Nationality law of the People's Republic of China territory "before or after" their transfer of sovereignty to China are regarded as "born in China". Those who are of ethnic Chinese origin are Chinese nationals before and after the handovers. Having said that, people born in Hong Kong or Macao in the years before handover, were usually given British nationality (mostly British Dependent Territories Citizenship) and full Portuguese citizenship, based on British and Portuguese laws. For Hong Kong residents, the "Interpretation" of the Nationality Law was adopted at the Nineteenth Session of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on May 15, 1996, a year prior to
Nationality law of the People's Republic of China loss of nationality, from the Chinese nationality of Mainland Chinese residents with hukou. The law was adopted at the Third Session of the Fifth National People's Congress and promulgated by Order No. 8 of the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and effective as of September 10, 1980. Prior to the Communist government's establishment in 1949, the Republic of China's nationality law, enacted in 1929, served as the basis for Chinese nationality for Chinese residing in China Mainland. ROC's 1929 nationality law was in force only in Taiwan after 1949 when the Kuomintang government lost the