The polar pioneer.docVIP

The polar pioneer Dr. Li Leshi 李乐诗 , known in English as Dr. Rebecca Lee Lok-sze, is the world’s first female explorer to have left her footprints at each of the so-called “three peaks”: the Arctic, Antarctica and the top of the Qomolangma Region. Over the course of her life she has undertaken an astounding 10 expeditions to the Arctic, seven to Antarctica and four to Qomolangma. Her most poignant work, though, is the body of research and documentation she will leave to posterity and the living legacy of environmental awareness she has instilled in her students. 　　Li Leshi had everything, and then she had nothing―that’s the best way to understand how she changed her life. By the early 1970s, the Hong Kong businesswoman was a success by any measure: less than a decade out of college, she was married with two daughters and had her own business in commercial design and advertising. Then, at the age of 31, Li suddenly found herself divorced with two children. But rather than sinking into a deep depression, she embraced the freedom. Shortly after her divorce, she handed over the management of her company, strapped on a backpack and set off on a two-year trip around the world. 　　Though traveling was new for Li, wanderlust was not. Born in Guangzhou in 1944, Li moved to Hong Kong with her family when she was five. As a little girl, she developed an interest in painting, which helped nurture her innate adventurous spirit. She bought a map of Hong Kong and explored the city on foot, stopping to sketch and paint along the way, a habit that helped her envision her goal of traveling around the world and capturing its most magnificent landscapes on canvas. 　　Over the two years, Li traveled to more than 90 countries across five continents. She met with locals and overseas Chinese who motivated her to investigate her own country further, and from 1978 she began traveling around China. It was these travels that ultimately led to her November 1985 trip to Antarctica with members of