澳門商會的成立：辨析和考證

There has long been such saying in the Macao academic community that a modern chamber of commerce existed before the founding of the Macao Chamber of Commerce (ACM) in 1913, citing reports from Chinese periodicals published in the late Qing Dynasty that Portugal once established a “Portuguese Chamber” to replace the “Chinese Chamber”. Given the suspicions surrounded this saying, this paper attempts to provide further, closer to reality explanations on the background of the founding of the ACM, and to clarify its original process. By review and verification with relevant records and archives of the Portuguese-Macao authorities, this paper proves that claims of the “Portuguese Royal Court decreed disbandment of Chinese chamber of commerce” in Chinese periodicals were incorrect and discovers that the founding of the ACM was closely related to the imposition and application of Portuguese legislation in Macao, which carried the intention of the Portuguese-Macao authorities to regulate Chinese business activities and to make commercial conciliation compliant with legal requirements. Evidence suggests that the initiative to establish a Chinese chamber of commerce was in fact that of the Governor José Augusto Alves Roçadas, and Chinese businessmen responded positively and had sustained participation during the preparation process. The founding of the ACM was a result of mutual cooperation and collaboration between the Macao-Portuguese authorities and Macao Chinese businessmen.