'Wild' skaters on thin ice at Houhai

After at least five people fell through the ice in Houhai Lake in the past two weeks, Shichahai administrative office said Sunday it wants to enclose the entire lake to avoid this type of accident.

While Qianhai Lake has official skating rinks, in which the depth of the ice is regularly tested, Houhai Lake, the connecting lake to the northwest, is open to all who wish to walk, skate or sled upon it. Nearby Xihai Lake, on which people can also skate freely, is not included in the plan.

"The rinks would then be run by the government and be more strictly regulated," said the director of the office in Xicheng district, surnamed Wu, on Sunday. Since Houhai is much bigger than Qianhai, which only has licensed rinks, it would cost much more money, around 400,000 to 500,000 yuan ($64,120-80,150), to enclose it, Wu told the Global Times.

Wu said that a team made up of around 50 people from the office, including chengguan (urban management officers), patrols every day in the Shichahai area.

"We confiscate skating equipment from venders at the 'wild' rinks, and we persuade people to get off the ice when we see them," said Wu.

"But they are like guerrillas. When they see us coming, they run away. Shichahai is a large area, so it's impossible for us to cover the whole area all the time. And persuading them is difficult, too. The skaters are mostly local Beijingers who grew up near the lake and think they have the freedom to do sports there. We can't force them off the lake," he noted.

Things would be much better if the Houhai wild rinks could be regulated next year, Wu said.

Five "wild" rinks of different sizes still had people skating on them on Sunday, although the Beijing Youth Daily reported that at least five people fell through the ice in the last two weeks on Houhai Lake, including one teenager who fell through on Friday.

Wu confirmed that five people were rescued by the inspection team from December last year from the unregulated stretches of ice in Shichahai, but so far no deaths were reported.

"The licensed rinks charge money. So we choose to skate here," said a skater surnamed Gao, who had brought her son and daughter, "this part of the ice is pretty safe. Look how thick it is!" Gao was one of around 50 people skating on Houhai's wild rinks Sunday.

There were even more people skating on the lake when it was colder and the ice condition was better, Gao said.

Some parts of the lake had already melted and several men were fishing in the water along the banks.

Since the frozen part has dwindled, people only chose the sections on the lake where the ice looked secure. Some "wild" rinks were small and could only accommodate around 10 people.

In larger skating areas, there were venders renting equipment, such as ice skates or skating chairs, with fees ranging from 10 to 15 yuan.

A red banner which read "the ice surface is dangerous, stepping on the lake ice is forbidden," was hung on the stone wall along the lake. But people still climbed over to access the ice.

Just 10 minutes walk away, at the licensed Shichahai rink, skaters pay 15 yuan for an entrance ticket for the day on normal days and 20 yuan on holidays or weekends and for the evening. The rental fee for ice skates or chairs is 20 yuan.

The rink was due to close at 6 pm on Sunday, ending its skating season, which started on December 24 last year.

"It's getting warmer and the ice surface is no longer suitable for skating anymore," said Zheng Longhai, manager of the Shichahai rink.

Around 1,000 people were skating on the rink Sunday, enjoying the last day of skating.

"Around January 1 and February 12 were the peak times when we had almost 3,000 people on the 60,000-square-meter rink," said Zheng.

Xia Ran, media officer from Beijing park administration, said all the city-level natural skating rinks would be closed as of Sunday; the remaining two snow winter sport areas are at Taoranting Park and Yuyuantan Park, which will be open until around February 20.

"The snow is piled up artificially on land, so they are still safe," she said.