Winter swimming a calling card for Hailar

While most people are reluctant to leave their warm houses in winter, a group of elderly people in Hailar, the administrative center of Hulunbuir, “enjoy” themselves in Yimin River, where the temperature is often -30 C.

Xie Zhansheng is one of the oldest among the winter swimming enthusiasts.

The 83-year-old, who swam in the summer after his retirement, decided to give ice-water swimming a try while watching others swim in the river during winter 16 years ago.

“I had a try and felt very comfortable, so I continued,” Xie said. “After three years, migraines that had plagued me for two decades disappeared, my constitution became better and I feel in an all-around better mood.”

According to Yun Feng, president of the Hailar Winter Swimming Association, the chilly sport stimulates circulation, improves the body’s immune system and is a benefit to overall health. It is especially popular among the elderly and retired.

Every winter, they carve a pool out of the ice from Yimin River and swim on a daily basis.

Since the self-supported association was founded in 1996, its membership has grown from a dozen to 80. It could have exceed the number years ago if not restricted by the limited space of the association’s locker room, a 40-squaremeter room bought by Yun near the river, which can’t hold more people than that at any given time.

“The special aspect of Hailar is, compared with other areas of the country, it has the longest period for winter swimming thanks to its high latitude,” Yun said.

“After many years of experience, we found this place perfect to promote winter swimming. People from different backgrounds and ethnic groups come together and benefit from exercising.”

As winter swimming in Hailar grows in fame, the local government is becoming more active in organizing competitions

‘‘ The government has begun to support ice hockey again and there are kids starting to play now. Actually, Inner Mongolia has the best conditions to develop winter sports.” LU PENGYU A PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER IN HULUNBUIR

as part of its promotion of winter tourism.

Hailar invited winter swimmers from northern cities to compete there last February, and held a national event in December, which included 14 teams from seven provinces.

“Those from the south said this is the real winter swimming — it’s quite different from what it feels in the south, and they found it quite exciting,” Yun said.

Sun Wei, deputy head of