The People's Republic of China is sending a delegation to Prince George this summer.
But this is not the typical business delegation - they'll be decked out in ball caps and spikes instead of suits and ties.
The 2011 World Baseball Challenge announced Wednesday, the Beijing Tigers will compete in this summer's international baseball classic.
The Tigers, located in China's capital, represent the Beijing Lucheng Sports Technical School and its players made up the bulk of the Chinese team which represented the host country at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The 2011 World Baseball Challenge, which takes place July 8 to 19 in Prince George, now has confirmed entries from Europe, the Caribbean, North America and Asia.
"This is something we have worked on for three years," said tournament co-chair Jim Swanson.
The Tigers were originally slated to be part of the inaugural World Baseball Challenge in 2009, but worldwide fears over the spread of the H1N1 virus forced the team to cancel its travel plans.
"The Beijing Tigers have a tremendous program and are leading China's impressive rise up the International Baseball Federation's rankings," said Swanson.
Swanson went on to say the Tigers participation is a result of the combined efforts of the team's North American representatives the local committee and even Major League Baseball and its effort to see baseball succeed in that market.
"The possibilities in [China] are endless. And to have our tournament serve as another opportunity for the Beijing Tigers to showcase their progress is something we are very proud of," said Sawnson.
Director of international protocols for the local tournament echoed Swanson's statements saying the H1N1 situation just goes to point out the difficulties in making a complex tournament like the World Baseball Challenge come to fruition.
The Beijing Tigers roster is still in flux, but will be coming to Prince George to prove it can play with the best countries in the world.
"We are honoured to be invited to Canada and be on the field with the best teams in the world," said Tigers manager Song Pingshang.
"We know the work that goes into organizing first-class tournaments, and we want to do all we can to win the World Baseball Challenge. That may sound like a tall order, but we are challenging our program to improve all the time and we want to be one of the strongest baseball nations in the world. We would like to say thank you to the organizers of the World Baseball Challenge for the invitation and for their offer of hospitality in the city of Prince George," he said.
Pingshang has extensive international experience including with China's national team at the '08 Olympics.
One of the highlights for baseball fans will be getting to watch the defensive prowess of some of China's top players.
"They have a centre fielder [Sun Lingfeng] who is considered to be one of the best defensive centre fielders in all of professional baseball. His range is amazing. It makes me wish we had [a more expansive] centrefield show he could really show off his talents," said Swanson.
While fans will see the culmination of two years of hard work on the field, what happens behind the scenes is equally as important to Prince George.
"The World Baseball Challenge is a great event for Prince George in so many ways. One of them is it helps our city and our region to be known around the world and gives us another great way to show what we can do in international trade," said Tim McEwan of Initiatives Prince George.
