(Photo grabbed from Reuters video)
GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) — Swimmers in China are being offered a glimpse into a whole new underwater world at an aquarium in China, where they’re swapping their human legs for a mermaid’s tail.
In a giant tank, which is home to various different species of fish, turtles and rays, both adults and children are being taught how to swim and hold their breath underwater – just like the mermaid would.
Chief instructor Dada Li, a full-time free-diving professional and self-proclaimed part-time mermaid, holds her “mermaid courses” on an almost weekly basis.
Li, 32, who has been a professional diver since 2012, founded the mermaid course in November 2015 after she was asked to put together a mermaid performance troupe for China’s largest indoor aquarium. She formerly worked in logistics but soon quit her job to open more mermaid courses and become a full-time instructor.
“I love being a mermaid, so I was sure that there were other little girls who had dreams of being one. So, I figured that the technique of being a mermaid is very similar to free-diving. So I used aspects of free-diving and set up a course to teach people,” Li said.
She said the response to her course was overwhelming and spots quickly filled up.
Huang Xiaoying, who was one of Li’s first students, now does mermaid performances regularly in tanks of fish and rays at the aquarium.
“When I’m in the water I feel at peace, and when I’m with animals I’m very happy. Being able to swim with so many different types of sea-creatures, it makes me feel relaxed and very comfortable,” said 24-year-old Huang.
Li said she had always dreamt of swimming like a mermaid from an early age.
“At a very young age, I always dreamed of being a mermaid. Once I learnt how to free-dive, one day I thought – I don’t breath underwater and I can stay underwater for a long time. Why not try becoming a mermaid,” Li said.
Li designed her own mermaid’s tail, and began producing videos of herself swimming in the sea in full mermaid costume.
“It’s an experience of oneself. Freediving is not just any sport but it’s one that takes you into a new world. It allows you to just be by yourself, it’s very peaceful,” she said.
Earlier this year, a Chinese-Hong Kong fantasy action film “The Mermaid” was released in China, bringing with it a growing base of Chinese mermaid-fandom.
“Stephen Chow’s movie, ‘The Mermaid’ has definitely made many people (in China) realise the concept of a mermaid and people can dress up as mermaids. After the movie’s success I heavily promoted my courses,” she said.
Li now teaches more than a hundred mermaids and mermen in the cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
Pupils have the choice of taking 1-3 day courses, which range in price from 1400 ($201.17) to 4000 yuan ($574.77).