XINING (Xinhua) -- 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.