Globetrotting Chinese boy tackles polar extremes before age of five

Many Chinese parents travel abroad with their children but few go to the lengths of Xu Chenghua and his wife, whose son accompanied them to the Arctic and Antarctic before he was five.

They took the boy, nicknamed Simba, on a half-year journey through Southeast and West Asia on a three-wheeled motorcycle when he was only two and a half years old, eventually reaching the Arctic Circle in Russia. Two years later, the family embarked on a four-month tour of South America and the Antarctic.

They reached Antarctica in February of this year, making Simba, who was almost five, the youngest Chinese to visit the two polar regions.

Their story was widely reported by mainland media and Xu, 35, recently published a book based on their experiences, titled Don’t call him baby: his name is Traveller Simba.

But many people questioned the couple’s parenting skills, saying they should not have taken a toddler on such long journeys.