HKers to visit Chinese icebreaker Xuelong 2 next month
Hongkongers will be able to check out the Chinese home-made icebreaker "Xuelong 2” or "Snow Dragon 2" - when it visits the city for five days next month after completing an Antarctic expedition and ocean survey earlier.  Speaking at a press briefing, Ho Kin-chung, chairman of the event's executive committee, said some 90 scientists will visit the city along with Xuelong 2 between April 8 and 12. A welcome ceremony will be held when the vessel arrives in Tsim Sha Tsui, and Chief Executive John Lee will attend. The vessel will be open for public visits free of charge between April 9 and 12, and those who are interested can sign up online to obtain tickets from next Tuesday at 11:00am. "The vessel has five levels, and we'll try to show you the highlights of each one. They include marine sampling rooms, laboratories, and databases. You can also visit the captain's cabin for an overview of the vessel. And there's a helipad where our aviation monitoring tools will be displayed,” said Ho. However, the environment and marine professor also noted that such visit tickets will be limited, as the vessel can only accommodate about 1,000 visitors per day, and the tickets will be issued by ballot. “It's estimated that each time we can have about 20 to 30 visitors on the vessel at the same time, and they can stay on the vessel for about 20 to 25 minutes,” Ho explained. Meanwhile, lawmaker Ma Fung-kwok, who is the chairman of the vessel visit’s organising committee, said students will get priority to visit the vessel. An online exchange between local students and scientists based at the Antarctic Zhongshan Station will also be featured among a series of scientific and environmental-related forums and exhibitions to mark the vessel’s Hong Kong visit. Ma said he hopes the event could help local students and scientists learn more about the ecological and environmental changes at Antarctica. An exhibition featuring the vessel will be held at the Hong Kong Science Museum from Monday until late June, and related events are expected to attract some 600,000 people in total. The Xuelong 2 is China’s first self-built research ship, which is returning to the nation after completing a five-month research mission to mark the nation’s 40th Antarctic expedition.