In temperatures that reach anything down to about -25 Centigrade, Harbin locals bravely (or stupidly, you decide) put on a show for visiting foreigners by diving and swimming in the frozen river. They come out of their cabin to a rousing round of applause (as well as gasps of incredulity from anyone dressed in duck down clothes and still frozen to the core), waving at the crowd, saying a few words (in Chinese so sadly I can't relay exactly what was said - I assumed it was always along the lines of "Yes I am clinically insane, after I've done this the asylum down the road will send me back to my padded cell, gaga, cluck-cluck, beep") before diving, often spectacularly, into the river.