China launched an expedition on Saturday that aims to find the sources of the country's three major rivers.

The 40-member team has survey, remote sensing, glacier and geological experts. They will spend about 45 days and cover 8,000 km seeking the sources of the Yangtze River -- the country's longest -- the Yellow River and the Lancang River, all of which originate in plateau in the southern part of Qinghai Province.

"It is an important scientific task," said Sun Shu, a Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) academician.

Sun said there have been previous expeditions dating back to ancient times, but none found the exact sources.

Liu Shaochuang, a team member and CAS remote sensing scientist, said the findings of the expedition would be submitted to the government for the establishment of national geographic data.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2008)