China's 42nd Antarctic scientific expedition are now in full swing around Zhongshan Station, a Chinese research base in Antarctica.
The expedition team arrived at the region aboard China's icebreakers, Xuelong and Xuelong 2, which also handled supply transportation for the mission.
The two icebreakers have delivered approximately 2,000 tons of supplies to Zhongshan Station to support scientific exploration.
The 42nd Antarctic expedition will span 19 months, aiming to advance major scientific research and international collaboration in polar conditions.
The expedition team set sail from Shanghai on Nov 1, with the mission expected to conclude in May 2026 when both icebreakers return to China.
China's 42nd Antarctic expedition launches near Zhongshan Station
Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed the work to raise the intellectual and moral standards of minors, noting that it should be carried out as a strategic and fundamental task.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in a recent instruction on the issue, calling for joint efforts to create a sound social environment for minors' healthy growth.
In the instruction, Xi underlined the importance of a collaborative education mechanism involving schools, families and society in relevant work, to guide the minors to establish lofty ideals, practice core socialist values, and develop good moral qualities and behavioral habits.
Efforts should also be made to nurture a new generation of capable young people with sound moral grounding, intellectual ability, physical vigor, aesthetic sensibility and work skills, who will fully develop socialism and carry forward the socialist cause, according to Xi's instruction.
His instruction was conveyed at a symposium on raising the intellectual and moral standards of minors held in Beijing on Monday.
Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat, attended the meeting and delivered a speech.
Cai stressed the need to strengthen family education, make sustained efforts to provide children with high-quality cultural products and services, and improve minors' internet literacy.
He also urged faster progress in the development of a mental health service system for minors, as well as stronger protection of minors and prevention of juvenile delinquency.
Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the symposium.
Xi stresses strategic importance of work to raise minors' moral standards
