Far Eastern Championship Games

File:FECG.png

Far Eastern Championship Games Logo

The Far Eastern Championship Games (also known as the Far Eastern Championships, Far Eastern Games or Far East Games) was an Asian multi-sport event considered to be a precursor to the Asian Games.

History

In 1913, Elwood Brown, president of the Philippine Athletic Association and Manila Carnival Games, proposed the creation of the "Far Eastern Olympic Games" to China and Japan. It was at that time that Governor-General William Cameron Forbes was the president of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Association from 1911-1913. Governor-General Forbes formed the Far Eastern Olympic Association.

The first event was held in the carnival grounds (now Rizal Memorial Sports Complex) in Malate, Manila, Philippines on February 4, 1913 and was known as the "First Oriental Olympic Games". Forbes was also the one who formally declare the games open. Six countries participated in the eight day event: the host country then-named Philippine Islands, Republic of China, Empire of Japan, British East Indies (Malaysia), Kingdom of Thailand and British crown colony Hong Kong.

In 1915, the name changed to Far Eastern Championship Games and the association to Far Eastern Athletic Association when the event was held at Hongkou Park in Shanghai, China. They were held there again in 1921. The games were held every two years except in 1929 when Japan decided to delay the project to 1930. The FEAA decided to change the time table to four years and the Philippine Islands hosted the tenth games in 1934. Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) joined in the 1934 FECG.

The 1934 edition was held in a period of dispute between China and Japan, following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Inclusion of people from this region in the games caused controversy between the two member nations, which resulted in the break-up of the Far Eastern Athletic Association. In September 1937, Japan invaded China with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident and started the Second Sino-Japanese War (which later became part of World War II), thus the planned games in 1938 were cancelled.

Editions

1923 Far Eastern Championship Games.

Year	Games	Dates	Host city	Host nation
1913	I	3–7 February	Manila	Philippines
1915	II	15–21 May	Shanghai	China
1917	III	8–12 May	Tokyo	Japan
1919	IV	12–16 May	Manila	Philippines
1921	V	30 May–3 June	Shanghai	China
1923	VI	21–25 May	Osaka	Japan
1925	VII	17–22 May	Manila	Philippines
1927	VIII	28–31 August	Shanghai	China
1930	IX	24–27 May	Tokyo	Japan
1934	X	16–20 May	Manila	Philippines
1938	XI	Cancelled	Osaka	Japan

Sports

A total of nine different sports were contested over the lifetime of the competition. Eight of the sports featured on each programmes of the games, with the ninth sport – cycling – being held once only, in 1915.

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Participating nations

• China
• Japan
• Philippines
• Thailand

See also

• Asian Games
• East Asian Games
• Southeast Asian Games
• West Asian Games

References

• Far Eastern Championship Games and Asian Games Research Project
• The Far Eastern Championship Games

Further reading

• Stefan Huebner, “Muscular Christianity and the ‘Western Civilizing Mission’: Elwood S. Brown, the YMCA and the Idea of the Far Eastern Championship Games,” in: Diplomatic History 39,3 (2015), 535-557. http://dh.oxfordjournals.org/content/39/3/532.full.pdf+html
• Stefan Huebner, “Making the Weak and Degenerated Races of East Asia ready for Self-Government: American and East Asian Views of Sport and Body in Early Twentieth-Century East Asia,” in: Walter Demel / Rotem Kowner (eds.), Race and Racism in Modern East Asia. Vol. 2: Interactions, Nationalism, Gender and Lineage. Leiden 2015, 196-217. https://www.unibw.de/geschichte/neueste/stefanhuebner/uplifting/at_download/file
• Stefan Huebner, “Uniting the East via Western Amateur Sports Values: Asian Integration, the Olympic Ideal and the Far Eastern Championship Games,” in: Marc Frey / Nicola Spakowski (eds.), Asianisms: Regionalist Interactions and Asian Integration. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2015, 75-98.

External links

• Far Eastern Championship Games in pictures
• Japan, China and the Far Eastern Championship Games
• Philippines Roster in Far Eastern Championship Games
• A brief history of the Games (archived)
• Stefan Hübner Research on games in Asia