That in turn is gradually adding to Riyue Bay's mystique as the birthplace of Chinese surfing and producing everything attached to that, including a laid-back culture whose background music is the crashing of ocean waves and the theme of whose chatter seems to be the surf, tidal movements and "Did you catch any big ones today?" 

Huang Wen, 34, a Riyue Bay native, is part of the country's embryonic surfing industry and a witness to how his hometown has caught the wave of a sport that itself came on a wave all the way from Polynesia.

Both Huang's father and grandfather made a living from fishing, and Huang began helping the family fish or collect conch shells on the beach from a very young age, at the same time building up a robust constitution and outstanding swimming stamina.

He was 13 when he first saw someone who was not Chinese riding the waves on a board in the bay, bouncing about and playing with the hydrodynamic forces, but it would not be until nine years later that he decided to give it a go himself.

"That day I came across several Japanese surfers on the secluded beach, and one asked me to come over and have a try."