Veteran recounts her underwater adventures in a new book

Zhang Yiping recounts her underwater adventures in her new book. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"There were probably 1,000 hammerhead sharks, and we watched them swim by for almost 10 minutes," writes Zhang.

In the book, Zhang says that jellyfish are much more dangerous for divers than sharks, because most of them are venomous. But she adds there are exceptions, like in Palau's Jellyfish Lake.

In the book, Zhang writes about the magical feeling of being surrounded by golden jellyfish, which are a unique nontoxic variety.

Zhang says she has been addicted to diving for many years. When she hasn't dived for some time and doesn't have a trip planned, the blue ocean often appears in her dreams.

"Many of my dive buddies have had similar experiences, and for some people it has lasted for so long that they decided to make diving their career," writes Zhang, who has resisted the temptation of becoming a dive instructor and still works in the Zhejiang Daily media group.

In the book, Zhang says that when she started diving in Southeast Asia, there were few Chinese divers, so local people often mistook her for Japanese and greeted her with a konnichiwa, hello in Japanese. But now, Zhang writes, most famous dive sites have dive shops operated by Chinese, and, even in local dive shops, staffers greet her in Chinese.

At least 1.5 million people in the country have tried scuba diving, according to a report released at the China International Diving Festival in Lingshui Li autonomous prefecture in Hainan province on July 31.

Speaking about diving, Zhang says: "People know so little about underwater life. For some, fish are just food.

"I am glad that, besides divers, many children are interested in my book. I hope my book can inspire the next generation to better protect the ocean."

Zhang dedicates a chapter to the coral reef-restoration project initiated by some Chinese divers in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, who have succeeded in planting some 5,600 coral in specially designed pots in the ocean.

Zhang stopped diving in 2014 after she got pregnant. Her daughter was born last year.

But she plans to return to the water. "The minimum age limit for scuba diving is 10. So maybe after another decade I can go exploring the ocean with my daughter as my dive buddy."

xingyi@chinadaily.com.cn