Even as the mercury dropped below freezing, enthusiasm soared among about a dozen hardy swimmers during an annual ritual in northeast China’s ice city of Harbin.

Decked in thick winter jackets, dozens of people stood in subzero temperature next to a pool at Harbin in China’s northernmost province of Heilongjiang on Sunday (January 5), waiting to watch members of a local swim team to take their plunge into the icy water.

A man chats with residents in winter clothings as he prepares to swim in a pool carved from ice on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province

In air temperatures of -13 degrees Celsius (8.6 degrees Fahrenheit), swimmers carved a pool out of the icy waters of the Songhua River in the northeastern city of Harbin.