The "icebreaker" on the "Xuelong" is China's first female seafarer to cross the Arctic Ocean

On November 4, the first domestically built large cruise ship "Aida·Modu" built by China Shipbuilding Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. was officially named and delivered. This marks that China has become a country that has gathered the "three pearls" of the shipbuilding industry, that is, it can build aircraft carriers, large liquefied natural gas carriers, and large cruise ships at the same time.

On November 5, 2023, in Shanghai, my country's first domestically-made large cruise ship "Aida Magic City" was named and delivered

During the second sea trial of the first domestic large cruise ship, the shipyard selected 10 "old" experts from all over the country who had many sea voyage experiences and served as captains to form a "sea trial captain team" according to the test requirements. They jointly undertook the cruise ship operation work to ensure the safety of navigation. Bai Xiangen was one of them.

Bai Xiangen

Embark on an "ice-breaking journey"

Bai Xiangen has many labels. She is a new generation of Chinese female captain, an associate professor at the Merchant Marine College of Shanghai Maritime University, and a TikTok blogger on maritime science. However, among these many identities, Bai Xiangen is best known for being the first Chinese female seafarer to cross the Arctic Ocean.

In 2012, China's fifth Arctic scientific expedition team was going to carry out scientific research missions on the third-generation polar icebreaker and scientific research vessel "Xuelong" of China, and recruited sailing volunteers. Bai Xiangen, who had become the second mate, signed up. Among more than 30 candidates, she was selected. In this way, Bai Xiangen appeared in the team driving the "Xuelong" of China's fifth Arctic scientific expedition team.

Bai Xiangen takes a photo with Xuelong

As the second mate, Bai Xiangen has many responsibilities. In addition to consulting charts, collecting weather information and recent navigation notices along the way, and planning routes based on the ship's conditions, she sometimes has to take the ship's helicopter to record ice conditions 30 nautical miles away.

On August 30, 2012, the Xuelong reached a sea area with severe ice conditions. At that time, the ship was stuck on an ice ridge and could not move forward or backward. Bai Xiangen and his team members tried to move forward and backward at full speed, but to no avail. The ice in the Arctic gathers from the outside to the center. If it takes too long, the ship will be frozen inside. Under this situation, Bai Xiangen and his team members repeatedly used the forward and backward movement of the main engine to drive the vibration of the ship, and cooperated with the hull to squeeze the ice surface under the keel. After fighting for 10 hours, they finally succeeded in getting out of the ice ridge. Today, even after ten years, Bai Xiangen still remembers the original scene vividly.

In the Arctic, Bai Xiangen experienced life and death tests and accumulated richer experience in sailing and driving in different environments. This experience also made more people know Bai Xiangen, and her deeds also became a hot search on Weibo.

Bai Xiangen's deeds became a hot search on Weibo

" No Entry "

Behind the glorious deeds are countless hardships. Because from the beginning, Bai Xiangen was "forbidden to enter".

Although she was born into a seafaring family, in Bai Xiangen's memory, sailing was not for women. When she was a child, she asked her father if she could drive a ship and be a captain. Her father, an old seaman, just smiled and said nothing.

Later, when she applied for a university entrance exam, she had to apply for a major related to navigation. Bai Xiangen clearly remembered that the ratio of male to female admissions in the enrollment brochure was about 10:1, and the female students in the major of navigation technology would be followed by a bracket "(ship management)". However, in the face of these realistic difficulties, Bai Xiangen did not give up. She said frankly: I will quietly make people realize that girls and boys are the same through my own efforts. Even if it takes 5, 10, or 20 years, she will work hard to change people's views.

When they first boarded the ship, everyone was vomiting, so Bai Xiangen held the mustard tuber under her tongue to prevent vomiting. On the ship, she worked hard and participated in almost every type of work, including picking up, carrying, tying, first aid, knocking rust, helping in the kitchen, cleaning, sanitation, and driving... In every job, Bai Xiangen was not willing to lag behind. In this way, she became the first female driver on duty independently on the school ship "Yufeng".

After that, when she went to the interview for "Polar Journey", the staff asked Bai Xiangen: "Why should we choose you?"

She replied, "Because you want a second mate, I am one; you want to control the equipment, I am familiar with it; you want to sort out the information and data, I can do it; you want to visit other countries and know foreign languages, I can do it."

With that, she pushed open the "No Entry" door and became the second mate of the "Xuelong". This experience also became the peak and turning point of her life.

After returning from the Arctic, Bai Xiangen became well-known, and she took advantage of this opportunity to start popularizing maritime science. She gave lectures in primary and secondary schools, participated in TV programs, and opened accounts on short video platforms such as Douyin to talk about life at sea and maritime common sense. Today, the "Follow Captain Bai to See the Sea" series of videos produced by Bai Xiangen has nearly 12 million views on the Douyin platform.

Screenshot of Bai Xiangen's short video account page

Now, in the second sea trial of the first domestic large cruise ship, Bai Xiangen has taken on a big task again. In this sea trial, she, like other members of the sea trial captain team, is responsible for the operation of the cruise ship. She needs to cooperate with other captains to ensure the safety of the voyage. She said: "Personally driving the first domestic large cruise ship made her feel the strength of China's shipbuilding industry. She will tell her students about this experience so that they can understand the professional courses and know what role they should play in the process of our country's dream of becoming a maritime power." Bai Xiangen said.

Bai Xiangen imparts navigation knowledge to students

Bai Xiangen has many goals for 2023. She hopes to visit more ports with her graduate students to do research projects; she hopes to solve difficult and painful problems for more port and shipping companies; she hopes to shoot more interesting short videos to inspire more young people to be interested in navigation technology...

In short, Bai Xiangen is never tired on the road. She firmly believes that as long as she drives the boat towards the horizon, she can go further.