BEIJING, May 26 (AFP) - A Chinese man is about to set off on a bid to cross northwest China's Taklimakan desert, also known as 'the sea of death', in a wheelchair, official media reported Wednesday. "Yin Xiaoxing, 29, is expected to start his epic journey across the 340,000 square kilometre desert, dubbed 'the sea of death', in Xinjiang by the end of this month and plans to travel some 500 kilometres (310 miles) across it alone," Xinhua news agency reported. Yin, who comes from a rural family in the eastern province of Jiangsu, has been confined to a wheelchair since childhood. He is now less than one meter (three foot) in height and weighs only 41 kilogrammes (90 pounds). "I'm disabled which is a fact I can't change, but I try to live as a normal person," Yin said. In 1992, Yin began to challenge his disability by travelling widely across the country, and has since covered more than 57,000 kilometres (35,000 miles), including climbing 17 mountains. He set himself the goal of traversing the Taklimakan in 1996 and has been making preparations in the last few years. Yin has chosen to cross Taklimakan in summer because conditions in the desert become extremely difficult, with its temperature climbing to as high as 70 degrees Centigrade (158 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day and dropping to minus 30 degrees Centigrade (minus 22 Fahrenheit) at night. "I have seven years of traveling by wheelchair, and I'm ready to face any difficulties ahead," Yin said. The Zhejiang Disabled Persons' Federation and the Zhejiang Tingdeshuai Clothing Company have donated spare tires, sleeping bags, cotton-padded clothes and other goods necessary for desert travel. The Xinjiang Disabled Persons' Federation would provide food and fresh water, Xinhua said.  