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More Chinese embrace sports to celebrate year 2016

Xinhua, January 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

More and more Chinese people embraced sports to celebrate the year 2016.

The Ice and Snow Season, featuring winter swimming, snow football, sledge, hiking, skating and skiing, started on Jan. 1 in Changchun city, the capital of Jilin province, northeastern China, where a number of skating and skiing champions were yielded.

The 83-year-old winter swimmer Yuan Zuofeng swam in Changchun South Lake Park for the 20th consecutive year.

"To health and to happiness, and happy New Year!" shouted Yuan from the ice floating cold water, waving a national flag.

"We share photos on the Internet to encourage friends to participate in the ice and snow activities and embrace health," said Meng Fanxiao, a Changchun citizen who took part in the hiking.

In Beijing, a 21-year-long tradition to celebrate the New Year is to climb the Great Wall. Over two thousand people in Beijing did this to celebrate the new year.

In Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province, southeastern China, over one thousand winter swimmers chose to swim across the Minjiang River as the year 2016 came.

The marathon fever in 2015 continued in the new year. Over 5,000 people in Shanghai and 4,000 people in Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, took part in the New Year Jogging.

A three-kilometer running started in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, which has become a tradition since 2003. Over 30 thousand people attended a long distance run in Shiyan, a city of Hubei province, which set the local record of the attendance.

"I take part in the New Year Jogging every year, which helps me face life and work positively," said Jin Xiaojun, a 50-year-old Yinchuan citizen. Endit