Chinese Frolic on Algae-Covered Beach

Daily Mail: Hardy Chinese beachgoers may have been hoping for white sand and crystal-clear seas when they took their summer holidays this year.

But Qingdao residents have not let the freak Algae bloom smothering their area put them off their sunbathing and swimming.

The sea of green is at least 70 metres wide and 100 metres long, lying across Qingdao's most popular beach and has dyed anything in its path a shocking bright green.

The swathe is just a small part of a giant blanket of algae stretching 300 miles across the Yellow Sea and hitting east China, which has been tracked by satellite, plane and ship.

Experts believe it is not dangerous to humans but may have a terrible impact on marine life in the area. Locals may well be used to this phenomena, as this is the third time in five years this has happened.

It is ravaging the ecosystem because it consumes large quantities of oxygen, suffocating other marine life.

Li Li, a child from Handan, an inland city in the northern Hebei Province, gave it his seal of approval and 'It is like the green grass. It feels so soft.'