Handan, China // Buried waist deep in ice for more than an hour wearing nothing but a pair of swimming shorts, the man known in China as “Polar Bear” shivered and laughed at the challenge.
“At the moment I feel very good,” said Cui Deyi, his torso exposed to near-freezing winter temperatures in the northern Chinese city of Handan on Saturday.
Mr Cui is one of an elite group of global competitors testing humanity’s ability to withstand extreme cold.
“I could continue at least another hour,” said Mr Cui, with the steely confidence of a man who reportedly submerged for seventy-five minutes in near-freezing waters off the coast of Norway in 2011.
With fragments of ice pressing against his lower body, the rotund athlete’s arms were rocked by shivers. But that did not prevent him from winning several games of Chinese chess.
At rapid fire speed he slammed pieces down on a board in front of his transparent tub, securing victory against a local opponent.
“I’m using chess to test my ability to withstand cold, and to see if my thoughts and hand reactions are suffering,” he added, still half-submerged.
Mr Cui hails from Huangshan in the eastern province of Anhui, and began competing in cold endurance contests around a decade ago, after years of swimming in rivers and lakes during winter.
“Other people would shiver a lot after five minutes or so. But I could do half an hour on an hour with no problems,” Mr Cui said.
“So I slowly started to turn it into a profession”.
Winter swimming, which sees enthusiasts breaking into iced-up waterways for dips said to stave off illness, is popular in many parts of China. It even has government backing.
There are several hundred Chinese clubs dedicated to the hobby – including one in Handan which organised Mr Cui’s challenge, beside the half frozen Yiquan lake.
A crowd including several government officials surrounded Mr Cui, beside a large red sign reading “freely swim in Yiquan lake and build the China Dream”.
Local winter swimming enthusiasts said their endurance paled before the man known as the “Polar Bear of Huangshan”.
“We can’t be compared to him, he’s great ... Ordinary people can only look on with respect,” said Wu Guangji, 50, donning a yellow swimming cap in preparation for a plunge.
Mr Cui is not the only cold-endurance competitor in China. In 2013 he faced off against challenger Jin Songhao, with both submerged up to neck-level in ice tanks.
He emerged victorious after 138 minutes, reports said. He has since claimed victories against Russian competitors.
* Agence France-Presse
