Chinese wedding in Myrtle Beach a precursor of an emerging global connection?

The clubhouse of Pine Lakes Country Club was decked out in its finest Tuesday for the wedding reception of its new owner, Chinese businessman Dan Liu.

And while it was all you’d expect of a high-end post-nuptial party -- champagne, a classical musical quartet, a big white tent, well-appointed luncheon tables inside and out and well-dressed guests -- it was so much more to at least some of those present.

It marked the Grand Strand’s first major step into the overseas tourist market.

“It will initially be a small step,” said guest Day Gray, a long-time Horry County figure and principal owner of the River Oaks Golf Plantation. “These people have strong ties. They’re very well-connected.”

The guest list included members of the Strand’s golf establishment such as Gray as well as business leaders and political figures such as Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes; state Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach; Wrenzie Rice, wife of U.S. Rep. Tom Rice and prominent area Republican John Bonsignor.

From China were friends and family of the bride and groom, shareholders in Liu’s financial management company Yiqian Funding and company employees who came to soak up the Grand Strand’s ambiance so they can sell golf and wedding trips to their clients in China.

The festivities played to a backdrop of Chinese investors buying 27 area golf courses in the last nearly two years. Yiqian Funding paid $58 million for the first 12 courses and affiliated property it bought, and the prices for its latest purchases -- which included the holdings of National Golf Management, including Pine Lakes -- cannot yet be determined.

Other Chinese investors have bought and are renovating the former Waccamaw Pottery. Still others are buying homes in the area.

“The people are very nice,” said An Pan, who described herself as a shareholder and a surpervisor in Yiqian Funding. “The environment is very good.”

Lily Xue from Nanjing, China, one of Liu’s co-investors, said that while Myrtle Beach does not have a high profile in China right now, the group’s promotions could change that so that thousands of Chinese will travel to the Grand Strand each year and direct flights from there to here will replace long waits for connecting flights in places such as New York, Chicago and Atlanta.

Currently, travelers between the two have to wait 15 hours to 20 hours for connecting flights from gateway cities to Myrtle Beach.

Xue said the group is arranging a November trip to Myrtle Beach for 40 wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs and asked about the availability of charter aircraft.

She likened what will happen to the Grand Strand with what has happened with Chinese tourism and Australia’s Gold Coast. News Corp. of Australia said in a recent article that tourism from China has grown in recent years, and that Australia has given permission for more direct flights between the two countries to serve the demand.

“Myrtle Beach is like a gem,” Xue said.

She said that the investment group is looking for other tourist-type properties in the Myrtle Beach area such as hotels and restaurants, but no more golf courses.

Gray, on the other hand, said he’s talked with Liu and Nick Dou, who has been named the president of the group’s golf holdings, for a potential sale of River Oaks.

“We may join their stable,” he said.

Gray said he thought one goal the group had for the wedding and reception was to see how well Stranders mixed with the Chinese. The language barrier was significant, though, and it was only through interpreters that most of the two groups could talk with each other.

Bonsignor, who said he had met Liu about three months ago, said yet another goal of Tuesday’s festivities was to provide a real-life venue to get film to promote tours for other Chinese to marry at the group’s Myrtle Beach area holdings.

He said that Liu has given the Pine Lakes clubhouse at a reduced rate to a group promoting a community appreciation dinner for law enforcement in mid June.

Gray called Liu and Dou smart, friendly and approachable. And he said that the Grand Strand-China connection could put some polish on the area’s reputation.

“We’ll become more gentrified,” he predicted. “We won’t be known as the Redneck Riviera anymore. We’ll have something to show up Hilton Head and Charleston.”

Contact STEVE JONES at 444-1765 or on Twitter @TSN_SteveJones.

This story was originally published April 28, 2015 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Chinese wedding in Myrtle Beach a precursor of an emerging global connection?."