CHINA MAIL, PAGE 90
1841
HONG KONG CENTENARY NUMBER
Chinese Turn To Sport
MR. Lin Yu Tang, in his famous
book "My Country and My People", in the chapter dealing with Chinese Social and Political Life, says
"The Chinese are a nation of Individualists. They are family- #unded not social-minded.
They do not indulge in sport, which binds human beings to- gether, and which is the essence of the English and American social life. They play games, to be sure, But these games are characteristic of Chinese individualism. Chinese games do not divide the players into two parties, as in cricket. with one team playing against the other. Teamwork
unknown.
I
In: Chinese card games, each man plays for himself The Chinese like poker, and do not like bridge. They have always played mah- Jong, which is bearer to poker them to bridge. In this philosophy of mahjong may he seen the es sener of Chinese individualism."
In's remarks, which Juve ju quoted, are opett lo objection as an accurate descrip- tim of spurt among Chinese isk the presen time in particular places or environments, they can not be open to objection. as મ generalisation of Chinese charac- teristies, as it is obviously intend- ed to be. The reason For quoting them is that they serve to explain the fact that sport among Chinese in Hong Kong is n inatter of recent rigin
"Teh Yuk"
Since that date other pavilions have been erected. At present there are the following pavillons:
South China Athletic Associa-
tion:
Chinese Bathing Club; Chinese Athletic Association; The Chinese Civil Servants'
Club; and
#t
The Bankers' Association,
North Point; and The Chung Sing Benevolent
Society, at Kennedy Town. In addition to the above there are other sheds erected at North Point by the Chinese Y.M.C.A... The Sincere Co., Ltd., The Sun Co., Ltd, and The Wing On Co.. F.txt.
All these pavilions and bathing sheds afford facilities to over ten Huusand persons daily during the summer months.
Swimming Records
The Chinese have improved to such a great extent that several of the records for swimming in the Colony are at present held by them.
In the year 1831 Kwok Chung- hang. the Then breast-stroke champion, was invited to visit Melbourne to give an exhibition of swimming in connection with the Australian Centenary do
Cele-
miy
The modern Chinese expression for sport is "telt uk" (body cul- ture), and for sportsmanship "teh nk ching san" (body culture es- sence spirit). So modern, indeed, is the Chinese conception of sport and
sportsmanship, that these Current terins have not yet found their places in certain standard English-Chinese dictionaries.
I remember, quite vividly, the days before I left here for Eng- land in 1906. Very few Chinese buys, and even fewer Chinese girls, could swim, and hardly any Chinese played football, tennis or cricket. I remember being told that sampan girls were never al- towed to learn to swim -though drowning fatalities were frequent --because it was indecorous for girls to show their forms. What a far cry from those days to the present time, when girls take part in athletics in low-necked shirts and short pants!
Swimming did not come into prominence among the Chinese community until about fifteen years ago. Hitherto swimming was more or less confined to the wealthier classes who could afford to hire launches for picnics during the summer months,
Bathing Clubs
The first Chinese bathing shed to be erected was by the Chinese Recreation Club in the year 1910, near the old Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. Subsequently this Club concentrated its activities on tennis, and a new club known as the "Chinese Bathing Club" was formed. The Chinese Bathing. Club and the South China Athletic Association erected bathing sheds for their members at North Point, and it was from the year 1920 on- wards that swimming was taken up seriously by the Chinese,
The first open aquatic event for Chinese was promoted by the South China Athletic Association and the Chinese Bathing Club in the year 1924: The total number of competitors taking part WRS only sixty-eight, eleven of whom came from Canton,
The first permanent bathing shed to be erected was by the South China Athletic Association, which was opened by Lady Cle- menti on June 29, 1929.
brations.
team.
The
was
In 1909 the Hong Kong Tennis League was formed. There were then only seven teams In the League, with the Chinese Y.M.C.A. as the sole Chinese Chinese Recreation Club formed in the following year. This Club concentrated its activities on tems, and has produced many champions of the Colony, among them being Messrs. Ng Sze- kwong, my brother Mr. M. W. Lo, and the Tsui Brothers, and in- cluding one lady champion, ny sister Mrs. Litton,
Popular Hold
Tennis has taken such a popular hold on the community that the Tennis League is now divided into four divisions, with twelve Chinese teams participating, namely: C.R.C., 5 teuins; S.C.A.A., 4 teams; Kowloon Tong Garden Club, 2 teams; and the Hong Kong Uni- versity Tennis Club, I team. The Chinese (C.R.C.) have been cham- pions on sixteen occasions during the past twenty-four years, and this Club has held the title since the year 1932.
It was about the year 1904 that the Chinese took up football seriously. In that year, a number of school boys from Hong Kong Government Schools formed El club known as "The Chinese Football Club".
In the year 1911 the first na- tional meet of China was held at Nanking. A number of school boys from the Colony were select- ed to represent "Southern China”, and they won the football cham- pionship. In the following year nearly all of these players were selected to represent China in the Arst Far Eastern Olympic Meet in Manila.
In 1914, for the first time in the history of football in the Colony, two Chinese teams participated in the junior division of the Hong Kong Football League, under the names of "The Confucian Society” and "The Lam Long A.D.C."
In 1910 the South China Athletic Association, which has done 50 much for local football was. formed.
In 1923, at the invitation of the Australian, Football Association, a Chinese team composed of players from, the Colony, except for one player from North China, made à tour of five States in Australia. This tour was in every sense epoch-making for, although dele- gations of Chinese sportsmen had.
taken part as representatives of their country in the Far Eastern Games in Japan and the Philip- pine Islantis, this was the first occasion on which મૈં team of Chinese sportsmen ever toured a foreign country. This tour was the forerunner of many other tours.
In the year 1936 China was re- presented in football and other games at the Eleventh World Olympic at Berlin. Twenty-two football players. were selected and, of these, seventeen were chosen
The Hon. Mr. M. K. Lo who was responsible for this article, given on Saturday In the form of a radio broadcast from Z.B.W.
from Hong Kong. Before reaching Berlin the football team made an extensive tour of the South Sea Islands and India, and went through the whole programme of a series of twenty-seven matches undefeated.
Whilst in London they played against the Islington Corinthians, and this is what the Sports' critic of one of the London papers said of their play:
an
"No use blinking at facts. Islington Corinthians, almost English International Amateur team as names go, were shown at Highbury last night just how foot- ball-real football-should be played.
The Chinese Olympic team, with an exhibition of school learned soccer, showed the tricks of the game to lads born more or less with a football in their hands. Chinese football on this showing, is as good as anything we have seen.".
Overseas Tours
The
local
Football Chinese Clubs and Associations also made extensive tours during the off- seasons, and among the places they visited were Manila, Saigon, the Federated Malay States, Java, Medan, and Rangoon, Incidentally,
a result of these tours, they helped in raising the standard of football in Manila, Saigon and the South Sea Islands,
One of the chief features in the annals of Hong Kong football was the visit to the Colony of the English Amateur Football team; the Islington Corinthians, in the year 1936, at the invitation of the, South China Athletic Association.
At present there are six football clubs affiliated to the Hong Kong Football Association, namely:---
The South China Athletic Asso-
ciation;
The Eastern Athletic Associa-
tion;
The Kwong Wah Athletic As-
ciation;
The Sing Tap Sports Club; The Kit Chee Football Club; and The Chinese Athletic Sports
Club.
Eight Chinese teams participate in the Hong Kong Athletic Foot- ball League (four in: the First
Division, and four in the Second), and ten in the Challenge Shield Competition.
The total number of Chinese players registered with the Foot- ball Association is 228, which in- cludes the names of many famous players such as Mr. Lee Wai-tong, the idol of the Chinese public, whose skill and sportsmanship are an inspiring example to all local sportsmen.
The prowess of Chinese in local football can be gathered from the following record:—
(a) They first won the Senior Football Championship in 1924. For fourteen years. from and including 1927 Lo 1940, they have Won this Championship on no less than ten occasions.
(b) They won the Senior Chal- lenge Shield in the years 1929, 1931, 1933 and 1935 to 1940 inclusive.
Major Trophies
(c) They carried off all the major trophies of the Hong Kong the Football Association in year 1940.
The Chinese football teams have been instrumental in raising large sums of money for charity every scason, and the amounts so raised during the last decade exceed the sum of $100,000:00.
Д
I have no time to speak on other games which are played by Chinese in the Colony at the pre- sent time, such as baseball, volley ball, basket ball, softball, track and field, badminton and minta- ture football. But I may say that miniature football has taken very strong hold on the Chinese, particularly the younger set, This game follows Association Football somewhat, but the size of the ball is smaller, and the game is played by nine players on each side in- stead of eleven. Every afternoon this game is being played by a large number of children on the various playgrounds.
That the striking progress which Chinese in Hong Kong have made in the realm of sport is in a large measure due to the encourage- ment, friendly rivalry, cooperation and example of British sportsmen in the Colony is a fact which all Chinese sportsmen would wish gratefully to acknowledge,
Cooperation
on
at
In the Legislative Council, its meeting November 28, 1940, speaking in connection with the Immigration Bill, I ventured to remark-.
"""Sir, had the circumstances been different, the Colony would now be in the midst of its pre- parations for celebrating its cen- temary next year, and in the course of that celebration the in- terdependence of this Colony with China in general, and with the Province of Kwangtung in parti- cular, would have received added emphasis."
Although the celebrations of our Centenary have had to be confin- ed mainly to this series of talks over the radio, it is surely a mat- ́ter for gratification on the part of all the residents of the Colony that Sino-British cooperation should constitute such an impor- tant chapter in the history of sport among Chinese In Hong Kong, I know I am volcing the sentiments: of all Chinese in Hong Kong when I express the hope that such Sino-British cooperation in the Colony, which has so happi- ly existed in the past-not only in sport, but in business, `tom- merce and social affairs-will con- tinue and increase to the benefit and happiness of both great De- mocracies, !
1941
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