ABOARD XUELONG: China's Xuelong (Snow Dragon) vessel, on the country's 26th Antarctic expedition, crossed zero meridian and returned to the eastern hemisphere at 16:45 local time (1745GMT) on Saturday.

Zhu Bing, the Snow Dragon's first mate, said the vessel was expected to arrive at the Zhongshan Station around December 8.

The vessel has covered a total distance of more than 13,400 nautical miles (24,817km).

After arriving at the Zhongshan Station, the Antarctic expedition will conduct infrastructure construction and scientific research and send two exploration teams to the inner land of Antarctica.

One team will head to China's Kunlun Station located at Dome A, the highest point on the continent at 4,093 meters above sea level, where more research equipment will be installed for astronomical observation.

The other one will go to the Grove Mountains some 400 kilometers away from the Zhongshan Station to collect meteorolites and conduct other scientific research.