[InKunming--Yunnan]  A reporting team started its journey from Beijing to the Gaoligong Mountain Range in southwestern province of Yunnan on Tuesday, Earth Day, as part of a new project to record and promote Chinese biodiversity with writing and photos.

"Colorful China," the program which sponsored the team, was jointly launched by the Xinhua News Agency and the China Green Foundation. This will be the first of a number of such trips, with the resulting travel logs to be published on www.icrosschina.com.

"The program aims at informing the global audience of China's beauty in nature and humanities and arousing public awareness for nature protection," said Yang Jiping, vice-chairman of the China Green Foundation, as the team flew to Yunnan.

It comprises three reporters, a photographer, a cameraman as well as two organizers and three experts on animal and plant protection.

While setting its footprints on quite a few national nature reserves, the team will not only check out the protection they afford to wildlife, but also find out how local people live alongside nature.

The Gaoligong Mountain Range extends more than 480 km along Yunnan's border with Myanmar.

Known as a "museum of biodiversity," this area is home to about 55 endangered or rare seed plants and a total of 318 plant species found nowhere else on Earth. Various ornamental plants ranging from ferns to orchids make the area a natural garden.

It is hoped that "Colorful China," for which future destinations are still being planned, will give global audience a chance to know remote and beautiful parts of China along with the reporting team.