The expedition's most important mission was to build the station. On the second day of their arrival, they held a groundbreaking ceremony for Changcheng Station. During the days and weeks that followed, they were forced to live inside their inflatable nylon tents.

"Building an Antarctic research station is not as simple as putting up a few houses. It's a complicated and systematic project, and it required 500 tons of materials transported from China to this remote land," said Guo.

The weather was not treating them well during the early construction days. According to Guo's logs, only eight of their 59 days in the Antarctic were clear, with the rest trying them with either rain or snow. The winds could gust to speeds stronger than a Level 12 typhoon. "The weather there was so unpredictable, the storms came and went so quick, and sometimes it continued for several days," said Guo.

Every team member turned into a construction worker during the five days and nights it took to build a 29-meter-long dock. The conditions were so unfavorable that the work took great feats of human labor, recalled one of the expedition members.

They also had to calculate the days precisely so they could head home before the onset of winter, otherwise the ships would be frozen in the icy water.

On February 14, 1985, the team set a new record by taking 45 days to build a permanent station in the shortest time. At the facility's inauguration ceremony, representatives from nearby foreign stations couldn't believe how quickly they did it. "Didn't you just arrive here one month ago?" one said.

On March 20, 1985, the World Meteorological Organization officially admitted China's Changcheng Station as one of the world's weather observatories. On October 7 of the same year, the country became an Antarctic Treaty consultative party during the organization's 13th congress and finally had the right to vote on Antarctic issues.

"Nobody took China as a big deal when it began making its own independent Antarctic expeditions. But as we began to achieve a series of accomplishments in ice sampling, geology structure studies and physical oceanography, people's opinions changed," said Liu Xiaohan, who has been involved in several Antarctic expeditions over the past 25 years.

In 1989, China built its second research base in Antarctica and called it Zhongshan. The station is now undergoing a thorough renovation which is expected to be finished in 2011.

Honored ships

Three ships have been the lifeline on China's long road to Antarctica.

The first, which took the Chinese team during the initial expedition, Xiangyanghong 10, was built during the "cultural revolution" as the only ship in the country's fleet dedicated to scientific exploration. "It was not suitable for a voyage to the South Pole, but there was nothing else available at the time and we had no options," said E Dongchen, then the deputy captain of the first expedition.

The Jidi Ship, which carried the expedition that built Zhongshan Station, was stuck and frozen in the icy sea for seven days in January 1989 before it reached its destination.

The most advanced vessel and the only one that was an ice breaker, the Xuelong or Snow Dragon, still serves as the backbone of China's Antarctic missions after its maiden voyage in 1994.

The ship was blocked by thick ice around Antarctica during its 25th trip in November 2008. A ship's ice detection team searched for new routes through the thick and condensed ice. It finally managed to find a way out using satellite remote-sensing technology.

The Xuelong also brought 200 tons of garbage from Zhongshan Station back home for waste disposal. "We did that as part of certain regulations of the Antarctic Treaty, and also for the sake of Antarctic environmental protection," said expedition leader Yang Huigen. The Xuelong also helped smaller foreign stations clean up their waste.

The Xuelong is now preparing for its 26th expedition, set for October 2009.

China's Antarctic Timeline November 20, 1984 China's first journey to Antarctica sets sail February 20, 1985 China's first scientific station in Antarctica, Changcheng, is established October 7, 1985 China is admitted as the consultative party of the Antarctic Treaty February 26, 1989 China builds its second research base, Zhongshan Station July 1989 Chinese scientist Qin Dahe journeys to Antarctica with an international research expedition and becomes the first Chinese person to travel across Antarctica on foot 1998 Chinese scientists successfully climb Grove Mountain, becoming the world's first expedition to enter this area October 25, 2004 China's 21st Antarctica expedition team reaches the Dome Argus (Dome A) zone for the first time. The dome is the highest icecap at the South Pole January 27, 2009 China establishes its third Antarctic research station, which is its first one inland