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This article explores Macanese literature (prose, poetry, and drama), social media, and newspaper reports as sources for explaining the motives behind the accelerated language shift in Macau during the 20th century, leading to the decline of Maquista (aka Macau Creole). Analysing literary representations of (stereo)typical speakers and the linguistic repertoires associated with them within a qualitative approach, I argue that the decline of Maquista should be analysed in relation to socioeconomic and societal developments, as well as in consideration of the role of other languages in the Pearl River Delta. This contribution demonstrates that Maquista started to disappear because of a general orientation towards standard languages, which also affected Sinitic vernaculars and local forms of English. To validate these hypotheses derived from literary and, hence, stylised as well as exaggerated portrayals of the communication community, I base the analysis of the contemporary situation largely on interviews with Maquista speakers and activists, published on social media and in newspapers. The contemporary data confirm that the dynamics depicted in the 20th-century Macanese literature contained a true core, persisting until today. However, nowadays Maquista enjoys far greater prestige, even outside the community of active speakers.
