A yacht is an extremely luxurious toy, costing perhaps millions of dollars. Despite this, yachting has caught on in China in the last 10 years.

At the Taihu Lake in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, an American-invested yacht club called Mercury Marine has more than 500 members.

A man surnamed Wu is an electronics dealer in Shanghai. Eight years ago, he bought a medium-sized yacht after being persuaded to do so by friends. Since then, he has become a "royal" member of Mercury Marine. Whenever he is free from business duties, Wu steers his yacht for two hours from Shanghai to Suzhou for fun.

"I am able to totally relax while taking my yacht wherever I want," he said. Like many private yacht owners, Wu remains low-key about his wealth, and declined to give his full name and job title.

Nevertheless, people make an instant judgment about the boat owners: they are all rich business people. In China, a yacht, as a luxurious commodity, is a symbol of status and value in the eyes of many.

Industry insiders note that most of the customers are real-estate developers, financial consultants or people in the fields of architecture and pharmacy, who have an interest in boats.

"Of course they are rich people," said Xia Chun, Vice General Manager of Shanghai's Metropolitan Marina Club. "They are worth millions of dollars. Those who earn about 1 million yuan ($120,000) a year can only rent a yacht."

Metropolitan Marina Club, located at a harbor called Gaoyanggangchi in the Huangpujiang river, draws wealthy patrons from both within and outside the city. It was established in April 2005, and is capable of docking 16 yachts simultaneously.

Michael Browne, General Manager of Mercury Marine, said initially individuals bought yachts for business purposes. But, he added, with the burgeoning economy, private yacht owners have their own personal reasons for buying boats.

"Currently, 80 percent of yacht owners use their yachts for vacations and parties with friends and family. The other 20 percent of owners will occasionally add some business functions, for example, inviting customers to the yacht for sightseeing and business negotiations," Browne said.

In the past two years, Mercury Marine has sold over 100 yachts, with 70 percent of the buyers from Shanghai.

Yacht sales account for the major portion of the revenue of yacht clubs. "One yacht can bring in tens of thousands of dollars of net profit for the club, which is more profitable than selling memberships," an insider said. Membership in Mercury Marine costs $16,500, according to the club's website.

BNP Paribas estimates that the number of middle-income families in China will reach 100 million in six years, with average family assets exceeding 620,000 yuan ($77,200). Chief Economist Chen Xingdong at the French financial services group said that with the emergence of a middle class, the consumption rate, or proportion of consumption to gross domestic product (GDP), in China will continue to rise to 65 percent in 2010 from 58 percent in 2002, and will reach 71 percent in 2020, catching up with the level of developed countries. It is Chen's view that those 100 million middle-income families represent a big potential market for yacht dealers.

If yacht consumption continues to expand as anticipated, it can have a significant effect on China's economy, and perhaps society as well. "Yacht consumption, which aims at rich people, will provide employment opportunities and help to ease social tension," said Zhu Caijun, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

At the 10th China International Boat Show in 2005, Yang Xinfa, Secretary General of the Shanghai Association of Shipbuilding Industry, said that in the previous nine years, the show had collected 720 million yuan ($90 million) in revenue from selling yachts and additional products, but in 2005 alone, revenue reached 100 million yuan ($12.5 million).

It is estimated that in 2010, there will be over 1,000 yachts in rivers and lakes in and around Shanghai, and the number will reach 10,000 in 2020. In the future, China is likely not only to be a big yacht-consuming country but may also become a significant yacht manufacturer.

Yang contended that if Shanghai develops a yachting economy and builds more yacht facilities, and if it can attract 20 percent of orders to build the boats, an increase of 100 billion yuan ($12.4 billion) in GDP and 300,000 employment opportunities can be expected.