As Gary Mei points out, the enclave was opened to the outside world more than 300 years before Hong Kong. During much of the Ming and Qing dynasties, when maritime trade was officially banned, Macau was the shipping hub for the "Silk Road of the Sea," which extended as far as South Asia, Africa and Europe in one direction, and Japan, Southeast Asia and South America in the other.
魏美昌表示，澳門的開放歷史比香港早了三百多年，在明清海禁時代，澳門是西達南亞、非洲和歐洲，東達日本、東南亞和南美「海上絲綢之路」的重要據點。