Before 1999 Macao was considered a part of Portugal, but in 1993 this document was drawn up which laid down the ways by which Macao would be run and operated when it transferred from the governance of Portugal to that of China. This document is the text of that agreement.

The book analyzes various aspects of the process of Macau's transition from a Portuguese autonomous territory to a Chinese special administrative region. It analyzes the role of those involved in the process building Beijing, Lisbon, the local Portuguese Macau administration, the Macau branch of the New China News Agency, the Luso-Chinese Joint Liaison Group and the local political and social groups. It stresses the dynamics of interactions between actors as well as the political, economic and social changes in the enclave that have direct or indirect impact on the transition.

Macau History and Society illuminates the early Portuguese maritime exploration along China's south coast, political and economic development in Macau, and current social problems. The book makes significant contributions to a political sociology of Macau, emphasizing how different civilizations and cultures interacted with one another, and explores how a new Macau identity can be constructed. Democratization has been a never-ending process in Macau since the 1500's. Macau's experience indicates that sovereignty has been shared rather than exclusive. Although civilizations and cultures do clash, they also cooperate. But the Macau model is deeply flawed - Hao contends that Macau needs to build a new multicultural identity, and a cosmopolitan political and economic identity.

Macao, 40 miles west of Hong Kong, became a place of Portuguese residence between 1555–57. In this short, lively and affectionate book, Austin Coates explains how and why the Portuguese came to the Far East, and how they peacefully settled in Macao with tacit Chinese goodwill. Macao's golden age, from 1557 to the disastrous collapse of 1641, is vividly reconstructed. There follows the cuckoo-in-the-nest situation of the late eighteenth century when the British in Macao were a law unto themselves, until the foundation of Hong Kong and the opening of Shanghai gave wider scope for their energies. Portugal’s subsequent struggle to obtain full sovereignty in Macao, and the extraordinary outcome in 1975, brings this account to a close. Special tribute is paid to the risks Macao gallantly undertook in harbouring Hong Kong's starving and destitute during World War II.