23-year-old brings happiness to audiences with her diving skills as she performs together with sea creatures

'The little mermaid! The little mermaid!" In Wuhan Haichang Polar Ocean World's Aquarium, in Central China's Hubei province, child audiences had great expectations. At the entrance of the channel above them, Liu Nan, a 23-year-old from Handan, North China's Hebei province, was busy changing her swimming suits.

When Liu became an animal trainer in 2014, she was actually quite afraid of touching giant sea creatures. It was under the guidance of veterans that she learned how to make friends with sea lions, by touching them gently and feeding them fish.

It was one year later that she got the job of playing the little mermaid in the Aquarium. "It has always been my dream to be the little mermaid", she said, "so I applied and was fortunate to be accepted."

The job requires high skills and enormous efforts. She has to hold her breath for as long as 40 seconds and make bubbles as entertainment. Her working hours are from 9 am to 4 pm, during which she often has to dive three times for tourists. Sometimes she even has to dive despite having caught a cold, and her skin suffers so much from the salty water that she feels her face burning after diving.

Yet Liu said all this is worth it because she loves being a little mermaid. "I see myself in the little mermaid," she said, adding that she will continue doing the job despite the difficulties.