"In 2013, I was the only AIDA-certified coach, and China only had about a few hundred free divers," Enzo said.
"Now, there are about 300 coaches, with the number of divers skyrocketing - I estimate there are about 100,000 divers out there.
Han Yaqi, a 28-year-old baker, is a certified scuba diver from Wuhan, Hubei province.
"Since Suunto entered the Chinese market, we have carefully listened to what Chinese divers need and paid attention to their habits," he said.
NANGONG AOQING / FOR CHINA DAILYA leading Chinese fishery company and the Dalian University of Technology have established a laboratory to develop underwater robots, which are expected to take the place of divers to catch precious seafood.
"We're dedicated to developing robots that can work as flexibly and efficiently as experienced divers in the complicated circumstances under the sea," said Wu Hougang, president of Zoneco Group Co Ltd, which is listed on the Shenzhen bourse.
The company employs dozens of divers to pick up precious seafood such as trepang (a type of rare sea cucumber), sea urchins and abalone from the sea floor about 20 to 30 meters from the surface.
Xu Jie heads a Shanghai-based firm and regards himself as an expert diver.
He is saving so as to afford a certification program that would help upgrade him from a dive master to a master scuba diver trainer.
"Chinese divers count for 1 percent of the total number of people going to islands," said Lou Yanze, president of PADI's China branch.
We aim to issue 500,000 certificates in China in the next five years, which means the number of divers will grow by 500,000 annually. "
Quan Hongchan, the 14-year-old talented Chinese diver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, said on her Weibo account that behind her gold medal was not only her own efforts, but also the three-dimensional AI training system of the national diving team.
The advanced system, developed by internet company Baidu Inc, restructures the three-dimensional body posture of divers upon standing at the springboard.
Quan Hongchan, the talented 14-year-old Chinese diver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, said in her Weibo account that the gold medal reflected not only her own efforts.
The advanced system, developed by internet company Baidu Inc, restructures the 3D body posture of divers while standing at the springboard, and sends the feedback to coaches in real time.
"In other words, the system can help coaches to know that this diver should practice takeoff techniques rather than controlling the splash," he added.
The company recently developed a mobile app that provides information and tours to the Philippines for Chinese divers.