(Photo/WeChat account of China Youth Daily)

After reinstating swimming as a requirement to graduate in 2017, China’s top university, Tsinghua, may now make winter outdoor swimming an optional course, a WeChat account of China Youth Daily (ID: zqbcyol) reported on Jan. 31.

Winter swimming may shortly become an optional course at Tsinghua University, said the instructor of Tsinghua's winter swimming club, Wei Qingpeng, disclosing that the proposal has won favor with the university's sports education department.

Wei explained that no other Chinese universities currently carry out winter swimming activities. In his opinion, the school’s support for winter swimming will not encourage students to become thrill-seekers, but will help advocate a healthy lifestyle.

Tsinghua University's winter swimming club was opened in 2017. The club now has about 40 members, 20 of whom take part in activities during the winter months.

Yin Ximing (left) (Photo/WeChat account of China Youth Daily)

Becoming a member of the winter swimming club isn't easy. Students who want to join the club must get a university certificate for deep water swimming and a recommendation from no less than two senior members of the club, according to Yin Ximing, a Ph.D. student at the Economics and Management School of Tsinghua University, who is also the founder of the university's winter swimming club.

The university is supportive of the sport, and winter swimming is carried out in the school's West Lake Swimming Pool, which has an outdoor deep water zone and shallow end.

Early in 1919, Tsinghua University incorporated swimming into its school regulations, stating that those who weren't able to swim couldn’t graduate or study abroad. The rule was later suspended.

Yin Ximing (Photo/WeChat account of China Youth Daily)

In 2017, this regulation came back into practice. Today, new students are required to take swimming exams after enrollment. Those who can’t swim are asked to take swimming lessons and reach a certain level before graduation, or else they won't receive a graduation certificate, according to Beijing Youth Daily in 2017.