Winter swimmers troubled with difficulty to find proper swimming venues

Now is the perfect time for winter swimming. However, the more than 10,000 winter swimming lovers in Beijing have to play a game of hide-and-seek with Chengguan, the Beijing water administration and other law enforcement departments, because related rules stipulate that swimming in public places is prohibited, and additionally, most outdoor swimming pools are not open in the winter.

Winter swimmers troubled with difficulty to find proper swimming venues

The number of winter swimming lovers exceeds 10,000

Every morning in the winter, winter swimming lovers will gather in Bayi Lake, Shicha Lake, Yuyuantan, the Summer Palace and other parks and lakes. They like jumping into the icy water to change their skin color to pink because of the cold, and then make blood vessels contract and dilate in the cold water to strengthen the elasticity of their blood vessels as well as remove the fat and cholesterol particles in the blood vessels.

"I swim for a while at the southern entrance of the Summer Palace every morning." 46-year-old Li Lin, director of the Beijing Winter Swimming Association, said that many of the people who have to work every day prefer swimming at 5:00 am or 6:00 am, and then run.

Winter swimming began in Beijing in the early 1960s, and by now, more than 40 years have passed. Li said that two or three years ago, the association already had more than 3,000 members and 200 to 300 people were recruited every year. These members were divided into more than 30 teams by the places where they live and the companies they work for, and the teams swim at different places every day.

The reporter learned that currently, there are more than 10,000 winter swimming lovers in Beijing, including the ones who are not members of the winter swimming association. Among them, some are well-educated people, and some are businessmen, white-collar workers, common workers, retired people, teachers and students, and they cover a wide range of ages from teenagers all the way to the middle-aged and the elderly.

Swimming in parks, rivers and other public areas is prohibited

"Currently, there are more than 20 places suitable for winter swimming including Shicha River and Yuyuantan. Swimming at other places, however, is prohibited except for the outdoor swimming pools in Tsinghua University, Tongzhou District and Yanqing County that are available for use under agreement," said Li.

The Beijing Park Rules and Regulations, came in effect in 2003, clearly prohibit swimming in non-swimming areas in parks. Additionally, swimming in Beijing's parks, rivers and other public areas is prohibited for urban management.

A person in charge of the Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks said that swimming areas in parks are not available for the safety of residents as well as to protect the environment in the parks.

"Why is skating on the surface of the lakes allowed, but not swimming?" In order to avoid law enforcement officials as much as possible, many winter swimmers have to swim at 3:00 am or 4:00 am, and as a result, they cannot enjoy the fun of sunbathing brought by winter swimming.

"In order to prohibit swimming in the winter, some park management officials put nets in the water and even throw branches into the water, and some winter swimmers who don't know about this are prone to accidents if they swim," a winter swimmer said.

Winter swimmers and people who are in charge of the management of parks have been fighting for years, and now both sides are tired. "So far in 2010, no winter swimming lovers have come into conflict with park management officials, because both sides are trying to avoid worsening the situation," said Li.

People recommend that outdoor swimming pools should be open

The Beijing Winter Swimming Association is an officially registered social institution. Over the years, people in charge of the association have tried many ways, such as making a proposal in the people's congress, to solve the problem of winter swimming pools.

"This is a problem of legislation, which cannot be solved at the moment though," said Li. He mentioned that, through personal contacts, he once wanted to hold a public activity at the Ming Tombs Reservoir and invited some leaders from the water management authority to attend, but the event turned out to be a failure.

"Actually, we do not like swimming in public areas. The banks of some waterways are so steep, that even frogs can't jump out, let alone human beings. It will be very dangerous." said Li. Most outdoor swimming pools in Beijing are suitable to be open in the winter, according to Li, and the Winter Swimming Association could use these pools at a certain price, which could be open to the winter swimming enthusiasts. However, the fact was that these outdoor swimming pools are out of service once winter comes. "Actually, every autumn, it is a great waste to drain the water out of the pools."

Zhai Yu, director of Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau, mentioned that at present, most of outdoor swimming pools in Beijing had been closed or converted into indoor pools.

"Outdoor winter swimming pools consume a lot of water, and the pipes can easily crack due to the low temperatures unless there is daily maintenance and ice removal. Currently, there is only one outdoor swimming pool in Daxing District, Tongzhou District and Yanqing County respectively, and the one in Tsinghua University is now in operation.

Winter swimming enthusiasts have to take the trouble to swim in remote areas." According to Zhai, the water management authority had communicated with Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau in regards to winter swimming in public parks for many times, saying the water in some lakes is used for drinking water and is easily polluted.

Swimming in these areas is prohibited by law, which is difficult to solve. I hope winter swimming lovers will understand."