TURNING ROCK TO FIRE

The Germans and Japanese both tried this during WWII and it didn't do them much good. Good Luck, China, but its not going to help your air pollution problems much.

China To Produce Liquid Fuel From Coal In 2008
March 30, 2007 (Bernama--The Malaysian National News Service)

WHO
Chinese coal-producing giant Shenhua Group Corporation Limited

WHAT
The first coal liquefaction plant in China, equipped to produce one million tonnes of oil per year in its first phase and 6 million tonnes when complete.

WHEN
Launched in 2004, the project is scheduled to become operational in 2008 and to be completed in 2010.

WHERE
The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region city of Erdos

WHY
Rising international crude oil prices and increasing competition for supplies have generated increased interest in coal liquefaction, the process of refining hard coal into a liquid fuel. It is of particular interest to a rapidly expanding, energy-hungry China which has a trillion tonnes of coal reserves.

QUOTES
"The Shenhua project is of great importance to China, the world's fourth largest economy, both in terms of energy safety and economic development," said Li Kejian, head of the coal liquefaction technology research center of the Beijing Research Institute of Coal Chemistry.
- "More than 60 per cent of the equipment we are using is domestically-made and we also own the intellectual property rights for the manufacturing technology," said Wang [Pinggang, vice president of Shenhua Group].