Chilling Delights: China’s Brave Swimmers Dive into Icy Rivers for Wellness and Bliss

HARBIN, China (AP) — Even as temperatures dipped below freezing, excitement rose among roughly a dozen resilient swimmers participating in an annual tradition in northeast China’s icy capital, Harbin.

The swimmers had undergone daily training all year for this occasion.

Initially, they needed to carve out a pool in the Songhua River, melting the 10-centimeter (4-inch) thick ice that had frozen overnight. Afterward, they undressed and, one by one, immersed themselves into the frigid waters of the pool measuring approximately 10 meters (33 feet) long.

Some participants mentioned that their extremities had already lost sensation when the air temperature reached minus 13 degrees Celsius (8 degrees Fahrenheit).

Chen Xia, hailing from the eastern coastal region of Zhejiang, jumped into the river despite battling a cold. She remarked that the waters in her home city felt warmer compared to those in Harbin, where the temperature stood at about 0 C (32 F).

This experience bolstered her faith in winter swimming, a pursuit she has passionately followed for around two decades.

“I sensed a tingling all over my body,” stated Chen, 56. “Yet it still brought me a sense of joy.”

Harbin local Yu Xiaofeng noted that winter swimming in her city can be traced back to the 1970s, following when locals observed Russian Orthodox individuals being baptized in the river. The winter swimming association for the city was founded in 1983.

Harbin is deemed a “sacred site” for winter swimming, she stated, as the activity gained traction there earlier than in other regions of China.

Yu, 61, mentioned she discovered a feeling of a large family and happiness during her three decades of swimming.

“Since the outbreak, we adopted a saying: Better to endure winter swimming than to wait at the hospital,” she remarked, adding that winter swimmers seemed to exhibit superior health compared to others.

You Decang, 76, noted that swimming maintained his wellness and he had never caught a cold.

“If I miss just one day without winter swimming, I feel rather uneasy,” he stated.

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Associated Press video producers Olivia Zhang and Caroline Chen in Harbin, China contributed to this report.