This Day, That Year

Item from April 1, 1995, in China Daily: A team of Chinese scientists left for the Arctic yesterday after a ceremony in Beijing. Seeing them off were their loved ones and students from the Central University of Nationalities.

Since its first scientific expedition in the Arctic in 1999, China has conducted six trips to the area on the Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, the first and only vessel of its kind that the country bought from Ukraine in 1993.

China, which has no territorial claim in the Arctic, has been sending scientists to conduct scientific research with Arctic countries on issues including climate change and marine biodiversity. In 2004, China built the Yellow River Station in Svalbard, Norway.