With the temperature dipping to a bone-chilling -25 C, retired teacher Gao Yinyue, dressed only in shorts, completes his morning exercise routine in the blistering cold that would leave most youngsters quivering in fear.

Gao, 77, starts his workout on the parallel and horizontal bar, does handstands on a frosted bench before swimming 20 meters in the icy Songhua River in Jilin province. Every morning, come winter or spring, Gao rides his bicycle to the riverside for the morning exercise he has done since retirement. “I have never caught a cold,” Gao said.

[Pictures by Zhu Wanchang/Asianewsphoto on Feb 6, 2013.]