Ten Chinese college students have been chosen to join in a
Chinese-Norwegian arctic exploration at the end of the month.
In a final contest for choosing the expedition members held in
Dalian, a port city in northeast China, on Saturday, ten college
students from 8 universities across the nation won the opportunity
among 30 candidates.
Since nation-wide contests were launched in December of last
year, a total of more than 3,000 college students have applied for
the expedition who had taken tests on physical, language and arctic
knowledge as well as survival and scientific research
abilities.
The chosen Chinese students will participate in the exploration
to be held in Svalbard Islands for two weeks. They will carry out
respective researches on biology, astronomy, physics, geography,
climate and cultural issues in Chinese arctic Huanghe Station.
They will also visit the University of Svalbard of Norway to
attend training program and exchange activities.
Two of the ten teammates are students from the University of
Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology.
The exploration has been co-sponsored by International Polar
Year (IPY) 2007-2008 China Program and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway.
Chen Lianzeng, vice director of China's State Oceanic
Administration, said that the exploration will encourage more
Chinese to pay attention to climate change and environmental issues
of the earth.
(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2008)