It lies on the Fildes Peninsula on King George Island, 960 kilometres (600 mi) from Cape Horn.

The team departed Shanghai on 20 November 1984 on two ships, the Xiang Yang Hong 10 and the J121, and arrived at King George Island off the coast of Antarctica on 30 December.

[5] A main part of their mission was to construct China's first antarctic base, the Great Wall Station.

As the Xiang Yang Hong 10 was not an icebreaker, the team had to leave before the end of the antarctic summer and had only a short window of opportunity to complete their mission.

1 Building, erected in 1985, lies at the centre of the station and has a total floor area of 175 square metres (1,880 sq ft).