  urlLink Scotsman.com News - Sci-Tech - Stormy solution to rain crisis : "WITH water increasingly scarce in its parched and heavily populated north-eastern plain, China has become the world’s leading rainmaker, using aircraft, rockets and even anti-aircraft guns to seed the clouds for precious moisture. The hunt has become so intense that rival regions sometimes compete for clouds sailing across the sky.
Now, in 23 of the country’s 34 provinces, the provincial, county and municipal governments have set up what they call weather modification bureaus assigned to bombard the heavens regularly with chemicals in the hope of squeezing out more rainfall for China’s 1.3 billion residents. The heavy cloud seeding is a dramatic example of China’s increasing difficulty in finding enough natural resources as its economy expands rapidly and its huge population consumes more goods. " 
