Jilin University has announced that five people from the school have been selected to go on China's 32nd Antarctic expedition, according to a Xinhua report of Oct 30. The school has already taken part in three previous expeditions but will be bringing some of its own equipment this time.

Jilin expedition members take pictures at the departure ceremony. [Photo/Xinhua]

The five taking part are a teacher and four students, 24-29 years of age, who had to undergo a strict selection process in Tibet this past July, to make sure they can bear the tough Antarctic conditions and, according to Fan Xiaopeng, who was a member of the 28th and 29th expeditions and the lead teacher of the Jilin explorers this time, "We will also take our university's own drilling equipment to areas near the Zhongshan Station to test it."

Liu Bowen, the youngest member of the five, who will celebrate his 25th birthday during the expedition, said enthusiastically, "I feel so lucky and thankful to go to Antarctica, a dreamlike, unapproachable world for so many people."

The departure ceremony is held at Jilin University, on Oct 29. [Photo/Changchun Evening]

The group will go there on China's "Snow Dragon" ("Xuelong") icebreaker with other members of the team, departing Shanghai on Nov 7 for a 6-month excursion and will trek more than 1,300 kilometers and go up 4,083 meters to get to China's Kunlun Research Station in the Ice Dome A area, the highest point in the Antarctic inland ice sheet for the ice core drilling project.