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How long has your country had Ultimate?

Over 10 years.

Does your country currently have:

Leagues? How many? How many people play in them?
A Beijing summer league of about 80-100 people, a Hong Kong league, and Shanghai Spring and Fall League (about 75 people each).

Club Teams? How many? Are there dominant club teams?
There are currently approximately 15 club teams that compete within China. The strongest teams are generally made up of foreigners living in Beijing, Hong Kong, or Shanghai. The past three years has seen Shanghai HUWA win most of the tournaments that it has attended.

University or College teams? How many?
There are around seven University teams in operation in China. They are focused around the major cities of Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai/Ningbo.

Youth (under 18-years-old) teams? How many?
There are small middle school programs popping up in Tianjin and Beijing. Mostly this is in the form of Ultimate being included in the physical education curriculum.

A National administration for Ultimate?
Currently there is no national body that governs/oversees the progress of the sport. But the past two years have seen the first National tournaments focusing on development of the sport among Chinese citizens.

Where or how do most people learn about the game?

The league play in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai is focused on getting people that are new to the sport to join up. Many more experienced players from oversees will naturally look to find Ultimate wherever they are, but less experienced players find Hat Leagues to be a good introduction to the sport.

Where do most people play?

Finding field space in all of Asia is always an issue. The sports culture that many North Americans take for granted is only now starting to take off in China. Finding larger "real grass" fields is especially difficult and expensive. Some of the local International Schools have facilities that are available but these can also be in very high demand. It is not uncommon to use mini-artificial turf fields designed to 5-a-side soccer games. The winters in Beijing also forces play inside so there is a 5 month period where indoor Ultimate is the sport of choice.

Do people in your country play in or against other countries?

Play against other countries has generally been available only to foreigners. Most Chinese nationals do not have the resources to travel all over Asia and attend tournaments. This trend is beginning to change for a couple of reasons. More Chinese citizens are beginning to have the resources to travel recreationally. Government funding is also beginning to help with the development of emerging sports like Ultimate.

But well established tournaments in Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Vietnam provide a lot of opportunities for competitive play.

Have there been individuals that have been major contributors to the growth of Ultimate in your country? Who are they? What did they do that helped the game grow so well?

Every Ultimate community needs people that put in the time and effort to make sure that things keep rolling. China has been no different. Within each community there are generally a number of individuals that have helped develop the sport. Currently the following individuals are working hard to develop Ultimate in China:

Glenn McCarthy: Glenn has been instrumental in keeping one of Asia's longest running tournaments alive and well. After 10 years, the Shanghai Ultimate Tournament has become arguably the most competitive Asian Ultimate tournament outside of Japan. Glenn has also helped get some of China's stronger University programs to participate in the Shanghai Tournament.

Jeff Jorve: Anybody who is anybody in Asian Ultimate knows Jeff. Aside from being a great ambassador for the sport, Jeff has captained Shanghai HUWA for the past four years. Winning nearly every tournament they enter, HUWA has been a dominant force on the Asian Ultimate circuit for the past three years.

Zahlen Titcomb: Zahlen has single handedly outfitted all of China Ultimate in great looking gear from his company 5 Ultimate. In addition to giving teams a sense of identity and fashion, his great spirit is what initially drew a lot of local players to the sport in the first place.

Jason Cox: It has long been a sore spot that Beijing had never held a proper tournament and Jason wanted to change this. His hard work helped make sure that second annual China Open was a success. The tournament (held May 31, 2008) was the largest collection of Chinese citizens playing Ultimate ever.

Happy Rat: Happy is the captain of the Minzu University team. The team is made up entirely of Xinjiang minority players. Happy's flair for the dramatic, both on and off the field, has made him one of the more popular players in China Ultimate. His team "Air Kazak" won this year's China Open.

Edward Wang: Edward's passion for the sport helped grow the Tianjin Ultimate community from "a few foreigners throwing plastic" to four complete University Ultimate teams. His team Tianjin Speed from the Tianjin Sports University took 2nd place at this years China Open.

Balance Wang: Balance has been working on one of the major hurdles to widespread acceptance of Ultimate in China: the availability of discs. Importing discs through the approved channels makes plastic way to expensive for many Chinese students. Balance has been working on developing domestically made discs for the Chinese market.

What does your country need to continue to develop? If the UPA were to donate $3,000 to you to help develop Ultimate in your country, what would you do with it?

As mentioned above, the availability of discs is still a restriction to the growth of the sport. Discs are still a great ambassador for the sport. At the simplest level, it is still fun to throw a disc with a friend. This simplicity is what draws a lot of newcomers to the sport. Getting more discs into the hands of young Chinese is still the best way to grow the Ultimate in China. Supporting Chinese disc companies that have the good of the sport in mind, would also help to make discs more accessible in China.

Every country has a different 'style' of play...what is yours? (This question is particularly interesting to North American readers!)

Fast disc movement offense. Give and go, upline, huck. Low IQ, high athleticism. Makes for big and exciting plays.

What is next for the game in your country? What is one upcoming development, or what is a hurdle that Ultimate will have to overcome to continue to spread?

Need more schools playing. Lack of sports culture in China, but fortunately right now there is the Olympic craze which has all the people amped up for sports. Eventually will need a governing body and hopefully someday government support (or at least acknowledgment).