Macanese - Definition and Overview

Broadly, Macanese refers to the people of Macao.

Macanese is also use to refer to a special ethnic group in Macao Special Administrative Region of People's Republic of China, which is a former Portuguese colony. It refers to people who have Portuguese ancestry or partial Portuguese ancestry, particularly decendants of intermarriage between Chinese and Portuguese who have settled in Macao. Many of them have settled there for generations and are fluent in both Portuguese and Cantonese.

They speak a creole called Patuá or Macaista Chapado which is almost extinct, and have preserved the special Macanese cuisine.

External links

An article on Macanese on Asia Week (http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/99/1224/sr.macanese.html)