With the rapid increase in Chinese travellers seeing the world, the mainland has the potential to become a major source of tourists rocketing to space.
The key, however, is when certain US restrictions that bar mainland tourists from joining the ranks of would-be astronauts are relaxed.
'China will be a big market,' says Stephen Attenborough, the commercial director at Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which has established a spaceport in New Mexico in the United States.
Since 2005, the company has made it possible for hundreds of well-heeled tourists from around the world to book their place on aircraft that will make regular trips to suborbital space. The current ticket price is US$200,000, with refundable deposits starting at US$20,000.
The company has 450 booked passengers so far - mostly from the US - and taken about US$60 million in deposits.
'We have 47 markets represented, including from Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan,' Attenborough said. 'Mainland China is one of the few markets we don't sell to at the moment.'