China's first Arctic exploration station was set up by Chinese Arctic Exploration Team in Longyearbyen at 5:11 (Beijing time) in the morning of July 30.
Longyearbyen is the northernmost city in the world. Chinese team arrived in the city July 26 and settled down in a green wooden house.
Chinese Scientists Leave for Arctic Expedition
A team of 16 Chinese scientists left Beijing July 24 for a month-long scientific research expedition to the Arctic.
The venture to Svalbard is part of a three-year program, to be finished next year, according to Gao Dengyi, captain of the team.
The program, organized by the China Association for Scientific Expeditions, aims to compare the ecological and environmental system in Svalbard with that of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in west China.
A temporary station has been established in Longyearbyen of Svalbard last year, where the investigations and research will be carried out.
Gao said that China is making efforts to set up its first permanent national scientific station in Svalbard within five years.
(People's Daily July 31, 2002)
