China’s Arctic Huanghe Station: Lion Statues and Nameplates Spark Concern – Reasons Behind Norway’s Removal Request and Latest Developments

Recently, the retention of the stone lion statues in front of China’s Arctic Huanghe Station and the bilingual nameplates at its entrance has continued to draw attention. According to previous media reports, Kings Bay, a Norwegian state-owned company, proposed in April-May this year that the Chinese Arctic Huanghe Scientific Research Station, located in Ny-Ålesund on the Svalbard Archipelago, remove the two stone lion statues in front of the station and the golden Chinese-English bilingual nameplates hung at the entrance. Currently, the relevant request has not been implemented, and as tickets for the one-day cruise from Longyearbyen to Ny-Ålesund in 2026 have already gone on sale, this situation has left people planning to visit the area questioning whether these iconic elements will remain.

The building of China’s Arctic Huanghe Station dates back to the 1940s. Originally serving as staff quarters for Kings Bay, the Norwegian state-owned company, it was later leased by China, which renovated it into a scientific research station – an important base for China’s scientific research activities in the Arctic region.

In April-May this year, multiple media outlets reported that Kings Bay had put forward rectification requirements to the Huanghe Station, involving the removal of the two stone lion statues in front of the station and the Chinese-English bilingual golden nameplates at the entrance. However, as of now, the stone lions and bilingual nameplates in front of the Huanghe Station remain intact, and there has been no public explanation from either side as to why the rectification requirements have not been carried out.

From a market perspective, as an area with a concentration of Arctic scientific research stations, China’s Arctic Huanghe Station is a key check-in spot for many Chinese visitors. The price of the cruise from Longyearbyen to Ny-Ålesund is more than twice that of other offshore tours. Additionally, the journey is long and tiring, and the scenery does not have significant advantages – the iconic elements of the Huanghe Station have thus become a major draw for Chinese visitors. If the stone lions and nameplates are removed as required in the future, the Huanghe Station may be difficult to identify among numerous scientific research stations due to the lack of obvious signs, which could potentially impact relevant tourism demand.

As the owner and manager of all buildings in the Ny-Ålesund area, the direct reason for Kings Bay’s request is to achieve unified signage management for buildings in the region, avoid buildings with distinctive external appearances, and maintain consistency in the area’s visual image.

This demand is closely linked to Ny-Ålesund’s overall planning and positioning. According to the Ny-Ålesund 2023–2033 Land Use Plan released by Kings Bay, the core development goal of the area is to build a “world-class international scientific research cooperation platform for Norway.” The development and management of land, buildings, and infrastructure in the area must serve this goal. Under this framework, standardizing the external appearance of scientific research stations of various countries stationed here and reducing visual differences caused by personalized decorations are regarded as necessary measures to maintain the unified management order of the region. The stone lion statues at China’s Huanghe Station, as decorations with distinct Chinese cultural symbols, and the independently hung bilingual nameplates, are considered not in line with this unified visual management standard.

From a legal and contractual perspective, the request stems from Kings Bay’s management authority as the property owner. Since China obtained the right to use the building of the Arctic Huanghe Station through a lease, Kings Bay, acting as the lessor, put forward the rectification requirements in accordance with the relevant clauses of the lease agreement signed by both parties, rather than promoting it through official diplomatic channels between the Norwegian government and the Chinese government.

This kind of management behavior based on a commercial lease relationship is ostensibly more of a part of the enterprise’s internal asset management. Kings Bay holds the view that standardizing the external decorations and signs of leased buildings is an embodiment of exercising the management responsibilities of the property owner.

Although Kings Bay has cited “unified management” as the public reason, some analyses point out that the incident may, behind the scenes, reflect the increasingly complex geopolitical competition in Arctic affairs. As countries’ activities in scientific research, resource exploration, and other fields in the Arctic region become more frequent, the strategic status of the Arctic continues to rise. Against this backdrop, Norway, as the sovereign state of the Svalbard Archipelago, may attach more strategic considerations to the management details of foreign facilities in the region. The standardization of “visible manifestations” such as signs and building exteriors is also interpreted as a way to strengthen its sovereign control and regional leadership. However, there has been no direct statement from the Norwegian government to support this dimension.

Regarding the Svalbard Archipelago, where the Huanghe Station is located, it is sovereign to Norway. However, in accordance with the Svalbard Treaty, Chinese citizens can settle on the archipelago without a visa. Nevertheless, there is currently no detailed public information available on the specific regulations regarding the construction of buildings by foreign entities in the region. Up to now, it remains to be seen whether Kings Bay will continue to advance the proposed rectification requirements and whether the stone lion statues and nameplates of the Huanghe Station will eventually be removed, which awaits further communication between the two parties and confirmation from subsequent public information.