China's Ocean Culture and Yacht Economy

In the course of thousands of years of historical development, the Chinese nation has not only created splendid mainland culture but also created splendid marine culture. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zheng He was ordered to sail seven times into the sea. In fact, as early as the Qin and Han dynasties, China had already opened up maritime communications and trade with Southeast Asia, India, and Arabia. However, the length, scale, and scope of Zheng He’s time in the Western World are unprecedented. It not only reached the peak of the world’s maritime industry at the time of its maritime activities, but also made great contributions to the development of political, economic and cultural friendly relations between China and Asian countries. During the Tang dynasty in China, it was inseparable from the early marine culture that it was able to flourish among the world's clan. Compared to mainland culture, marine culture is a kind of commercial culture. Ocean culture represents an advanced culture at that time in any era. Its distinctive features are openness, pioneering, and enterprising. It is not difficult to discover that turning the world’s cultural history into a maritime overlord is because the ruling class at that time attached great importance to marine culture.

In China, although marine culture has been declining for some time, after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Party Congress, the development of marine culture and marine economy really ushered in its own spring. Marine culture and marine economy are inseparable twin brothers. Marine culture and marine economy are based on the premise of being close to the sea and based on maritime transportation and commodity trade. Marine culture and marine economy are symbiotic, co-prosperous, complementary, mutually integrated, and mutually reinforcing. With the continuous deepening of reform and development, China’s marine culture and marine economy are unprecedented.

As a result of the development of marine culture and marine culture, the yachting economy is attracting more and more attention. The relevant personages of the China Shipbuilding Industry Association stated that “Yacht Economy” is China’s most attractive and most promising industry. With the economic development and the improvement of the residents' living standards, yachts are becoming new consumer goods for people's entertainment and leisure. At present, a large number of Yacht Clubs have also been established in coastal harbors such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Qingdao and Dongguan. Relevant data show that the past five years have been the fastest growing period in China's yacht manufacturing industry. Exports rose from 180 million U.S. dollars in 2006 to 260 million U.S. dollars in 2008. The overall production capacity of Chinese yachts has ranked among the top ten in the world.

But at the same time, China's yacht industry is also facing some problems. First of all, despite the huge consumer demand for potential yachts in China, most of the yachts the rich have bought are parked on the quay. There is not much leisure and entertainment that is really open to the sea. Secondly, yacht registration difficulties and the inability of yacht licenses to be used across provinces have caused some trouble for yacht users. Coupled with the lack of standards for terminal construction, there is no complete legal system to regulate the operation of the yacht industry.

In recent years, the Party Central Committee and governments at all levels have attached great importance to the yacht industry and marine economy. It is believed that in the near future, the development of the yacht economy will contribute to accelerating the progress of China’s current construction.