The Portuguese governor João Maria Ferreira do Amaral, emboldened by the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking, attempted to annex the territory, expelling Qing authorities in 1846, but was assassinated.

On 25 April 1974, a group of left-wing Portuguese officers organized a coup d'état in Lisbon, overthrowing the right-wing dictatorship that had controlled Portugal for 48 years.

[2] The Chinese government rejected this proposal, believing that an early handover of Macau would impact relations with Hong Kong.

On 20 May 1986, the People's Republic of China, along with Portugal, officially announced that talks on Macanese affairs would take place in Beijing on 30 June 1986.

[8] On 31 March 1993, the National People's Congress passed the resolution on the Basic Law of Macau, which marked the beginning of the latter part of the transition.

[9] The official handover was held at midnight on that day at the Macao Cultural Centre Garden purpose-built Temporary Pavilion.

[12] At the same time, an all-night official celebration gala was held at Beijing's Tiananmen Square to mark this occasion.

Both podia were located at stage centre in front of the chairs of the main representatives (5 for each country) and beside the flagpoles (2 for each country, taller ones for the sovereign state and the shorter ones for the territorial flag of Macau, correspond to the sovereign state it is under at the time during the ceremony).

The introduction of the Individual Visit Scheme policy made it easier for Chinese mainland residents to travel back and forth.