I'm moving to Wenzhou, China which is in the eastern province of Zhejiang. I'll be moving at the end of the summer and I'm wondering if there are any active paddlers in Eastern China that read the forums here?

I'm bringing my Liquid Logic Huck and Hoss. I'm hopeful that I'll find some paddling action there. The Ou Jiang (Ou River) flows through Wenzhou where there is a major sea port. I expect that river should have a number of tributaries and some promise for fun.

I have seen one article (linked below, all in Chinese so my wife translated it for me) that shows some guys in an inflatable and tiny plastic paddles braving some whitewater. It goes on to say that on that September day about 120 people participated in the event. I'm hoping there might be some chance of my being there before that event occurs again in 2007. One of my friends from Wenzhou says there is a club but didn't have any real details for me.

http://wznews.66wz.com/system/2006/09/23/100187932.shtml

The contrast between those with money and without is very obvious. China is now starting to see the development of a middle class and more people now have disposable income. I'm hopeful that if I can work with local government officials to establish dam releases (China has been building dams for over 3000 years and have more than any other country) I could establish a whitewater outfitter business there. It would not be a quickly founded venture, getting an official to work with you requires building a relationship first. Once you'd earned their trust over time then there is some hope of making head way.

I'm counting on the upcoming Olympics in 2008 to further build an interest in high adventure sports. Speaking of high adventure, on my trip there in October I was introduced to ParaGliding http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paragliding by some Chinese friends. They have a club with over 30 members.

So why am I going to China? Wenzhou is my wife's home town. We're moving back to help with (and eventually take over) her parents business so they can plan for retirement. They own a factory producing sunglasses, optical frames and reading glasses. Since we married six years ago we've been attending trade shows around America and in Europe promoting their products. I'll be taking a more active roll in sales and working with customers until I can develop a better handle on my Mandarin Chinese skills. I'll be teaching English as well on the side amongst other things. I'm afraid I won't find much use for my 15 years of IT skills, hard to work with PCs when you can't read Chinese.

Does anyone here have experience paddling in China? I've learned that some places require hard to get permits. I can't help but thinking I'll take advantage of my status as a naive foreigner and ask forgiveness rather than permission.

Any suggestions for the outfitter venture? I could start small offering private whitewater rafting trips, rent time at a pool for kayaking lessons, etc but I expect to have capital to start a business with a shop, larger options for rafting trips, etc.

Thanks for reading and enduring my rambling,


Chuck

welcome to www.chinaraft.com

A bit of an over due update. I moved here 14 months ago and I've decided I'm staying long term. Wenzhou's a nice small city with a lot of active people my age and like minded. I've introduced kayaking to 6 adults and 4 children. Some of them have stepped up from the local lake to the beautiful blue waters of NanXi River to the North of the city. One of my friends even has a roll now! I'm hoping next spring we'll move up to some Class II+ and III rapids. We've been scouting a few other rivers and creeks. There's a lot of great creeks here and loads of fun water! The rainy season is late spring into summer. The beginning of June is awesome because the government orders the dams to empty the resevoirs before the typhoons start. Reliable dam releases in late spring, heavy rains all summer into fall... it's a great place for boating!

I'm teaching English and that brings in a good salary, enough so that I'm saving more than I'm spending. I'm hoping to buy a few new boats this upcoming year; a playboat for me, one for kids size and perhaps a touring kayak for expeditions. The city is on the SE coast of China and shores up to the East China Sea, just a little North of Taiwan's northern border. There are a number of islands that I'd like to paddle out to.

Get in touch with me if you're in the area. I've got boats and gear for two and would love to show you around.

My cell: 011-86-137-3636-9718
worldkayakblogs.com/wildmavrick
www.myspace.com/wildmavrick

SYOTR,

Hay Chuck
Wondering on how its going 18months down the track any paddling ? do you have an outffiter shop going?
Cheers Pat:)

My girl friend, Angel, I have regular roll practice every Sunday afternoon at 1pm in the local lake. We haven't been joined by many people but the weather is starting to warm up. I got sun burned yesterday hiking in the mountains (above the smog) and it was really warm. Back down in the city, it's still chilly. The mountains, an hour and a half west of here, are only around 1000 - 1200 meters high.

The place I had read about on a Chinese web page is called ZeYa. I had a great time hiking there also one trip kayaking. There's a post about that adventure on my blog.
worldkayakblogs.com/wildmavrick/

I'm excited about paying a visit to Hangzhou in the next few weeks. There's a couple of kayaking factories/showrooms up there. It is only a 5 hour drive from my home in Wenzhou.

Here's some links about the factories in Hangzhou:

www.liangjinshells.com/about.htm
richardatpoint65.blogspot.com/
www.paddlinginstructor.com/news/press-re...e-manufacturing.html
www.paddlinginstructor.com/blog/88888941...ctured-in-china.html

My job these days is teaching English and active in a family church.

Life's really good, thanks for asking! Where are you and when are you coming?

Hay Chuck
I live on the North Island of Japan 'Hokkaido' have been here 19 yrs and have an outfitters buisnes here. Life is sweet up here in the mountains. Have a few freinds that work in China and Tibet Kayaking. Also own a couple of other outdoor adventure places in Thailand and Nepal. Will be getting into Taiwan end of march for some paddling with a few friends there should be fun been there twice already and scouted some stuff. Thanks for the links keep the good work up
Cheers Pat
www.rafting-hoa.co.jp
www.siamrivers.com
www.tlrnepal.com:lol: