Wartime Education at the Crossroads of Empires: The Relocation of Schools to Macao During the Second World War, 1937–1945

Abstract

This article examines the relocation of schools from mainland China and Hong Kong to the neutral enclave of Macau during the Second World War in East Asia. It argues that the war brought about a new cosmopolitanism to the Portuguese-administered territory which was especially noticeable in the enhancement of educational opportunities. Moving to Macau allowed for the resumption of educational activities interrupted elsewhere as well as for linking teaching and learning with relief and resistance. The tens of thousands of student-refugees who ended up in Macau featured in different imperial and nationalist initiatives that coexisted in peculiar ways. Based on multilingual archival materials, newspapers, and memoirs, this study explores ambivalent experiences of refuge and exchange during the Second World War through the case study of the transfer of dozens of schools to a peripheral territory at the crossroads of different empires.