Macanese people

Macanese people
土生葡人

from left to right: Vicente Nicolau de Mesquita, Carlos Augusto Corrêa Paes d’Assumpção, Clementina Leitão, Henrique de Senna Fernandes, José dos Santos Ferreira, José Pereira Coutinho, Iana Assumpção, Carlos Marreiros, Mariana de Sá, Isabela Pedruco, André Couto, Paula Cristina Pereira Carion
Total population
25,000–46,000
Regions with significant populations
Macau	8,000
Portugal	5,000
Hong Kong	1,000
Brazil	25,000
United States	15,000
Canada	12,000
Languages
Portuguese · Cantonese · Macanese
Religion
Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Portuguese diaspora

The Macanese people (Portuguese: Macaense; Chinese: 土生葡人; Jyutping: tou2-saang1 pou4-jan4; literally: "native-born Portuguese people", Cantonese: toú-saāng poùh-yàhn, or increasing referred to as Chinese: 土生澳門人; Jyutping: tou2-saang1 ou3-mun2 jan4; literally: "native-born Macau people"), are an ethnic group which originated in Macau in the 16th century, consisting mostly of people with some Portuguese ancestry.

Modern Macanese culture can be best described as a Sino-Latin culture. Historically, many ethnic Macanese spoke Patuá, which is a Portuguese-based creole and now virtually extinct. Many are fluent in both Portuguese and Cantonese. The Macanese have preserved a distinctive Macanese cuisine.

Portuguese culture dominates the Macanese, but Chinese cultural patterns are also significant. The community acted as the interface between ruling colonial government - Portuguese from Portugal who knew little about Chinese - and the Chinese majority (95% of population) who knew equally little about the Portuguese. Most Macanese had paternal Portuguese heritage until 1974. Some were Portuguese men stationed in Macau as part of their military service. Many stayed in Macau after the expiration of their military service, marrying Macanese women.

Rarely did Chinese women marry Portuguese; initially, mostly Goans, Ceylonese/Sinhalese (from today's Sri Lanka), Indo China, Malay (from Malacca), and Japanese women were the wives of the Portuguese men in Macau. Slave women of Indian, Indonesian, Malay, and Japanese origin were used as partners by Portuguese men. Japanese girls would be purchased in Japan by Portuguese men. Macau received an influx of African slaves, Japanese slaves as well as Christian Korean slaves who were bought by the Portuguese from the Japanese after they were taken prisoner during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98) in the era of Hideyoshi. From 1555 onwards Macau received slave women of Timorese origin as well as women of African origin, and from Malacca and India. Macau was permitted by Pombal to receive an influx of Timorese women. Many Chinese became Macanese simply by converting to Catholicism, and had no ancestry from the Portuguese, having assimilated into the Macanese people since they were rejected by non Christian Chinese. The majority of marriages between Portuguese and natives was between Portuguese men and women of Tanka origin, who were considered the lowest class of people in China and had relations with Portuguese settlers and sailors, or low class Chinese women. Western men like the Portuguese were refused by high class Chinese women, who did not marry foreigners. Literature in Macau was written about love affairs and marriage between the Tanka women and Portuguese men, like "A-Chan, A Tancareira", by Henrique de Senna Fernandes.