Team members have a meal aboard the icebreaker "Xuelong" on Nov. 8, 2015. (Photo: Xinhua/Zhu Jicha)
China's 32nd Antarctic expedition began on the morning of Nov. 7, 2015 as the research vessel and icebreaker Xuelong, left a dock in Shanghai. A team of 277 members between 22 and 61 years of age from more than 80 domestic institutions will make the 159-day round trip of 30,000 nautical miles (55,500 kilometers). The icebreaker Xuelong has conducted 18 Antarctic expeditions and six Arctic expeditions since it first arrived in the Antarctic water in 1994. The icebreaker has become an advanced research vessel after refitted three times.
