了極右派政權後，新政權便決定要實行非殖民化政策，放棄所有海外殖民地。1986年，中、葡兩國政府為澳門問題展開共四輪的談判。1987年4月13日，中國與葡萄牙簽訂《關於澳門問題的聯合聲明》及兩個附件。聯合聲明說，中華人民共和國將於1999年12月20日對澳門行使主權。

The Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is commonly known as Macau or Macao. It is on the western side of the Pearl River Delta in East Asia. Macau is bordered by the city of Zhuhai in Mainland China to the north and the Pearl River Estuary to the east and south. Hong Kong lies about 64 kilometres to its east across the Delta. With a population of 650,900 living in an area of 30.5 km² , it is the most densely populated region in the world.

Macau is otherwise known in Chinese as Haojing (濠鏡, literally "Oyster Mirror") or Jinghai (鏡海, literally "Mirror Sea") because people found oysters here. The biggest ethnic group in Macau is Han Chinese (95.0%) and the second largest group is Portuguese (2.0%).

The history of Macau is traced back to the Qin dynasty. During 1553 (Ming Dynasty), Portuguese started to establish a colony there. Following the First Opium War (1839–42), the Qing and Portuguese governments signed the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking on 1 December 1887, under which China ceded the right of "perpetual occupation and government of Macau by Portugal" in compliance with the statements of the Protocol of Lisbon. In return, Macau Government would cooperate with Hong Kong's smuggling trade in Indian opium and China would profit from imposing customs taxes. Portugal was also obliged "never to alienate Macau without previous agreement with China", therefore ensuring that negotiation between Portugal and France (regarding a possible exchange of Macau and Portuguese Guinea with the French Congo) or with other countries would not go forward – so that the British commercial interests would be secured; Macau officially became a territory under Portuguese administration.

Shortly after Portugal's 1974 Carnation Revolution, which overthrew the Estado Novo dictatorship, the new government determined it would relinquish all its overseas possessions. The Chinese and Portuguese governments commenced negotiations on the question of Macau in June 1986. The two signed the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration the next year, making Macau one of the special administrative regions of China.

資料來源：

Wikipedia. Macau.