Backgrounder: Chronicle of China's Antarctic icecap expeditions

CHANGCHENG STATION, Antarctica, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Antarctic expedition team successfully scaled the Dome A, the Antarctic icecap peak, Saturday.

The following is a chronicle of China's Antarctic icecap expeditions. The dates mark when the expeditions started off.

Jan. 18, 1997 -- Eight Chinese scientific expedition team members trudged for 300 km toward but failed to reach the Dome A peak in Antarctica in a 13-day expedition, China's first Antarctic icecap expedition.

Feb. 3, 1998 -- An eight-member scientific expedition team thrust a journey toward the Dome A peak from the previous 300 km to a further 464 km during its 17-day expedition, but still fell short of the target destination.

Dec. 15, 1998 -- Ten expedition team members entered the Dome A peak area for the first time, marking the highest point reached by land motorcades in all Antarctic expeditions.

Jan. 18, 2002 -- An eight-member expedition team was tasked with setting up an auto weather station 170 km away from China's Zhongshan Station in eastern Antarctica.

Jan. 18, 2005 -- A total of 13 expedition team members on this day reached the peak of the Dome A, the first ever successful ascent by mankind to the peak.

Dec. 22, 2007 -- Altogether 17 team members of the 24th Chinese scientific expedition team successfully scaled the Dome A peak on Jan. 12, 2008, the second successful ascent after January, 2005.

They are tasked with choosing a suitable location for China's third Antarctic research station and carrying out a major exploration mission -- the Panda plan. The whole task is expected to take about 70 days.