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by Xinhua writer Hu Tao
HARBIN, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Spring Festival marked the start of a new adventure for a globe-trotting couple who are inspiring their fellow Chinese to embrace the world.
Childhood sweethearts Zhang Xinyu, 40, and Liang Hong, 38, set off in a small plane during the holiday of the Chinese Lunar New Year with the aim of flying around the world.
The plane - a Y-12 twin-engine turboprop aircraft nicknamed "Superwhite" - took off from Harbin International Airport, in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, for the first leg of the journey to Sakhalin, in Russia's far east.
"We chose to start the trip on the Chinese Lunar New Year to send New Year greetings to the world," said Liang.
"Seeing the snow-covered world stretching below us into the distance is unforgettable," she said, adding that they last travelled to Sakhalin by boat.
From Russia, they will head to North America, South America, the Antarctic, Africa, Southeast Asia, and back China.
"We will fly Superwhite to China's Zhongshan Station in the Antarctic," said Zhang.
The 80,000-kilometer expedition will take them across more than 20 countries, the equator and the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
Zhang is the pilot and technician, and Liang the co-pilot and navigator.
They have been learning to fly over the last year to realize their childhood dream of flying the globe - and to be the first to achieve this goal in a China-made aircraft.
The Y-12 is totally Chinese designed and built, with an airworthiness certificate from the United States Federal Aviation Administration.
Their modified plane had served for 32 years in scientific exploration and aerial photography operations before they bought it.
"After years of exploring, we are finally ready. Flying is more ambitious than going overland," said Zhang.
"We have worked so hard for years in our businesses to earn the money, and we have collected experience in multiple overseas trips," he said.
"We are ordinary Chinese with pride in our nation. The dream of flying around the world is shared by many people, and we are going to make it come true in a Y-12 plane made by China."
For more than a decade, they have visited some of the world's "most challenging but exciting places" by land, sea and air.
In 2014, they made an 18,000-mile voyage in a yacht they had modified themselves, across the Pacific Ocean to the Antarctic before cruising up the coasts of North and South America.
Their "On the Road" online video stream has drawn an international following of their expeditions.
Soon it will feature the most beautiful but extreme landscapes - including the Antarctic ice, the deserts of Chile, the Amazon rainforest and Kenya's grasslands - from the air.
"We really want to share our experience from a new angle with more Chinese and send our regards to the world," said Zhang.
"Moreover," added Liang, "we want to show the world a new image of young Chinese who have dreams and the motivation to realize them."
