I'm looking for any information on the diving in China, obvious sites are the lost city and the great wall, but we are looking for other spots that may be interesting. China is pretty huge there must be some good spots over there. Happy if people want to email me directly on
jon.shaw@ginclearfilm.com
Thanks in advance
Jon
Jon,
Unfortunately, the industry hasn't taken off, and places there probably SHOULD be dive shops and/or resorts, just don't exist because economically, people don't see the need. I'm hoping to do a little scouting this year to see about some sites near Shanghai.
There is some diving in places like Xiamen, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai, but I haven't heard any positive reports.
Sanya has diving, but again, the problem here is that so many local Chinese frequent the place, and all think they need a souveneir, so even if the DMs were diligent enough to try and protect the small amount of reef life near there, it would be a losing battle. That's the truth probably for most places. Because it's a high cost hobby, the Chinese who dive recreationally generally think rules and courtesy don't apply to them. There are exceptions, but that is the rule right now.
There are interesting islands all along the eastern and southern coast where diving SHOULD be possible. There are centuries of history of sea vessels that have sunk in different areas that one has any accurate records for. It's a place if someoone wanted to spend the next 10 years they could probably develop 100s of sites. It's just going to take the Chinese Jaques Cousteau and money to make it happen.
