Water worlds

A girl prepares to go underwater to experience scuba diving, accompanied by an instructor. [Provided to China Daily]

Wen took three years to get her instructor's license. She now trains various clubs in China.

But she still works a day job in the travel sector.

"Every month, there are more people looking to take advanced diving courses. So I help out when needed."

In Beijing, Wen assists clubs that hold training sessions in the Beijing National Aquatics Center, aka the Water Cube.

Wen says Chinese divers have taken to the club model.

Enthusiasts form groups out of shared passion for the undersea world. They rent a meeting place, or hold weekly or monthly meetings, to discuss techniques and trips.

Wen says she works closely with various groups in Beijing and Guangdong's provincial capital Guangzhou. Scuba is becoming more popular in both metropolises.

Lee says that, despite growth, the activity teeters on a precarious place in time in China.

"I personally see scuba to be in a dangerous place in China, both in terms of leisure and professional diving," he says.

"There are a lot of risks. The activity's commercialization might actually hurt consumers."

Lee says he has noticed a growing trend in recent years in which businesses that conduct tours, lessons and rentals cut corners to grab bigger market slices. This can lower safety standards, he says.

But customers are also to blame, he believes.

"It's also a social issue," Lee says.

"Consumers are looking for a bargain. I often find myself telling customers that while they're saving, say, 300 yuan ($48), they're basically saying their lives are only worth that much."

While scuba diving's commercialization worries Lee, he still sees it growing. He believes more Chinese will take on diving and travel the world doing so.

He says the country's locations are still opening up. So divers are still better off heading abroad because of domestic dives' difficulty levels and locations' underdevelopment, he believes.

Malaysia's Sempona and the Philippines' Sabang Bay offer splendid diving, Lee says. The Chinese market's growth has prompted these sites to offer Chinese-language instruction.

Diving opens a whole new world to newbies like Ge. She recently earned her open-water certificate in Thailand.

She's excited to dive again.

"I panicked from the very beginning, from the moment I stepped off of the boat. When I was about 4 meters below, my ears wouldn't equalize. I was worried. That's the No 1 injury for divers," she says.

"Then I saw the fish swimming around me. That was magical. All the chaos, the panic, the fear were gone. Thinking about it makes me want to return."