Power and Politics at the Colonial Seaside: Leisure in British Hong Kong

148 Pages·2022·5.66 MB·English

by  Shuk-Wah Poon

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POWER AND POLITICS AT THE
COLONIAL SEASIDE
LEISURE IN BRITISH HONG KONG
Shuk-Wah Poon
Power and Politics at the
Colonial Seaside
A study of the complex role of the seaside as a leisure space in colonial Hong
Kong.
British sports were in many respects more meaningful in the empire than
literature, music, art, or religion. They served as an instrument of cultural asso-
ciation and later of cultural change, promoting imperial union and then postim-
perial goodwill. Poon analyses the ways in which British colonists and Chinese
leaders, backed by the rhetoric of public health and nationalism, respectively,
transformed the Hong Kong seaside into a leisure space. She argues that the
growing popularity of seaside resorts and sea bathing as a preferred form of lei-
sure activity across the social and ethnic spectrums served an important role in
shaping the racial relationship between Westerners and the Chinese population,
as well as the Chinese people’s perception of the female body and the seaside,
during the colonial period. The popularity of British leisure forms in colonial
Hong Kong does not necessarily mean the triumph of “Britishness.”
This book will be of great interest to historians with an interest in leisure and
in Empire and Colonialism, as well as historians of Colonial Hong Kong and
Modern China.
Shuk-Wah Poon is Associate Professor of History at the Chinese University of
Hong Kong.
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For a full list of available titles, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Studies-in-the-Modern-History-of-Asia/book-series/MODHISTASIA
Power and Politics at the
Colonial Seaside
Leisure in British Hong Kong
Shuk-Wah Poon
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 Shuk-Wah Poon
The right of Shuk-Wah Poon to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Poon, Shuk-wah, author.
Title: Power and politics at the colonial seaside : leisure in British
Hong Kong / Shuk-Wah Poon.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. |
Series: Routledge studies in the modern history of Asia | Includes
bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2022010335 (print) | LCCN 2022010336
(ebook) | ISBN 9780367648077 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367648084
(paperback) | ISBN 9781003126386 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Leisure--Political aspects--China--Hong Kong--History. |
Seaside resorts--Social aspects--China--Hong Kong. | Nationalism and
sports--China--Hong Kong--History. | Hong Kong (China)--Social life
and customs--History.
Classification: LCC GV133.H6 P66 2023 (print) | LCC GV133.H6
(ebook) | DDC 306.4/812095125--dc23/eng/20220509
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022010335
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022010336
ISBN: 978-0-367-64807-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-64808-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-12638-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003126386
Typeset in Galliard
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
To Hong Kongers

Contents
List of figures ix
List of maps x
List of tables xi
Acknowledgement xii
1 Introduction 1
Structure of the Book 5
2 Politics of Recreation: Colonial Governance and the
Bathing Beaches, 1842–1930s 10
Rational Recreation, Colonial Governance,
and Racial Politics in Hong Kong 10
Public Recreation and Bathing Beaches 15
Commerce vs Recreation: The Contested Seaside 22
Conclusion 26
3 Nationalism and Collaboration: Chinese Sports Associations
and Sea Bathing in Hong Kong 30
Nationalism and Sports: Emergence of Chinese
Athletic Associations in Hong Kong 30
Leisure and Political Collaboration: Bathing
Beaches at Seven Sisters 34
Leisure and Chinese Activism: Defending the
Bathing Beaches at Seven Sisters 39
Rebuilding and Decline of Bathing Beaches
after the Second World War 46
Conclusion 48
4 Cross Harbour Swim: Competition and Integration 53
Westerners’ Cross Harbour Swim: From Male
Domination to Gender Equality 55
viii Contents
Sports and Nationalism: Chinese Athletes’
Participation in the Cross Harbour Swim 57
Postwar Cross Harbour Swim: From Racial
Glory to Individual Fulfilment 61
Conclusion 65
5 Liberty and Morality of the Body on the Beach 69
Mixed Bathing, Swimsuits, and Morality 70
The Modern Body: Hong Kong Mermaid Yang Xiuqiong 74
The Rise and Fall of the Nudist Movement
in Hong Kong, 1930s–1960s 80
Conclusion 86
6 Seaside Tourism: Class, Race, and Spatial
Reconfigurations of Repulse Bay, 1920–1982 90
“Discovery” of Repulse Bay and Building
of the Repulse Bay Hotel 91
Contesting the Beach Space: General Public,
Lido, and Beach Tents 96
Sinification of Repulse Bay and Demolition
of the Repulse Bay Hotel 104
Conclusion 110
7 Epilogue: From the Seaside to the Swimming Pool 116
Bibliography 122
Index 130
Figures
2.1 Victoria Recreation Club (VRC). 18
3.1 A Postcard Showing the Bathing Beaches at Seven Sisters,
North Point. 36
3.2 The Bathing Pavilion of the Chinese Bathing Club at Seven
Sisters, North Point. 38
3.3 Causeway Bay and North Point Viewed from Wanchai.
The Bathing Beaches Are Behind the Mountain in the
Right Middleground (1941). 41
4.1 Cross Harbour Swim. 54
5.1 Hong Kong “Mermaid” Yang Xiuqiong. 76
5.2 Nudist Recreation Ground at Heung Fan Liu, 1930s. 83
6.1 Repulse Bay in 1930. Repulse Bay Hotel Is in the Middle
Left, and Some Matsheds can Be Seen Near the Bottom of
the Picture. 95
6.2 The Lido at Repulse Bay on the Left of the Photo.
The Repulse Bay Hotel is on the Top Right Corner. 100
6.3 Statue of Ting Hau at Repulse Bay. 107
6.4 The Repulse Bay Residential Complex. 110
7.1 Diagram of the Standard District Pool. 117
7.2 Morse Park Swimming Pool in Wong Tai Sin. 120