Handan, China:
Buried waist deep in ice for more than an hour wearing nothing but a pair of swimming shorts, the man known in China as "Polar Bear" shivered and laughed at the challenge.
"At the moment I feel very good," said Cui Deyi, his torso exposed to near-freezing winter temperatures in the northern Chinese city of Handan on Saturday.
Cui is one of an elite group of global competitors testing humanity's ability to withstand extreme cold.
"I could continue at least another hour," said Cui, with the steely confidence of a man who reportedly submerged for seventy-five minutes in near-freezing waters off the coast of Norway in 2011.
With fragments of ice pressing against his lower body, the rotund athlete’s arms were rocked by shivers. But that did not prevent him from winning several games of Chinese chess.
At rapid fire speed he slammed pieces down on a board in front of his transparent tub, securing victory against a local opponent.
"I'm using chess to test my ability to withstand cold, and to see if my thoughts and hand reactions are suffering," he added, still half-submerged.
Cui hails from Huangshan in the eastern province of Anhui, and began competing in cold endurance contests around a decade ago, after years of swimming in rivers and lakes during winter.
