Going up

Li Jie, a balloonist from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, is one of the 30 pilots attending the competition.

While most balloonists are entrepreneurs older than 30 - some of them billionaires - the joy of flying also attracts students.

Cheng Peng, general manager of a Hebei-based pilots club that provides balloon-piloting training classes, says he was asked to write a dozen recommendation letters for a 17-year-old member of his club.

The young member, still a student in his senior year, is learning to pilot a balloon in order to capture the attention of recruiters of universities overseas where he wants to apply.

Cheng adds there's another 17-year-old member at his club taking pilot training just because he likes the sport.

A hot air balloon costs about 70,000 yuan ($11,571). The training to become a licensed balloonist costs 35,000 yuan. The total expense including license fees and insurance, is no more than 200,000 yuan.

The growth of the balloonist group in China goes hand in hand with China's economic rise, and many Chinese now can afford the cost.

"It's not a matter of money now. I think what most Chinese people lack is the spirit of taking risks," Cheng says.

However, he says the post-1980 generation is more willing to take risks compared to the older generation. They are likely to become the main group that takes up ballooning in the future.

Born in 1980, Cheng is already a veteran balloonist. He got his pilot certificate in 2003. He has piloted his balloon flying over the Great Wall, the Three Gorges and the Qiongzhou Strait.