7 - Coalescence

Summary

“Coalescence” takes readers to 1921 Shanghai, site of the Fifth Far Eastern Championship Games. At the Games, athletes from China, Japan, and the Philippines gathered to compete in team sports, such as volleyball, soccer, baseball, and basketball; individual sports, such as tennis and swimming; and track and field events. This chapter follows not only the athletes and coaches who participated in the competitions on the fields, but also the pundits and observers who used those performances to create new meanings and spin new narratives. For instance, it highlights how pundits and observers used the lenses of race and gender to explain away defeat, account for victory, and claim ownership of civilization and modernity. It focuses in particular on how the male gaze dissected women’s dress and comportment in athletic demonstrations and carnival competitions alike. 1921 was a year of coalescence, and this chapter also treats the Far Eastern Championship Games as a window into a broader world of Sino–Philippine interaction. This chapter traces, for example, the concomitant study tours of Gan Bun Cho and Camilo Osias, the campaign against the Bookkeeping Act, and anti-Japanese politicking – all topics explored in earlier chapters.