Zhong Shan station is the second Chinese Antarctic base to be opened when it opened on the 26th February, 1989. It is situated on the Larsemann Hills in Prydz Bay in East Antarctica and is only a few kilometers from the nearby Russian Progress II Station and the summer only Australian Law Base. It is usually supplied from the nearby Australian Davis Base. The main logistic support however is supplied by the annual visit of the Chinese Antarctic Support vessel "Xue Long".

Note: Backstamped at Beijing on April 20th 1997. This is the first stage of ITASE.

Note: This cover was carried on the second traverse of ITASE to Dome A. A total overland trip of 500 km.

Note: This cover was carried on the same inland traverse as the previous cover but has the traverse cachet in red and another with Chinese lettering cachet at top left.  Backstamped in China 25th April, 1998.

Note: This cover was carried on the 1999 traverse from Zhong Shan to Dome A which is a 1000km return journey. The traverse also took in the first geological survey of the Grove Mountains region. Backstamped 7th April, 1999 in China.

Note: the above lettersheet comes from the 17th Chinese Antarctic expedition.

For the first time the expedition did not use their own vessel but instead flew to Perth in Western Australia and from there took the Australian Icebreaker "Aurora Australis" down to Zhong Shan Base which isn't far from the AAT Davis Base.

The view at right shows the back and inside of the above lettersheet including a nice multicoloured view of Zhong Shan Station.

Note: This cover has three Chinese cachets applied at Zhong Shan Base. The above cover was carried from Davis Base to Hobart by the Australian icebreaker "Aurora Australis" which left Davis on 16th December 2000 and arrived in Hobart 27 December, 2000. Cover is backstamped Christchurch 9 January, 2001.

Note : the above cover from an expeditioneer at nearby Law Base also in the Larsemann Hills has a Chinese Antarctic sticker at lower left and an unusual Zhong Shan circular station cachet which is usually used on radio or other non philatelic documents.  backstamped at Christchurch 13 March, 2001.  The cover also bears a Law Base cachet on the reverse.

Another view of Zhong Shan Base is shown at right. this shows the base in January, 2001 when very little snow was left on the surrounding ground.

Note: The above cover has a cachet at bottom in English and Chinese from the 15 person Chinese team on board who travelled there on the Australian chartered supply vessel "Polar Bird".

For the 2000-01 season the Chinese relied on Australian vessels as their "Xue Long" was under-going a long refit.

The picture at right showing Zhong Shan was also taken in January, 2001.

Note: The photo at right shows the memorial stone at Zhong Shan base erected in memory of the death of a previous expeditioneer. Alongside the stone is Chinese expeditioneer Xu Zhong Hua. 

The cover above has a special cachet relating to this memorial.

The picture at left is the photo side of the above offered postcard and shows the vessel "Xue Long".

This postcard was originally issued to celebrate the establishment of an official Shanghai Post office Pudong Area Post Office on board the vessel.

Note: The main scientific activities of the 19th season centered on geology and lake sediment work near Zhongshan Station, survey and meterolite searching in the grove mountains region and tidal measuring on the Amery Ice Shelf.

Note: This envelope is similar to the previous item but it also has a Zhongshan cachet applied in gold.

Note: This envelope showing the inland Grove Mountains in its design (and in the stamp design) was carried on the first Helicopter flight into the Grove Mountains on the 20th January, 2003 and then returned via Davis AAT Base.

Note: The above envelope was carried by helicopter from the Amery Ice Shelf back to the Australian Davis AAT Base being postmarked there 20 February 2003. 

The envelope has the Australian Amery Ice Shelf cachet as shown at left on its reverse.