16-year-old Chinese girl reaches summit of Mt. Qomolangma

(ECNS) -- 16-year-old Chinese high-school student Xu Zhuoyuan from Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, successfully climbed to the summit of Mt. Qomolangma on Monday, setting a record of the youngest female athlete in China to reach the top of the world from the south slope.

Xu set off from the base camp C4 in Nepal at an altitude of 7,950 meters on the south slope of Mt. Qomolangma at 10 p.m. on Sunday and reached the summit after 10 hours of trek.

Xu’s father Xu Jianglei, known as "the first person in Hunan to reach Mt. Qomolangma summit ", has a big influence on the high-school girl.

She has been to no-man's land and climbed five mountains over 5,000 meters above sea level with her father. When she was 12, she had travelled across China and decided to scale Mt. Qomolangma.

Although the girl has rich mountaineering experience, she has been carrying out high-intensity professional training continuously in order to climb the highest point of the world.

Last year, she reached the top of Muztagh Ata, a peak with an elevation of more than 7,500 meters, in the Pamirs of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, laying the foundation for challenging Mt. Qomolangma.

"Humans are insignificant in front of nature. We must respect nature," said the girl.

She said she wants to continue to climb mountains and accomplish her goal of reaching the summit of seven summits as well as north and south poles.