Polar Research Institute of China

The Polar Research Institute of China (formerly known as the China Institute of Polar Research) was established in 1989 and is China's specialized scientific research and operational support center for polar expeditions.
The Polar Research Institute of China is China's research center for polar science and the supporting institution of the Key Laboratory of Polar Science under the State Oceanic Administration. It primarily conducts research in fields such as polar snow and ice-ocean interactions and global change, polar ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling and space weather, polar ecological environments and their life processes, and platform technologies for polar basic science. It has established experimental and analytical facilities including the Polar Snow and Ice and Global Change Laboratory, the Ionospheric Physics Laboratory, the Aurora and Magnetospheric Physics Laboratory, the Polar Biological Analysis Laboratory, the Microbiology and Molecular Biology Analysis Laboratory, the Biochemical Analysis Laboratory, the Polar Microbial Strain Bank, and shipborne laboratories. It operates national field scientific observation and research stations at the Great Wall Station and Zhongshan Station in Antarctica, serving as important platforms for research on Antarctic snow and ice and space environments. The Polar Research Institute of China is the operational center for China's polar expeditions. It is responsible for the operation and management of the polar research vessel Xuelong, the Antarctic Great Wall Station, Zhongshan Station, and domestic bases; it handles logistics support for China's Arctic and Antarctic expedition teams; and it conducts international exchanges and cooperation in polar expedition support. The Polar Research Institute of China is China's information center for polar science. It is responsible for the construction and management of, and public services from, the China polar science database, polar information networks, the polar archives, the polar library, and the sample and specimen bank; it publishes the Chinese and English editions of the journal Polar Research; it conducts international polar information exchanges and cooperation; and it is responsible for the construction and management of the polar museum and polar science museum. The Polar Research Institute of China currently has 142 employees, including 62 professional technical personnel, 35 administrative staff, 31 crew members, and 14 operational support personnel, forming a young, capable, highly educated, and high-level scientific research and management support team dedicated to polar scientific expeditions.