''Oasis of War''', this is a fascinating existence in a war-torn region.
However, not all 'oasis' have sunshine and herbs.
As one of the few areas in China during World War II that was not ravaged by war, Macau was fortunate and unfortunate.
Macau is fortunate to have an important connection to its lack of Japanese occupation during World War II. And this ''luck'' is indeed encounterable and unattainable – the strategic significance is almost zero.
Yes, Japan did not occupy Macau because it was too unimportant.
During World War II, Japan practiced the strategy of "feeding the war with war". Everywhere the Japanese passed, they were looted by them.
Hong Kong, which is across the Pearl River from Macao, was occupied by the Japanese army, the grain in stock was looted, the Hong Kong dollars were forcibly exchanged for Japanese military tickets, and the people of Hong Kong were lured or forced to leave Hong Kong by the Japanese army. And all of this, Macao has not experienced.
In the 19th century, Macau was only 10.28 square kilometers. The Macau Peninsula, together with the two outlying islands of Taipa and Coloane, is only one-twentieth of Singapore and one-quarter of Hong Kong. Therefore, in terms of the abundance of materials, what Japan can obtain from Macao may not be as expensive as sending troops at one time.
Although Macao also has a long coastline, there are not a few good ports in the territory.
But on the one hand, Macau was not the main channel for the outside world to transport supplies to Chinese mainland at that time, and on the other hand, Japan did not need these seaports to transport supplies. Therefore, for Japan, whether or not to take Macao does not seem to have any impact on the situation of the war.
So in general, during World War II, Macau was a existence of almost zero strategic significance in the eyes of Japan. In this way, there is no need for Japan to occupy Macau as it did in Hong Kong.
Although Hong Kong and Macau are across the water, their circumstances during World War II were vastly different.
In addition to its small strategic value, another "talisman" that saved Macau from being ravaged by Japan during World War II was entangled with Portugal, Brazil and Japan in its early years.
In the thirty-second year of Ming Jiajing (1553), Portuguese settlers began to appear in Macau. In the third year of the Ming Dynasty (1623), Portugal began to send troops to Macau to control it.
In the thirteenth year of the Qing Dynasty (1887), Portugal officially occupied Macao as its colony through the Draft Treaty of the Sino-Portuguese Conference (or the Sino-Portuguese Lisbon Draft Treaty) and the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peace and Commerce.
At the same time that Macau was invaded by Portugal, Brazil was also under Portuguese control on the American continent. When the Portuguese navigator Pedro Cabral arrived in Brazil in 1500, he declared the land to portugal.
Around the 1630s, the Portuguese colony in Brazil was basically completed.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, due to the turmoil in Europe, the Portuguese royal family moved directly to Brazil. Later, the royal family experienced a series of upheavals, and the Portuguese prince Pedro stayed in Brazil to establish the Brazilian Empire.
Although in 1825, Portugal recognized the independence of Brazil. But the two countries have been entangled for more than three hundred years, where can they be broken in a time? So until The Second World War, Portugal and Brazil maintained a close relationship. At that time, Brazil was facing a very serious problem - the land was sparsely populated and the labor force was insufficient.
In order to solve this problem, the Portuguese government had come to the Qing Dynasty in place of Brazil, hoping to let some Chinese immigrate to Brazil. But Chinese, who has always had a Sangzi complex, is not interested in this. But Brazil's labor problem needs to be solved urgently, so it took a detour and Portugal found Japan.
As a country with limited national land resources, Japan has long had the intention of opening up foreign lands, so it gladly accepted the invitation of Portugal and Brazil and sent a large number of immigrants to Brazil.
Organized by the Japanese government, between 1908 and 1914, there were about 15,000 Japanese immigrants to Brazil. Between 1925 and 1935, about 140,000 more Japanese crossed the ocean to the other side of the globe.
These Japanese who immigrated to Brazil became the handle of Macau's self-protection during World War II. At that time, Portugal was not sure whether Japan would take Macau together when it took Hong Kong, so it moved out of this group of Japanese immigrants. Portugal said that if Japan attacked Macau and infringed on Portugal's interests, then Japanese immigrants in Brazil would be sent back to Japan.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fallen from heaven to eat and dress, and Japan is naturally unwilling to bear this burden any longer. Therefore, Macao, under the communication between Portugal and Japan, became a "war oasis" for Japan's invasion of China during World War II.
However, although they were spared from being occupied by the Japanese, the Macau people under Portuguese control were not able to live and work in peace and contentment. There has always been a conflict between the Macau people and Portugal. After Hong Kong was occupied, the Japanese army and traitors who had plundered a lot also regarded Macau as their playground. The inflow of a large amount of ill-gotten wealth has ushered in a boom in Macao's economy. But this steamed bun stained with human blood also makes The Macao people conservative mentally tortured.
Although Macao became an "oasis of war", it also became a "spiritual desert" on the day of national disaster. The Japanese army's "neglect" of Macau did not bring a bright future to Macau. On the contrary, the ravaged Hong Kong and the vast inland were reborn under the trampling of iron hooves, and finally ushered in a victory unprecedented in a century.
So Macau at that time, fortunately, was also unfortunate.