Why would they build nice beaches? They can build industrial docks and the local officials can make a killing running a smuggling enterprise.

the beaches are here. the access and the amenities are not. this is not California.

http://www.surfing-waves.com/atlas/asia/china.html   this site needs an update.

I know and have been to a few beaches that are without a doubt quality beaches. little to zero people...  endless sun sand and sea....pristine waters ... no people. but of course no coffee shop or french fries or tequila. I suspect Sheraton Hotels and Marriott, Holiday Inn, KFC and McD will eventually find these places ...the locals (all Chinese) just need a little more income and a "BIT" of training in a service industry.

Meanwhile, I am happy to enjoy the quiet solitude of some pretty beautiful places.

if I could figure out how to show pics, I would show you, me and the jetski and the 20km beautiful beach at Dong Hai Dao.

flipping photo thing here is frustrating.....sometimes it works, mostly it doesn't...I hate details.

get to the city..... hire a cab for a day... they are cheap and mostly like to do something different than their normal mundane shit.

When you teach Chinese people to stop spitting, urinating and defecating on the sand, and leaving their rubbish wherever they go - and when you convince industries to stop dumping industrial waste and sewerage directly into the nearest source of water - I'll show you nice beaches. Let me know when.

Because sinking the coastline under a layer of concrete will create a lot more wealth than preserving an already existing beach.

Who cares about beaches, development first!

More seriously because of corruption, it's that simple, industrial docks will generate more money for the officials' pockets.

The good beaches are located far away and are too much trouble to go to unless you have a car. And as said above, the service industries there are lacking, but often have very few people. 

the need for food causes a lot of fish farming, aquaculture along the shoreline and the food that is not consumed by the fish, cause the bottom feed green algae that washes up in qingdao and many other places and makes the beaches look worse than they really are, and as mentioned above, the trash is terrible, the beach cleaners fill up barrels with trash everyday even in the winter with nobody on the beach and the tourist are long gone, the trash will still fill up the barrel trash cans.

There are some okay beaches around the Dapeng peninsular to the east of Shenzhen. I went to Jiaochengwei a few weeks ago which was okay. Beach was clean (by Chinese standards!) & a good choice of small hotels & restaurants. Just don't go during Chinese holidays. I understand Dameisha beach near there had hundreds of thousands there last weekend!

last august, I was quoted 100RMB  for a boat . couple hours/afternoon of touring around the bay ...... I am sure I could make a deal better than that..... bring him a gallon or 2 of fuel... a baijui and some strange "western" snack ....    I could have this boat for a day for 200RMB easily. the waters around my place are not as bad as the Pearl River delta.... many fish farms...but once you get out of the bay....  pretty damned nice, if you like the sea.

I have been on the ferries to see... and we did rent a boat one time for an hour, just to look around...  I am going to do this big time this year...  go rod and reel fishing in their farm or something...

spray their floating house with my rented jetski tail.

all sounds like fun....  mischievous me.

But the best is the Beach....  40 minutes from my home...