English Newspaper and Sport: The South China Morning Post's Lawn Bowls Reporting in British Colonial Hong Kong

Abstract

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) was the most influential English newspaper in the British colony Hong Kong in 1930s. The company staff especially the general manager actively participated in the development of lawn bowls in Hong Kong. In addition, the SCMP became a newspaper with the most frequent lawn bowls reporting in Hong Kong to meet the bowlers’ demand on bowls news. The SCMP portrayed the British identity through lawn bowls reporting on the British Empire Game, lawn bowls matches and British bowlers’ gatherings. The SCMP was also used by bowlers to communicate on lawn bowls competition and activities. At the very beginning, lawn bowls was only a Hong Kong Scottish sport on grassland; the development of lawn bowls in Hong Kong brought well-mowed English Bowling Green. The SCMP attracted the British middle class and elites to play lawn bowls actively in Hong Kong. In other words, the British identity not only caused British bowlers to play lawn bowls in Hong Kong but also created more bowling news for the SCMP, which was an important medium in favouring the British bowlers and preserving British cultural heritage in Hong Kong.