Dameisha Beach – Hawaii of the East?

By Rory

Posted June 17, 2012

After looking for some things to do in and around the city, we decided to go to Dameisha Beach in Shenzhen which is located on Dapeng Bay. Dameisha seemed to be the closest beach in the Shenzhen area and had some good reviews from other travelers. It has even been claimed to be the Hawaii of the East though after reading through this post, I’d love to hear your thoughts on that!

Our first steps out onto Dameisha Beach

From everything I read, the trick is getting there during the week or in the mornings to avoid the crowds of locals however, leaving on a Tuesday, it was still quite crowded when we arrived. I was surprised by the amount of people here and saw everything from people running around in their undies to men in business suits walking up and down the beach. Dameisha beach itself was nice (aside from the hundreds running around us screaming) but there were a few unique things about this beach that just weren’t too familiar. The first thing was the fact that you have to go through one of those ‘people counting’ contraptions to make it onto the beach even though you don’t have to pay for access.

These were the ‘people counters’ we had to go through to access the beach

Maybe this was because we went during the week that it was free however, after walking beaches in more than 9 countries, it’s just never been an issue to have to go through one of these just to walk on a beach. The other weird part were the huge statues they have right up on the beach. Without trying to explain these, I thought it would be more fitting to just post a couple shots below.

These are the statues along the beach. There were actually a couple more but couldn’t fit them in the shot. Tacky or unique?

I tried to research some information regarding these statues but couldn’t find anything so I’ve decided to draw my own conclusions and I’m chocking it up to random Chinese art. However, the Dameisha beach in Shenzhen is considered a seaside resort. It has even been called “The Hawaii of the East”!

Making it a bit more dramatic… maybe that is what they’re going for…

Though I think that is just a bit of a stretch, which I’m sure you will agree just from looking at these photos I’m posting! But since this 1,000 meter long beach is considered a resort area and has many hotels right along the beach, I’m guessing the statures represent the effect the tourism industry may be going for. No doubt they are interesting but having been used to spending time on beaches virtually untouched by mankind, I see them as a bit of an eyesore. Your thoughts?

My friend from Hong Kong…. And some random beach spectator

Our time on the beach was just as many would do, just lazing around and taking in our surroundings which just happened to be 100’s of Chinese running in and out of the water splashing each other and screaming. Not really a relaxing time, but entertaining nonetheless and my first experience on both a beach in China as well as on this side of the Pacific. Dameisha beach in Shenzhen is actually part of the South China Sea and just around the corner from here, you’ll find a shipping port with major cargo ships such as Maersk and others coming in and out of the bay.

After spending a few hours, we were going to head down to the end of the beach as there is a nice boardwalk that was built along the rocks that hugs the seaside cliffs along the shoreline but we were to meet a friend for drinks that evening (including an authentic Chinese dinner) so we were headed back out before sundown…