On December 5th three environmentalists set foot on their long journey to the Antarctic! At the Antarctic Expedition Send-off Ceremony on December 4th, vice chairman of China's Poverty Alleviation Foundation Chen Kaizhi, world weightlifting champion Chen Xiaomin, and Olympic diving champion Sun Shuwei presented the 16th Asian Games emblem to the three adventurers. For the first time since the first Asian Games in 1951 an Asian Games emblem would be brought to the Earth's southernmost continent.

This is also the first time that Chinese people are to launch an environmental protection campaign in the Antarctic. The three environmentalists are weightlifting world champion He Zhuoqiang, Antarctic environmental protection activities sponsor Chen Xianfeng, leader of the event and Guangdong Scientific Adventure Club CEO Li Yuyu.

During the ceremony, a large number of people signed their names on the world's first piece of Antarctic environmental protection advertisement. The world's first drift bottle to be tossed into the Antarctic water also made its debut. After landing, the three environmentalists will put into the bottle the Green Declarations that were read out at the set-off ceremony and throw the bottle into the Southern Ocean. In this way they hope to draw the world's attention to the Antarctic glaciers melting.

The three members took a United States icebreaker together with more than 210 adventurers from the United States, Britain, and Canada, as well as China's Hong Kong and Macao.

(Translated by Guangzhou Asscociation of Foreign Affairs Translators)

Source : english.gz.gov.cn