Sven Hedin (1865~1952) was a Swede. He was the world famous explorer . Starting from the age of 16, he spent all his life on exploration. Because of exploration, he never married. His name, in his native country, is not only well-known, but also admired by the people as the same reputation with the Nobel .

Sven Hedin was born in 1865 from a middle-class family in the Swedish capital. At the age of 15, Sven Hedin witnessed the triumph of the Polar explorer Nordenskiold as he sailed from the Arctic Ocean in Sweden. From then on, he was inspired to make his determination to become an explorer. When he was 19 years old, he found a special job. A local engineer who was working in the Baku oil fields of Tsarist Russia and Central Asia invested by Nobel wanted tohire a tutor for his son, so Sven Hedin left his hometown without hesitation.

In 1886, he studied under Richthofen, a German geographer and experton Chinese studies. His study aroused his love for Germany and inspired him to explore Central Asia and make sense of the uncharted regions of Asia. After that, the long life of exploration, even let him have no time to marry.

The Career of His Exploration

In December 1890, he entered China from Saudi Russia into Xinjiang and arrived in the central Asian city of Kashgar.

In early January of 1891, Sven Hedin left China and returned to Sweden. On October 16, 1893, Sven Hedin left his hometown again and headed for Asia. In February of 1894, he entered the Pamil Plateau and lived for a time at the foot of Mount Muztag, attempting to climb the " father of icebergs." On February 17, 1895, Sven Hedin made his way to the Taklamakan Desert. Due to his lack of experience and poor conditions, he suffered a very hard death trial and was fortunately rescued by a caravan who happened to bepassing by. In January 1896, he equipped his caravan again and keepeastward to cross the desert. On the way they  discovered the remain of so-called Dandan Oilik – the Ivory House by accident, which was once an important town of Khotan in ancient China.The discovery of Dandan Oilik can be a milestone meaning to reproduce the splendid ancient city-state in the Tarim River basin with the highest degree of civilization development in the western regions of China.

In 1899, Sven Hedin made a second expedition to Xinjiang. In 1900, bychance, he discovered the remain of ancient Loulan city. He once made an expedition to the north of Tibet in 1901, which was blocked by the Local government of Tibet. In 1902, he returned to China via India.

In 1907, Sven Hedin came to China for the fourth time. His main objective was Tibet. He entered western Tibet from Kashmir, passed through northern Tibet, and reached the hinterland of Tibet.

In the winter of 1926, Sven Hedin led a Exporation Team of Swedes,Germans, and Danes to China again. However, the expedition was still in preparation,it is unanimously opposed by the academic circles in Beijing . After negotiation, Sven Hedin and the Chinese Association of Academic Societies in Beijing reached an agreement on the upcoming expedition. The most important part of the agreement is that China and Sweden will jointly form a scientific mission to northwest China and all animal and plant specimens collected and excavated by the mission are the property of China. In May 1927, the scientific research team led by Professor Sven Hedin and Professor Xu Bingxu left Peiping (Beijing now) for northwest of China.

In October 1933, Sven Hedin and others were commissioned by the railway department of the Kuomintang government to investigate the feasibility of building a transcontinental transport artery (that is the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway built in the later years). The whole expedition ended in 1935. From1927 to 1935, the whole expedition was faithfully recorded in the book name as The Eight Years of the Asian Hinterland Exploration.