A Chinese diving athlete turned oceanarium merman performer has gone viral for his physical presence and self-taught underwater dance routines that blend strength with beauty.
Xiao Songyi, a 22-year-old from Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province, was once a professional diver and is now a university student at Wuhan Sports University.
Despite his deep passion for water, which led him to start swimming and diving training aged just seven years, he was forced to retire from professional diving at the age of 19 because of an injury.
“I was lost at the time, but I felt that going to university would allow me to continue learning and growing,” he told Jiupai News.
By chance, he came across the mermaid performance industry and saw it as an unexpected and promising opportunity in a promising new field.
“In 2023, I was performing in a diving show in Harbin. Coincidentally, there was also a mermaid performance, and they happened to be short one male performer. I had just obtained the necessary certification, so they invited me to give it a try,” said Xiao.
“I was nervous and worried I would not do well in front of the audience. But it was that experience that opened my eyes to new possibilities in underwater performance,” Xiao said.
