China

China Mandarin Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo, officially People's Republic of China, has a population of 1,295,000,000 (as of 2000). The country consists of 3,691,502 sq mi (9,561,000 sq km) in East Asia. China is the most populous country in the world. It comprises of 23 provinces, including Taiwan. The Han Chinese make up approximately 92% of the total population. They mainly speak Mandarin, which is linguistically homogeneous to the North. Putonghua is spoken as a first or second language by an estimate of half of the population.

The economy in China as experienced tremendous growth since the late 1970's. Its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by ten times from 1978 and 2006. Its foreign investment increased greatly in the 1990's.

Agriculture is China's leading occupation involving approximately 50% of the population over only 15% of the land surface. Agriculture accounts for 12% of the nations GDP.

China is ranked first in the world for the production of red meat. This includes: beef, veal, mutton, lamb, and pork.

China is the world's largest potash importer. The imports of Potassium Chloride to China in 2007 was 9.414 million tonnes, worth approximately $2.29 billion (USD). In 2007 3.8515 million tonnes of the imported potash was from Russia.

China has a high dependency ratio of 68% for pure potash fertilizer. In 2007, China imported 5.55 million tonnes of potash fertilizer (pure) and exported only 2.55 million tonnes.