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SCMP

This article was first published on January 6, 2006
By Ng Kang-chung
South Pole in the bag ... next stop Greenland
Fresh from a history-making expedition to the South Pole, Hong Kong adventurer Chung Kin-man is already planning his next great challenge.
Chung, 52, who with 54-year-old Shenzhen entrepreneur Wang Shi became the first Chinese to climb the highest peaks on seven continents and visit both poles, returned to Hong Kong yesterday (January 5, 2006). He is already preparing for a mission to Greenland.

“I am not crazy,” he said of his seemingly never-ending expeditions to the remotest parts of the planet. “To me, there is no mission impossible. You need to set goals in your life. I am no dreamer. I like to make dreams come true.”
Chung and Wang reached the South Pole on December 28, 2005, after a 10-day trek in 30-knot winds, following their trip to the North Pole in April 2005.
“It was extremely cold,” said Wang, who suffered frostbite to his nose and a finger. “We walked on an ice plateau some 3,000 metres above sea level. Basically, you cannot tell where the snow ends and the sky begins. It is as though you are walking in an icebox.”
Despite this they described the conditions as “mild” for the region.
As well as the North Pole, they had already conquered the seven peaks, including Mount Everest, Mount Aconcagua in South America, Mount McKinley in North America and Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa when they set off on their latest trek.
The all-Chinese South Pole team left Hong Kong on December 8, 2005, first heading to Punta Arenas, at the southern tip of Chile. They were stuck there for eight days because of stormy weather before finally setting foot on Antarctica.
With them were four mainland mountaineering experts, aged 25 to 41, two of whom had accompanied them to the North Pole.
“We were in the world’s driest desert where the extreme cold could freeze even our breath. We kept walking and walking and took a rest for about five minutes for every hour’s walk. That was not too demanding,” Chung recalled.
“The weirdest part was that we smelled like suntan lotion,” he added, saying they had to apply large amounts of lotion frequently to avoid skin damage by rays reflecting off the snow.
“It is a good way to get slimmer. I lost about 5kg and Shi almost 10kg on the trip.”
Chung’s 75-year-old father, Chung Fat, said of his son’s feat: “Many people like to go south for the winter, but Kin-man reached the bottom of the Earth.”
At 54, Wang is the oldest person to have accomplished the so-called seven-plus-two challenge, first achieved by South Korean climber Heo Young-ho in 1995. Only five people had completed the feat since then, until Chung and Wang made it.
Wang’s love of high mountains stems from his days as a People’s Liberation Army driver in the late 1960s, a job that took him to some of China’s most remote regions.
He later left the army to work on the railways and eventually arrived in Shenzhen in the 1980s, starting off as a porter.
Taking advantage of a more open economy, he reinvented himself as a businessman. In 1984 he set up a property development company, now called China Vanke, which had a turnover of 7.67 billion yuan in 2004.
The expedition aimed to raise funds for protection of the endangered white-headed langur monkeys in Guangxi province.


First Hongkonger to reach North, South Poles returns home in 2006 – from the SCMP archive

In pictures: Hong Kong swimmers braving the cold on New Year’s Day, from the 1970s to 2000s

In pictures: Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties in Hong Kong from the 1970s to 90s

In pictures: how Hong Kong celebrated Christmas from the 1970s to 90s

From our archives

Hong Kong climber Chung Kin-man poses with the national flag after reaching the South Pole. The adventurer arrived back home on January 5, 2006 after completing the so-called “7+2” challenge – becoming the first Hongkonger and one of the first Chinese people to have reached the north and south poles and the highest peaks on seven continents. Photo: SCMP

Chung Kin-man, pictured with wife Ann, returns from his South Pole adventure. Photo: Robert Ng

Hong Kong discontinues trial all-night tram service in 1990 – from the SCMP archive

A tram passes Lee Theatre on Percival Street, Causeway Bay, in March 1991. Photo: Robert Ng

A snippet from Page 5 of the South China Morning Post on November 10, 1990. Photo: SCMP

10 of Hong Kong’s best attractions of old, from the Star Ferry Pier and Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park to Bottoms Up

Roadside food stalls at “Ordinary People’s Nightclub”&#xA;1950s to 1960s&#xA;&#xA;CREDIT: Heritage Museum

Tiger Balm Garden on Tai Hang Road in 1986. Once a popular Hong Kong attraction, it was knocked flat in 1998 after the land it was on was sold to a developer. Photo: SCMP

Roadside food stalls at Dai Tat Dei, AKA the Poor Man’s Nightclub, near the Macau ferry terminal, in the 1950s. Photo: Heritage Museum

Disco Disco in the 1980s.

Bottoms Up on Hankow Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Wan Kam Yan

The Regal Kaitak Hotel in Kowloon City, which housed the Flying Machine bar, in 2002. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

The Hong Kong Club Building in Central in 1977. Photo: C.Y. Yu

A woman rides a rickshaw near the Star Ferry Pier in Central in 1994. Photo: SCMP

A view of Shenzhen, in mainland China, taken at the border of Lok Ma Chau in 1983. Photo: Jim Gilchrist

Children enjoy a ride at the Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park in July 1979. Photo: C.Y. Yu

Passengers on the last Star Ferry boat to leave the Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier for Tsim Sha Tsui take photos of the pier in November 2006. Photo: David Wong

In 2015, China announces end to one-child policy – from the SCMP archive

A man holds a baby on a path outside a children’s hospital in Beijing on October 30, 2015. Photo: AFP

The front page of SCMP’s October 30, 2015 issue. Photo: SCMP

News

Hong Kong

Twenty years ago on January 5, 2006, 52-year-old Chung Kin-man returned to Hong Kong after becoming the first person from the city to trek to both poles


Twenty years ago on January 5, 2006, 52-year-old Chung Kin-man returned to Hong Kong after becoming the first person from the city to trek to both poles.


China

Greenland

Shenzhen

China Vanke

.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}On This Day | First Hongkonger to reach North, South Poles returns home in 2006 – from the SCMP archive

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Twenty years ago on January 5, 2006, 52-year-old Chung Kin-man returned to Hong Kong after becoming the first person from the city to trek to both poles

South Pole in the bag ... next stop Greenland

On This Day | First Hongkonger to reach North, South Poles returns home in 2006 – from the SCMP archive

Twenty years ago on January 5, 2006, 52-year-old Chung Kin-man returned to Hong Kong after becoming the first person from the city to trek to both poles