China’s polar exploration pioneer dies at 80

E Dongchen, a pioneer of China’s polar exploration hailed as the “father of polar surveying and mapping”, has died at 80, reported Chutian Metropolis Daily.

E joined China’s first Antarctic and Arctic expeditions, and played a key role in building the country’s first polar research base in the 1980s.

E was born into a poor farmer’s family in Guangfeng, Jiangxi province, in 1939. His father and grandmother were killed by invading Japanese troops during the war.

E entered school at the age of 11. Before that, he served as a cowherd.

In the early 1980s, 18 countries had established research stations in the Antarctic. As a latecomer, China joined the Antarctic Treaty in 1983.

In 1984, China sent its first expedition team to the Antarctic.

E, a member of the 591-person team, was in charge of surveying and mapping, which was the first step in building a scientific base in the Antarctic.

After 40 days of construction, China’s first scientific research base, the Great Wall Station, was inaugurated on Feb 20, 1985.

Three years later, E took part in the establishment of China’s second scientific base in Antarctic.

In 1999, he joined the country’s first scientific expedition to the North Pole.

In over two decades, E joined 11 polar expeditions.