WHILE many were rejoicing at family reunions during the Spring Festival holiday, a Shenzhen teacher and her son were setting foot on the Antarctic continent, and they posted a picture of themselves wearing school uniforms in the South Pole on WeChat Moments that show the Chinese national flag in a world of ice and snow, the Daily Sunshine reported.

The teacher, identified as Yao Jing, is the office director and a music teacher at Shenzhen Hongling Primary School.

On Feb. 9, Yao posted nine photos on WeChat Moments with the caption, “We have made a promise to wear Shenzhen school uniforms on the Antarctic continent. Portal Point at Antarctica.”

The words and photos immediately stunned her friends. In one photo, Yao and her son were wearing Shenzhen school uniforms and holding the Chinese national flag. They are full of pride, beaming and buoyant in spirit, the report said, citing Yao’s friends.

“My son likes the Shenzhen school uniform very much. Every year when we travel abroad, he wears the school uniform, especially the trousers. This time, we were very excited to go to the Great Wall Station in Antarctica. My son said it would mean a lot if we wore the school uniforms together,” Yao was quoted as saying.

Yao said they had worn the school uniforms twice in Antarctica, first at Portal Point, and the second time at the Great Wall Station.

Yao has been to more than 50 countries, while her son, He Haotian, a freshman at the Heng Seng University of Hong Kong, has also traveled to 23 countries with his mother. They have visited the Arctic Circle, Lake Baikal in Siberia, Israel, Jordan and Palestine.

According to Yao, they departed from Shanghai on Feb. 1, passing by Doha and Buenos Aires before arriving at Ushuaia, the southern-most town in Argentina. They then sailed from Ushuaia to Antarctica. It took about 48 hours to cross through the Drake Passage.

Although they overcame many hardships on their journey, Yao and her son were very excited and honored to be accompanied and lectured to by arcticologist Tang Miaochang.

Tang is a former office director of the Polar Research Institute of China. He has also been the head of China’s Zhongshan Station and Great Wall Station in Antarctica. (Zhang Yu)