Frisbee Revolution!

I played Frisbee again with my students and Boys’ home kids at Boystown two Saturdays ago and it has been a while since I last threw the magic saucer that gives me that natural high pumping my endorphin level a few notch higher. I have always been a fan of those who can throw the disc in different ways and still visualizes that one of these days, I’d be running in the field trying to catch the high flying Frisbees! But at the moment, it is all in the realm of mind visualization.

I read the book One Billion: A China Chronicle written by Jay and Linda Matthews in 1983 and read an excerpt that interested me about frisbee and the People's Republic of China.

"To squeeze some new amusement from dry urban life, people in Peking and other large cities have latched on to the Frisbee. Foreign tourists frequently brought Frisbees into the country and gave them away, but the plastic discs never made much headway until the Peking No 4 Toy factory started mass producing “flying saucers,” as they are known in China. The first 60,000 locally made projectiles sold out quickly in 1980, and now orders from all over the country are backed up. “Frisbee fever has struck,” The Peking Evening News reported. It recommended a game of Frisbee as a “wholesome pastime” for children and good exercise for their elders. The police, however, are not similarly enchanted by young Frisbee fanatics who commander whole neighborhoods and send their flying saucers whizzing in and out of traffic. On a single day in August 1980, police detained 350 wayward disc throwers. Of those, 344 were “criticized” and 6 repeat offenders had to surrender their Frisbees."