42 years ago today, May 9, 1983 (March 27, 1983, lunar calendar), my country joined the Antarctic Treaty. The South Pole, which was once called the end of the earth, is the continent most recently recognized by mankind. Although human civilization on earth has been around for thousands of years, people's understanding of the Antarctic continent has only been around for more than 160 years. From the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 19th century, many navigators made various attempts to find the Antarctic continent. Many islands were discovered in the sub-Antarctic, but they did not really reach the Antarctic continent. In 1821, American John Davis landed on a boat in Hughes Bay at the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. This was the first time humans landed on the Antarctic continent, and human exploration activities into the interior of the Antarctic continent began. In 1911 and 1912, Norway and the British also arrived at the geographical South Pole. From then on, human exploration activities into the interior of the Antarctic continent have been fully launched. During the International Geophysical Year from 1957 to 1958, Antarctic expeditions reached their climax, marking the beginning of international cooperation in the study of the Antarctic. At that time, about 5000 scientists from 12 countries participated in scientific research on the Antarctic and established 67 research bases on the Antarctic continent. This year, for the first time, people established a year-round research station within the Antarctic continent to conduct comprehensive surveys of meteorology, glaciology, geology, geophysics, biology, medicine and resources. Since then, thousands of scientists have conducted wintering scientific expeditions and research in the Antarctic every year, and achieved significant results. It has been initially proved that the Antarctic continent is rich in more than 220 mineral resources and energy resources such as iron, coal, copper, oil, and natural gas. In addition, the reserves of marine biological resources in the Southern Ocean are very considerable, especially the nutrient-rich high-protein animal Antarctic krill, which is the largest biological resource. People regard the Southern Ocean as the future animal protein warehouse of mankind. In 1958, the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Expedition was formed by representatives of 12 countries, and on December 1, 1959, the Antarctic Treaty was signed in the United States. The main contents of the treaty are: Antarctica is used for peaceful purposes only, guarantees the freedom to conduct scientific surveys in the Antarctic, promotes international cooperation in scientific surveys, prohibits all activities of a military nature, nuclear explosions and disposal of radioactive waste in the Antarctic, and freezes territorial claims to the Antarctic. After entering the 1980s, my country also sent many survey teams to conduct a large number of scientific inspections in the Antarctic region. On May 9, 1983, my country officially joined the Antarctic Treaty. Since then, my country has conducted more frequent expeditions and research on the Antarctic. At the end of 1984, the first China Antarctic scientific expedition station-the Great Wall Station was officially established in Antarctica.