 Four conferences from June 1986 to March 1987 resulted in a Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration on 13 April 1987 and the transfer of sovereignty on 20 December 1999.Macau is granted a high level of autonomy and the retention of its legal system by the Macau Basic Law.The history of Macau is traced back to the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BCE), when the region now called Macau came under the jurisdiction of Panyu county, in Nanhai prefecture (present day Guangdong).