Members of China's 40th Antarctic expedition team have started to build China's fifth scientific research station in Antarctic. China's icebreaker Xuelong 2 and cargo vessel Tian Hui have reached Inexpressible Island in the Terra Nova Bay on the Ross Sea, where the new research station will sit. It is expected to take around two months to complete the project.

The station is designed to accommodate 80 researchers to conduct scientific atmospheric, oceanic, biological and ecological observation and research. The new base will be China's third permanent research station in the Antarctic after the Changcheng and Zhongshan stations.