澳門中華婦女會與《華人習俗條例》修訂

In order to attract wealthy Chinese merchants to stay in Macao and to expand the recognition of colonial governance, the Macao Portuguese government promulgated the Code of Chinese Customs and Uses (Código dos Usos e Costumes Chineses) in 1909, which was based on the Chinese patriarchal system to regulate Chinese marriage and inheritance, including allowing concubinage. After the victory of the AntiJapanese War, the Macao Chinese Ladies Association (Associação das Senhoras Chinesas de Macau, ASCM) proposed to the government to amend the Code to conform to the then Chinese law of gender equality and monogamy. During the campaign, the ASCM refrained from mentioning the sensitive issue of abolishing concubinage, and in its public speeches and petitions, it focused on the fight for equal inheritance rights. The Macao Portuguese government eventually enacted a new legislation in 1948, which provided that Chinese people’s marital arrangements and inheritance could be made in accordance with China’s Civil Code.