'Mermaid diving' making a splash in Hunan

Wearing a pair of swim fins, Chen squeezes orange flippers into a mermaid tail. When everything is ready, she swims into a pool that is 1.8 meters deep and continuously spins, turns over and slides forward.

That's what Chen did nearly every day in the summer at a gym in Changsha.

In April, she taught a "mermaid diving" lasting about four hours at the gym, and her student count has risen since the middle of June.

Mermaid diving integrates free diving, yoga and synchronized swimming, according to Chen. It emphasizes coordination of the strength of the arms, abdomen, waist and hips.

Trainees for mermaid diving wear unique mermaid tails to train underwater, and they also dress in matching style and makeup, Chen said.

"When we are training in water, we are weightless. Our body can move with the waves of the water, which is artistic and enjoyable," she said.

Another advantage for mermaid training is the swimming pool divers use to train are easy to find. "The depth of about one meter meets the requirement," Chen said. "But when referring to free diving, we can only practice holding our breath in a swimming pool of the same depth."