China's Antarctic expedition team is selecting the site for building a third station around the highest point on the continent, the team's captain told Xinhua Saturday.

The team is selecting the site in an ice land of 6,000 square kilometers around Dome A, the continent's peak point at 4,093 meters above sea level, Sun Bo said on board the ice-breaker Xuelong, or snow dragon, en route to Argentina.

The vessel is to ship more building materials for the extension work of China's two stations on the continent.

The target area of the site-selection is a rectangular place of 200 kilometers long and 30 kilometers wide, the captain said.

He added that the site-selection work is extremely difficult as it is being carried out on so high a place on the continent's icecap where the air is rare and the weather is inclement.

Thanks to the hard work of the scientists, China is expected to draw the first precise topographic map of the area of 450 square kilometers surrounding Dome A.

A 17-member Chinese expedition team successfully scaled Dome A for the second time in mankind's history on Jan. 12 after a grueling 21-day journey.

China started to launch its 24th expedition on the South Pole on Nov. 12, when the ice breaker Xuelong left China's eastern coastal city of Shanghai carrying 91 researchers and 40 crew members.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2008)