Xi hails progress made in women's development worldwide over 30 years

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday hailed the progress made in women's development worldwide over the past 30 years.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women in Beijing, Xi recalled the Fourth World Conference on Women held in the Chinese capital in 1995, saying the conference drew up a roadmap that has since guided the cause of women around the world.

"Thirty years ago, the Fourth World Conference on Women set the lofty goal of 'Action for Equality, Development and Peace,' and adopted the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action," he said in his keynote speech.

"Over the past 30 years, guided by the spirit of the Beijing World Conference on Women, the cause of women has been thriving around the world, adding brilliant splendor to the progress of human civilization. Equality between men and women is now a universal consensus of the international community. A great many outstanding women have stepped up to take the international stage, living their lives to the full and making contributions with their wisdom and strength," said the Chinese president.

The two-day meeting, co-hosted by China and UN Women, gathers heads of state, government leaders, parliamentary leaders, deputy prime ministers, ministerial officials, leaders of international organizations, and friendly personnel from various continents.

Xi hails progress made in women's development worldwide over 30 years

Xi hails progress made in women's development worldwide over 30 years

Xi hails progress made in women's development worldwide over 30 years

Xi hails progress made in women's development worldwide over 30 years

Xi hails progress made in women's development worldwide over 30 years

China's 42nd Antarctic Expedition team has started unloading supplies for scientific exploration after arriving at waters near the Zhongshan Station, a Chinese research base in Antarctica.

The ongoing seven-month scientific exploration mission is supported by Chinese icebreakers the Xuelong and the Xuelong 2, which set sail from Shanghai on Nov 1.

The two icebreakers will deliver about 2,000 tons of supplies to the Zhongshan Station for scientific exploration.

The Xuelong 2 arrived first at a designated unloading spot about 12 kilometers from the Zhongshan Station. Later, the ship's Ka-32 helicopter transported in batches more than 300 tons of polar fuel to the research base when weather conditions were favorable.

"Nearly 90 members of the expedition team carried by the two ship are already at the Zhongshan Station, preparing for receiving supplies and assignments for scientific exploration," said Wang Tao, person in charge of unloading operations at the Zhongshan Station.

Thanks to more than 30 hours of efforts by the Xuelong 2 to widen the channel and lead the way, the Xuelong, which was carrying about 1,500 tons of supplies, has also arrived at the unloading spot.

The unloading operations, involving a combination of sea-ice transport and helicopter lifts, are expected to be finished within two weeks.

And then, the Xuelong and the Xuelong 2 will proceed to China's Qingling Station and Changcheng Station in Antarctica, respectively.

The expedition team includes more than 500 members from over 80 institutions on the Chinese mainland, along with researchers from more than 10 other countries and regions, such as Thailand, Chile and Portugal, as well as China's Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, in support of broader international scientific collaboration.

They will conduct multi-disciplinary scientific surveys, advance several major national research projects, and test domestically developed equipment under polar conditions.

Particularly, scientific drilling experiments in lakes deep in the Antarctic inland ice sheet will be carried out for the first time.

China's 42nd Antarctic Expedition team unloads supplies at Zhongshan Station