Smooth Transition? Dismantling and Accommodating Colonial Rule in Late 1940s South China

This article explores connections and continuities between the Second World War and the early Cold War in three territories under European colonial rule in South China. It argues that the dismantling of French power in Guangzhouwan and the maintenance of British and Portuguese rule in Hong Kong and Macau owed as much to the specific wartime experience of these territories as to the convergence of competing post-war interests in China and Southeast Asia. Drawing on multilingual sources, this comparative study sheds new light on the challenges and opportunities posed by remnants of colonialism in South China for the Kuomintang, the CCP, and other actors in a context of Chinese Civil War, early Cold War and decolonisation.