Sailing into the future China-style

On the other hand, it is not only a grassroots passion that is promoting the yacht industry. Hainan province, which is endowed with a tropical climate and unspoilt, palm-fringed beaches and is currently the most popular beach holiday destination in China, is making big efforts to promote the yacht industry as a pivotal step toward building an international tourism destination island.

Hainan plans to complete the construction of 25 public yacht marinas, with 14,200 public berths by 2030, according to the latest provincial yacht industry development plan. Currently, there are now seven international yacht marinas with a total of 1,170 berths in Hainan,

The 25 public yacht marinas will be built in every county and city in Hainan, as part of the tropical island's development of coastal vacations, yacht tourism and water sports and entertainment.

"Some of the infrastructure is ready and more is underway," said Zhao. A group of technicians from Sanlorenzo will depart from Italy to Hainan later this month, bringing their 50 years of craftsmanship and know-how to Sundiro.

However, to cater to the rich here, they need not only the Italian experience. "Generally speaking, the rich in China want different things from people in the West," Zhao said.

For example, Western clients mostly require more rooms on their yachts to accommodate more friends and family. However, Chinese people tend to have a higher requirement for spaciousness.

A rich Chinese person will pay his driver and cook five-star hotel onshore rates and enjoy a bigger open-plan living room on the yacht, so the number of rooms on the yacht is not important at all, Zhao explained.

Moreover, Chinese people don't like tanning. Lying on the yacht to get a tan sounds absurd to them, so they'd better build some high-quality sunshades for them, he added.