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   The following are basic information about one of its major energy resources -- coal, which accounts for about 70 percent of China's energy use.

   Coal reserves stood at 1.03 trillion tons as of 2006, which was the world's third-largest amount, and the country's coal deposits are concentrated in the northern and northwestern parts of the country. Shanxi, the largest producing province, contributes a quarter of the  nation's total output.

   China, the world's leading coal producer and consumer, saw its raw coal output reach 2.52 billion tons in 2007 and consumption that year stood at 2.58 billion tons, according to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics.

   Coal is largely used to generate electricity, produce building materials like cement and glass and produce steel. This latter demand is met by coking coal, which constitutes 27 percent of China's total coal reserves.

   China mainly imports coal from southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam and Indonesia, which supplied 76 percent of its total imports in 2007. It also exports coal, mostly to Asian countries: the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan took up about 65 percent of its total exports.

   But exports have been falling as China takes steps to keep coal home to fuel its fast-growing economy. The government introduced a series of tax changes starting in 2004 to curb coal exports.

   Net exports slid to 25 million tons in 2006 from 45.6 million tons in 2005. The figure plunged to 2.15 million tons in 2007, a mere fraction of the 82.9 million tons exported as recently as 2003.

   China reported a 20.2 percent decrease in the number of fatalities caused by coal mine accidents in 2007.

 The country's safety watchdog said that 3,786 people were killed in coal mine accidents last year.

   2007 was the second consecutive year for the country to report a 20-percent fall in coal mine accident fatalities, Li Yizhong, head of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), said at a national work safety meeting in Beijing.