In a dazzling twist that’s capturing the attention of visitors, social-media audiences and even national competitions, Chinese male “mermaids” (男美人鱼 nán měirényú) are rewriting the script on what it means to trade fins for human performance in public aquariums across the country. While female mermaid performers (女美人鱼 nǚ měirényú) have long enchanted aquarium crowds with their fluid grace and breath-held dives — an aquatic blend of free-diving and synchronized swimming — a growing number of men are now making splashy waves of their own, blending athleticism, theatricality and a challenge to traditional gender roles in this increasingly popular form of underwater entertainment.
The rise of male mermaid performers in China comes at a moment when aquariums and ocean parks are looking for fresh ways to surprise and delight visitors. In many large facilities, mermaid shows are a staple of weekend programming and tourism marketing, and female mermaid acts draw hundreds of millions of views on platforms like Xiaohongshu and Douyin — China’s equivalents of Instagram and TikTok — where elegant tail motions and deep-sea fantasies play well with eager audiences. But male performers, once a rarity, are beginning to claim their place under the water and in the spotlight.
One high-profile example is Xiao Songyi, a 22-year-old from Wuhan who started his aquatic journey as a competitive diving athlete, training in swimming and diving from the age of seven before an injury forced him to step away from professional sport at 19. Drawn back to water through performance, Xiao found an unexpected calling in aquarium mermaid shows, and his fusion of strength, grace and imaginative underwater choreography has earned attention far beyond the tanks where he performs. His background in diving — a sport that demands rigorous breath control, precise body positioning and fearless underwater movement — gives him a unique edge when he dons a fishtail and transitions into this unusual performance art.
Across the country, other male performers are making waves as well. In northeastern China’s Changchun Zhongtai Ocean World, a chubby merman persona became an online sensation with playful antics and humorous interactions with visitors, prompting the aquarium to create a custom-tailored fishtail to fit him — a moment that brought laughs as well as fresh interest in the diversity of performances on offer. Videos show him shaking, gesturing and engaging with the crowd in ways that refract the mermaid myth into something more lighthearted and inclusive.
Not all journeys into mermaiding are the same. For some, like Zhao Xin — a former lab technician from Taiyuan — the transition to full-time mermaid performer came through a mix of love for water, social media experimentation and sheer persistence. Despite occasional negative comments about gender expression and even pressure to abandon “dresses” worn as mermaid costumes, Zhao and others have stuck with their craft, building teams and competing in events such as the national male mermaid competition held in Wuxi. This growing visibility is slowly reshaping perceptions, turning something once seen as a novelty or oddity into a legitimate and technically demanding form of performance art.
Technically, successful mermaiding requires more than just looking graceful. Performers need strong breath-holding capacity, excellent buoyancy control, and the ability to navigate resistance while wearing a weighted tail — skills that overlap with scuba training and competitive aquatic sports. Many performers pursue certifications and train intensely to ensure safety while holding poses, executing routines and interacting with marine exhibit environments.
The phenomenon of male mermaid performers in China reflects broader shifts in how gender roles are expressed in modern entertainment and youth culture. While female mermaids remain the dominant image in aquariums, men are increasingly visible, and visitors of all ages are responding with delight, curiosity and, increasingly, acceptance. It’s a testament to the power of performance to transcend simple stereotypes, inviting audiences to imagine a world where everyone — tail attached — can swim their own way.
Spicy Auntie is adjusting her chili necklace and peering through a very large, very glamorous aquarium window, because apparently the revolution is now happening underwater. Yes, sisters, brothers and everyone swimming joyfully in between, China has male mermaids. Not metaphorical ones. Not political ones. Real, flipper-wearing, tail-swishing, bubble-blowing, crowd-wowing mermen in public aquariums. And honestly? I am delighted.
For decades we have been told that femininity is fragile, masculinity is rigid, and heaven forbid a man should wear something sparkly or curve his hips in public. And yet here we are, in 2026, watching former competitive divers glide through coral reefs in shimmering fishtails while toddlers press their noses against the glass and scream in joy. Somewhere, a thousand gender norms just drowned quietly and didn’t even make a splash.
Let’s be clear: women have been doing mermaid shows in aquariums forever. Female bodies, in fantasy and entertainment, are always allowed to be decorative, beautiful, fluid and mythical. That was never the problem. The problem was that men were only allowed to be sharks, not sirens. Strong, not graceful. Predators, not performers. Now suddenly we have Chinese guys floating like aquatic ballerinas, smiling sweetly at schoolchildren while wearing tails that look like they were designed by a very fabulous coral reef. And the sky did not fall. Society did not collapse. Nobody burst into flames. Magic, isn’t it?
I love that so many of these men are former athletes. Competitive divers, swimmers, boys who trained their whole lives to be disciplined, muscular, stoic. Now they are still disciplined and muscular, but they are also theatrical, playful and — yes — pretty. That combination is exactly what patriarchy hates most: skill plus softness. You can’t mock it. You can’t dismiss it. It simply swims past you, waving.
And that’s the real power of these male mermaids. They are not giving speeches. They are not marching. They are not even necessarily activists. They are just doing their job beautifully in a way that quietly tells every little boy and girl watching, “There are more ways to be human than you were taught.” Sometimes that is how revolutions really happen — not with megaphones, but with glitter.
So here’s my Auntie toast, raised in a coconut shell: to the men who dare to wear tails, to the women who have been doing it forever, and to the children who grow up thinking this is completely normal. Gender equality doesn’t always arrive in parliament. Sometimes it swims in on a wave, flips its fin, and smiles at you through aquarium glass. And darling, that’s how we win — one bubble at a time.