本論文旨在探討澳門主權的歸屬，亦即中國與葡國在有關澳門地位問題上的爭議。中葡關係是中國與西方國家接觸的開端，葡人自一五五三年起，迄今在澳門已住了四百四十年。葡國佔住澳門歷明、清、民國、中共而不斷，認為「久佔之地，必有主權」，乃根據羅馬法上的時效原則，而中國 一直認為澳門乃「天朝地界」，准許葡人佔住乃中國皇帝的恩准。中葡雙方各持己見，學者也一直未能有效釐清。 不過，比對中、葡、意、荷、英、日各方資料後，便可見前人對澳門問題之見解實頗多偏頗之處，其原因乃在忽略中外資料之客觀比對。本論文可以斷言，葡人得以入居澳門，實在中國明朝末年的一種機緣巧合。葡人得以久居澳門，一方面由於中國認為此情況符合本身國家利益，另一方面則由於葡人善於迎合中國皇帝與官員心理。大量歷史事實顯示，葡人長期以來是在中國享有完整的澳門主權前提下，在澳門行使有限度的自治權的。這種類以唐代蕃坊的情況一直維持至一八四○年中英鴉片戰爭爆發。 由於清廷的戰敗與衰微，葡國遂於一八四九年以政變方式，將葡人的有限自治權擴大成排他管理權，將中國官員全部逐出澳門，令中國主權無法在澳門行使。一八八七年的《中葡和好通商條約》，確認了葡國可以「永居、管理」澳門。 然而，中國一直沒有放棄過澳門主權。自一九一二年民國成立以來，歷任中國政府都企圖在澳門恢復行使主權。一九七九年二月，葡國終於承認澳門只是葡國管理之下的中國領土。一九八七年四月，中共與葡國簽訂了《聯合聲明》，決定了澳門將於二○○○年之前回歸中國。一九九三年三月，中共「八屆人大」通過了《澳門基本法》，為中共將來在「一國兩制」方針下統治澳門提供了法律根據。中葡兩國之間存在四百四十年的澳門地位問題，至此遂告結束。

嘉靖三十二(1553)年，葡萄牙人賄賂廣東官員，以「水溼貢物」為由遷入澳門，自此澳門成為葡萄牙人在華的聚居地，而明、清兩朝皆對澳內葡人實行治理。然而，光緒十三(1887)年清朝確立葡國永居管理澳門的地位，由此澳門成為了葡國的殖民地，在以後一百多年時間，澳門相關糾紛都是構成中葡交涉的重要部分，直到1999年葡國正式將澳門主權歸還中華人民共和國，中國才重新治理澳門。 澳門擁有複雜的歷史背景，加上，礙於時代氛圍影響，學界一般認為明、清兩朝視澳門為涉外問題，繼之將澳門史、中葡關係史兩種截然不同的概念混為一談，在這種「後見之明」的史觀之下，又利用錯誤的「朝貢體系」論的各種觀點來詮釋中葡關係史與澳門史，以致既有明、清澳門史研究無法體現中國各個時期治理澳門的意義，而且，既有的中葡關係史、澳門史論述皆存在諸多與史實矛盾之處，特別是在清代的部分。現今學界已出現全面推翻「朝貢體系」論的研究，有見及此，本研究利用「同時代史觀」，試圖站在清朝的立場，重新理解中葡關係與澳門問題。 本研究除了緒論與結論外，共分三章。首先從清朝對外多元關係當中，重新審視中葡關係，得知清代中葡關係非「朝貢體系」論所指的「天朝VS朝貢國」的不平等關係，而清朝只不過視葡國為遠在海外的小國，兩國不存在正式國交關係，由於清朝視澳門為非「涉外」事務，而是「內政」問題，因此不會將澳門問題放在中葡關係討論。在釐清中葡關係與澳門治理性質後，本文第二、三章分別從中國的視角，重新詮釋明、清澳內葡人的司法治理、互市制度。 通過以上三章，不僅能看到本文重建了有別於既有澳門史所呈現的歷史面貌，解決了既有澳門史論述的謬誤與矛盾，也明確區分了出明、清兩朝治理澳門不同的意涵。 / Since the 32nd year of the reign of Emperor Jiajing of the reign of the Ming Dynasty, Portuguese people had bribed the officials of Guangdong, China, and had entered Macao by saying that “their goods had got wet.” Macao since then had become a Portuguese settlement in China, and the Portuguese in Macao had been governed by the governments of China during the Ming and the Qing dynasties. However, in the 13th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese government recognized that the rights of Portuguese that enable them to permanently live and manage Macao. As such, Macao became a colony of Portugal. During the following one hundred years, Macao had been treated as a part of the diplomacy between China and Portuguese. Until 1999, the Portuguese government returned Macao to the Peoples Republic of China, and Macao has therefore been governed by the Chinese government again. Macao owns a complicated historical background. In addition, due to the social context, the academic circle generally believe that the issues in Macao in the Ming and the Qing dynasties had been treated as issues of diplomacy, and researchers usually mix up the two fundamentally different concepts, history of Macao and history of China-Portugal relationship. Such historical outlook of “hindsight” and the incorrect views of the study of “the Tribute System” have led to the incapability of the study of Macao history of the Ming and the Qing dynasties in presenting the significance of the governance of Macao in various periods of time. Moreover, the existing study of history of China-Portugal relationship and of history of Macao contradicts each other in terms of the historical “facts” provided, especially in the part of the Qing dynasty. Currently, the study of “the Tribute System” has been proved erroneous in the academic circle, thus this essay, with the “synchronized historical outlook,” aims at re-exploring the China-Portugal relationship and the issues of Macao in the point of view of the Qing dynasty. Besides the introduction and the conclusion, this thesis has three chapters in total. In the first chapter, the author reviews China-Portugal relationship from the perspective of the various diplomatic relationship between China in the Qing dynasty and other countries, and realizes that China-Portugal relationship had not been the unequal relationship as “Mandate heaven VS tribute states” stated in the study of the “Tribute System”. Furthermore, the government of the Qing dynasty had treated Portugal as a small country overseas, and the two countries had not had official diplomatic relationship. Since the government of the Qing dynasty had viewed the issues of Macao as domestic issues rather than those of diplomacy, the issues of Macao had not been brought up in the discussion of China-Portugal relationship. Clarifying China-Portugal relationship and the nature of the governance of Macao, the second and the third chapters respectively, from a perspective of China’s domestic governance, re-present the justice and trading system of the Portuguese people in Macao during the periods of the Ming and the Qing dynasties. With the three chapters, this thesis does not only reconstruct the history presented by the history of Macao and solve the existing fallacies and conflicts, but also clearly distinguishes the different significance of the governance of Macao in the Ming and the Qing dynasties.