Advertisement
New | China Rendez-Vous boat expo hopes for tide to turn in wake of sex scandal and graft crackdown
Organisers of upmarket trade show work to shake off scandal and the fallout from the country's crackdown on corruption
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
In late November the sun is still beating down on the winter playground of Sanya in Hainan province and it's time again for China's moneyed elite to head to China Rendez-Vous.
Advertisement
Shenzhen-based real estate developer Visun Group chairman Lawrence Wang Dafu, whose business empire ranges from property to hospitality and yacht clubs, started the event from scratch six years ago and it has since evolved into the country's largest luxury boat and lifestyle show.
But this year is different.
"Some film stars want to come this year. But we didn't organise for them to come. We want to keep everything low-profile," Wang said.
Advertisement
That's because China Rendez-Vous is still trying to recover from the negative publicity it attracted two years ago when photographs were uploaded of half-naked women purportedly taken at "debauched parties" during the event. Wang denied that China Rendez-Vous ever held such parties but the event's reputation was tarnished.
Advertisement